In a quiet moment before heading back on stage for their acoustic tour across the UK, Luke Pritchard of The Kooks sits with a relaxed demeanour that belies the personal journey captured in his band’s latest album. With his hair slightly dishevelled (“a bit shabby looking,” he admits with a laugh), Pritchard speaks with refreshing candour about Never/Know, the band’s new album released through Virgin Music Group on May 9, 2025.
The British indie-rock favourites are no strangers to the spotlight, having sold over two million copies of their 2006 debut album. Now, with a new generation of fans discovering their music through social media, The Kooks find themselves at a fascinating junction – honouring their roots while pushing forward creatively. Their North American “All Over the World Tour” begins on May 27 at MTelus in Montreal, a city with fond memories for Pritchard.
“I like the vibe there. It’s very like European, you know, a lot of independent places, like a lot of community vibes,” Pritchard says of Montreal.
The upcoming tour follows their current acoustic run, which has been a nostalgic return to their beginnings. “We’re on this kind of acoustic tour across the country playing all these like, really independent venues,” Pritchard explains. “Kind of like all the ones we came up in. So it’s been really cool. Kind of shining a light on them.”
This return to smaller, more intimate venues seems fitting for a band whose origin story begins with an acoustic guitar on the streets of Brighton. “Hugh and me, we first met when I was buskin’ in Brighton,” recalls Pritchard. “He just came up and was like, ‘Oh, I like that song. What is it?’ And I said, ‘I wrote it.’ And he was like, ‘Oh, should we jam?’ And I was like, ‘I’m trying to start a band.'”
Those humble beginnings created the foundation for their distinctive sound. “We used to annoy people. When we were in Brighton, we would just go to parties and we’d just play acoustic everywhere. So you can hear that in all our music, really, especially our first few albums,” he says. “The percussion often comes from the acoustic guitar.”
That organic approach to songwriting remains central to their sound, but Never/Know marks a significant personal milestone for Pritchard – it’s his debut as a producer. “I was a little bit nervous because it’s my sort of debut production. And so I guess I had a bit more skin in game on this one, like personally.”
His production style, he explains, wasn’t about control but facilitation. “My style of production was really to just not be particularly tyrannical and to try and just, I know what everyone’s really good at and just trying to get everyone to blossom and have their roles. And so I really enjoyed the psychological side of production. It’s like making sure everyone feels really connected with it and feels like they get their space and they can be the best of what they do.”
Beyond the technical aspects, Never/Know is deeply personal, emerging from a profound emotional breakthrough. “It’s a very personal record, lyrically as well. I had a bit of a lightning bolt moment where I wrote the album very quickly, like four or five days, like in terms of just the lyrics and melody before we started workshopping and everything. And it just sort of poured out of me.”
This creative flood coincided with significant life changes. “I was having some pretty life-changing moments of starting a family. And I was really having this kind of reconnection with my dad, who passed away when I was three. And I kind of realized all of it was to do with him, why I’m in a band, because he was a musician.”
The connection between his own journey into fatherhood and the loss of his father created an unexpected emotional resonance. “My son was coming up to the age I was when my dad died. And I just had this kind of weirdly joyous feeling of knowing how much time he had with me.”
While Pritchard had previously addressed his father’s absence in their fourth album track, “See Me Now,” this album reopened that emotional space with a different perspective. “Having it out in the world, it feels really good. I feel very connected with this record. I feel there’s a lot of clarity,” he says. “It was just embracing who we are and just doing what we do best.”
The album draws deeply from musical influences that connect Pritchard to his father. “It’s more of a soul record in a way, especially from our first few records,” he explains. “A lot of people have said to me it reminds them, like not the sound, but kind of like the energy of our first album. But it’s a real soul record and a lot of the influences from my dad’s sort of era, like not even his era, but the music he loved from the Everly Brothers and the kind of 50s like Buddy Holly and Beach Boys and things like that. We haven’t tapped into it as much before.”
These influences come from a direct connection to his father’s record collection. “I got a stack of records when he died, and they were all there,” Pritchard explains. The soul elements, he believes, come from “a kind of a slightly morose kind of joy” reflecting his current life stage. “The tempos being back at like slowed down a little bit and still rock and roll… those instances have always been there. But this time really sonically just really embracing that was a new thing.”
