Interview: The Kooks
9th September 2010
Share This Article:
It is 2004 and I am sat outside a tent at Glastonbury festival with four lads who claim to be ‘in a band’, and after some banter they joke that they are ‘going to be big.’ I was dismissive.

That band turned out to be The Kooks, who nowadays are unquestionably ‘big’. It first hit me that they were onto something special when sat in the Delph Bar, Lincoln six months after our Glasto encounter guitarist Hugh Harris walked in - “What the f**k are you doing here?” They were playing one of their first headline gigs and they were impressive - I was dismissive no more.
Now in 2006 I am sat chatting to Hugh and front-man Luke Pritchard (who is incessantly strumming on an acoustic guitar) in a car at the back of the outdoor stage at The Farm, Lincolnshire preceeding the last performance of their ‘Seaside Tour’.
I start with that ‘going to be big’ comment. Hugh butts in, “Did we say that, I feel like a fool.”
“I think anyone in a band is quietly confident about what they are doing whether they are successful or not, I think you gotta be. You have to believe in what you are doing to a certain extent, otherwise why would you be playing the music that you are playing - you play the music that you love the most in a band, so obviously you’re going to think that you’re the best and what you’re playing is the best music,” he elaborates.
Luke has some further thoughts on success, it is apparent that this has been on his mind. “Success for me is something different to the music, we always thought that we had good pop songs but being successful, there’s loads of things that go into that like when you come out, what kind of music people are listening to at the time, the people at your record label, how you’re put across.”
“Some really cool bands don’t make it and we appreciate that it is right time, right place and we’ve had all these things align.”
So lady luck has been on their side. In the things ‘aligning’ to get them all this success, the band recognise the current rise in popularity of guitar music has contributed a lot to the situation they find themselves in.
“The fact that lots of people are listening to this kind of music now and there’s been a kind of explosion in new guitar bands - I think that is a lot of the reason why. I feel that we are part of that as well,” says Luke.
Regardless, their success is obvious. The following day stood with Hugh watching Broken Social Scene at Leeds Festival our conversation is interrupted by some giggling girls pointing at him. I tell him I think he’s being pointed at. “I know I've seen them, it's really weird,” genuinely confused by the attention he gets.
After a 10-minute bout of photos, signings and hugs he announces that they have to ‘go rehearse’ and he’ll chat to me later. Later that night what only can be described as ‘crowd trouble’ descends on the NME/Radio 1 stage as literally thousands of eager fans cram into the tent. The noise is almost deafening as a mass audience sing-along occurs throughout each and every song.
This popularity is set to rise to new heights the following week when the band are to support The Rolling Stones at a few arena dates. How did supporting the world’s most popular touring act come about?
Hugh proudly tells the tale, “We were at the Isle of Wight festival and about to go on stage, and the guy who promotes that is the Stones promoter as well. He did it in a really old school way, he came up to us at the side of the stage before we went on and was like ‘do you like The Stones, I saw you on telly this morning saying that it would be fun to support The Stones’. Basically he just said ‘how would you like to do a few shows with them?’” We all agree this is probably one of the easiest decisions they will ever have to make. The demand to see them perform live means that much of the boys life is now on the road - I know that touring rock groups have many bizarre touring tales, The Kooks must have some salacious tid-bits to share with me. “Yeah, we’re not very interesting,” says Luke somewhat sarcastically. I push for more, he wants to tell me a story but then says he doesn’t want to share it after I tease that he has obviously just been practising it for interviews. Hugh butts in, “There was an old-lady…”, but I don’t think that’s the story so ignore that and move back to Luke, I wanna hear his ‘Texas’ anecdote.
“That’s f**kin’ funny man!” They are getting fidgety, they want to get back to their hotel to relax before their set. After discussions on manipulative press and the spread of wrongful information on all things Kook, I open the floor - tell us what we need to know about The Kooks.
Luke goes first, “I think people should come and see us play live before judging us.” “We probably haven’t come out exactly how we are, but then you’re never going to are you? Just come and see us live.”
Hugh is less talkative stating simply, “I’m cool, man.” Whatever you need to know about The Kooks, I guess, can be heard in their music, and I myself am looking forward to seeing what they’re doing at our next encounter. Whatever that is, success or no success, they’ll still be the same guys I met at Glasto.


Hugh proudly tells the tale, “We were at the Isle of Wight festival and about to go on stage, and the guy who promotes that is the Stones promoter as well. He did it in a really old school way, he came up to us at the side of the stage before we went on and was like ‘do you like The Stones, I saw you on telly this morning saying that it would be fun to support The Stones’. Basically he just said ‘how would you like to do a few shows with them?’” We all agree this is probably one of the easiest decisions they will ever have to make. The demand to see them perform live means that much of the boys life is now on the road - I know that touring rock groups have many bizarre touring tales, The Kooks must have some salacious tid-bits to share with me. “Yeah, we’re not very interesting,” says Luke somewhat sarcastically. I push for more, he wants to tell me a story but then says he doesn’t want to share it after I tease that he has obviously just been practising it for interviews. Hugh butts in, “There was an old-lady…”, but I don’t think that’s the story so ignore that and move back to Luke, I wanna hear his ‘Texas’ anecdote.
- Article continues below...
- More stories you may like...
- This man can cure your phobias and help you face your most terrifying fears
- Bowling with Testament
- You can now listen to more than 50,000 digitised pieces of vinyl online
“That’s f**kin’ funny man!” They are getting fidgety, they want to get back to their hotel to relax before their set. After discussions on manipulative press and the spread of wrongful information on all things Kook, I open the floor - tell us what we need to know about The Kooks.
Luke goes first, “I think people should come and see us play live before judging us.” “We probably haven’t come out exactly how we are, but then you’re never going to are you? Just come and see us live.”
Hugh is less talkative stating simply, “I’m cool, man.” Whatever you need to know about The Kooks, I guess, can be heard in their music, and I myself am looking forward to seeing what they’re doing at our next encounter. Whatever that is, success or no success, they’ll still be the same guys I met at Glasto.
You might also like...
People who read this also read...
TRENDING
TRENDING CHANNELS
CONTRIBUTOR OF THE MONTH