When asked if his father would be a fan of The Kooks, Pritchard pauses before answering thoughtfully. “I think he’d like the new one. I genuinely do. But I mean, I’d like to say I don’t know. I think he would have been super happy I did music for sure. I’m not sure. I’m sure some of it would have been kind of critical. But I’d like to think he would be.”
Despite the emotional weight of the album’s origins, Pritchard maintains that the recording process was surprisingly enjoyable. “When they heard the demos, everyone was like, wow, yeah, this is like totally what we should be doing. And I kept it very spontaneous and quick and fun. So I for my part, I think it’s a very enjoyable record to make, which people do think maybe isn’t the best. A lot of people think the best records are made when it’s really hard and you’re going through heartbreak. But I don’t know if I’m a believer in that.”
This sense of ease and maturity seems to reflect a broader shift in the band’s evolution. “I think we’ve properly grown up actually,” Pritchard reflects. “This is this theory, I think, of like bands like us, like when we sort of hit the big time sort of in 2006, we were teenagers. And I think you get a bit of an arrested development when that happens. And so it’s been a delayed thing.”
The result is a newfound confidence balanced with their intrinsic energy. “I think we know we’re still pretty rock and roll in our attitude, but we’re just a bit more calm with it. And I think that shows on the album and that shows in the live shows now. And I’m really enjoying that. There’s a maturity coming through.”
This maturity extends to their personal lives as well. “We’ve all got kids now. And I really like that. I think some people like to have that boundary of their family life at home. And we like to have it quite a little bit of a kind of creche on tour sometimes. And some of my favourite artists were like that. You know, they didn’t really have to have their kids in studio and such, like John Lennon or Bob Marley. And I think that’s a cool way to be.”
As for the live shows that await North American fans, Pritchard’s description of what makes a great Kooks performance captures the essence of live music’s irreplaceable magic. “Just want to feel like in the groove, in the pocket, and you don’t get that all the time. With live music, it’s the kind of danger of it. It’s so amazing. Sometimes you can be knackered, or you can be in a great place, and then the show kind of saves you. Those kinds of gigs sometimes are the best ones.”
The relationship with the audience remains central to the experience. “As a performer, you’re pushing and pulling to feel like what the crowd’s, what the vibe is in the crowd. So I guess the best word to describe it is connection, isn’t it? It’s like, if you feel like you’ve really connected, and you’ve done the setlist right, and you’ve taken people on a bit of a journey, and they’ve had a bit of escapism. I mean, essentially, that’s our business, I think.”
Pritchard sees this escapism as particularly valuable in today’s world. “Everyone’s very consumed by how unstable the world is and everything. Music can be a really cool spot to kind of forget that for a few hours, and just like, so it’s a feeling of like connectivity in the audience. And sometimes it’s not to do with you or your performance. It’s just like catching a wave. And that’s the beauty of live music.”
When pressed to name a song he’s particularly proud of that doesn’t get enough attention, Pritchard doesn’t hesitate. “There’s one called ‘Murderer,’ which was kind of left off the album, which I’m really annoyed that I didn’t push to just put it on the album. It’s a kind of story about a father and a daughter and what happened. It’s kind of dark, but really a soul rock and roll kind of bluesy track. One that my dad probably would have liked actually.”
And his favourite album of all time? “Troubadour, JJ Cale,” he answers without hesitation. “Guitar playing is phenomenal. One of the great unknown guitar heroes in some ways.”
As The Kooks prepare to bring Never/Know to audiences across North America, beginning with their Montreal show on May 27, they carry with them not just the new material but a renewed sense of who they are as a band. They’ve grown up without growing old, embraced their influences while moving forward, and most importantly, maintained the authentic connection that has allowed them to transcend generations of indie rock fans.
“It’s not about going back to the first album’s sound,” as Pritchard explained in the press release, “but to the roots of our influences and asking, ‘What is the identity of this band?'” In Never/Know, it seems The Kooks have found their answer.
Watch the interview below:
Photography by Davis Factor
Share this :
