An Interview with Luke

Here's that interview with Luke we promised you, conducted by our Christmas competition winner. Read on to find out what the band have been up to, their plans for this year and some exclusives on album #3...

Intro

Hello fellow Kooks fans. As you can imagine, I was pretty over the moon  when I got an email from the The Kooks a few weeks ago,  telling me I’d won the competition to meet & interview Luke... not to  mention majorly nervous!   LOL! I’ve been a massive fan of the band ever since  ‘Inside In / Inside Out’ came out and been to see them about 4 times now. We  met up in a cafe in North London, where I got to ask him all the questions I  wanted and find out more about the new album. He was such a cool, level headed  guy and the whole thing was just an amazing experience. Especially cool to  just get to chat to him about music and the stuff he’s into like Buddy Holly,  Chuck Berry, The Libertines early stuff etc. I even got to meet Pete  afterwards too! Anyway, here’s the interview. Hope you like it....   Amy B, Reading xx  

Amy: How are you? How have things been gong?

Luke: I'm very well, things are good actually and it's nice to be in  London for more than a few days and urm, I'm getting quite domesticated and  all that, it's quite nice.    

How long have you been back?

For about 5 months on and off but compared to usual where we tour so  much, it's been really cool.  

How long have you been in the studio?

About 2 months, rehearsing not recording. When we record ourselves we  have computers and gadgets and all that and we can record in a room but we  haven't started the album yet.    

Do you know where you're going to record the album?

I think we're probably going to do it in London, maybe a mix of London  and New York possibly, I always think it's nice to go somewhere else and get a  fresh ear on what you've been doing.    

How many tracks have you got so far?

We've got a lot, I mean I'm a pretty prolific songwriter so I have a lot  of stuff, same as Hugh. Hugh writes a hell of a lot of material, so between us  two already we have a hell of a lot. Pete writes as well so we're trying to  whittle them down.    

What will it sound like?

I don't really want to know I think it'll be quite spontaneous, there's a  lot of different styles.    

Any major new  directions?

I think there will be, we're  gonna be recording with a different bass  player and drummer. it' gonna be different. Coz we jam, we just play music  without songs and a melody, a lot of that stuff that turns into songs is quite  San Franciscan is really groove based, almost a bit Rolling Stones, like that  kind of groove rock n roll. It's a lot less hard than the second album  probably, like guitar wise. I think we wanna make a really upbeat, fresh,  happy sounding record.     

What kind of music have you been listening to? what has been inspiring  you?

Recently I really got into hip-hop.  

Really?

Well that's in the past few days, someone gave me some Biggie Smalls  stuff which is quite cool, I wouldn't say that it's influencing us  necessarily, but like Beck as well in terms of production, it's quite  interesting to listen to that type of stuff.   Oh and jazz as well, you know when people really like something and you  don't get it and you think 'am I missing a trick here?' but I recently got  into the classics, I like Miles Davies. 

There haven't been that many  records that have done it for me recently, probably the last one was Edward  Sharp  & The Magnetic Zeros... I really like that album.    

Will you be touring?

Yeah! I kinda miss it.

Are you a touring person?

Yeah, when you have lived like touring for 3/4 years which we have, you  get really used to it. But like I said, I'm quite enjoying being domesticated  and having a flat, all my stuff was in storage for a year and a half.    

Best thing about touring?

*Laughs*

The best thing about it really for me is the family atmosphere because  when you're with a group of ten people, they become your brothers and sisters,  that's one of the coolest things.   I was an only child, when I grew up it was just me and my mum so it's  always been really cool to have a big group of people, I've always like that  side of it. AND also playing music, you get to play every night to different  people in a different place. there's nothing quite like that.    

What's your favourite place that you've been too?

There's loads, everywhere's different. I did love touring America, we had  so many good times there, they're really into their music. And it's just ‘cos  you're going to the places where all the music kinda came from, you travel  through Nashville and places like that where you're literally going through  the towns where all that music came from.    

Do you go on a big bus?

Yeah, you also have to fly a lot cos it's so big.    

You OK flying?

Well yeah I have to be, it's not really a problem. We had a really shaky  experience recently where we were on a plane , there was a lightening  bolt which hit the plane. I was really weirded out. You know bands and  planes don't mix well!    

Did you actually see it?

Yeah it was the right jet engine that got hit, I was right next to it. I  just saw this bolt, the whole plane shook. The funny thing was they didn't say  anything on the tannoy, no one knew what the fuck was going on. It was fucking  weird.    

How's the rest of the band?

eah everyone's really good. We all live really close which is cool, we  have a new drummer called Chris Prendergast.    

Is he an old friend of you guys? Kind of yeah, friends of friends from school. we've become really  good mates. He's in the family now, he's a very good  drummer. He used to play for Kid Harpoon and he played with Loverman as well.      

Can you give the fans any exclusive information on the album?

Ummm, oh I don't know. There is a song called 'Window To The Soul' which  is one of the strongest tunes. Also there's a song called 'Weight Of The  World' which I play piano on which I've never done. It's quite cool actually,  it opens up a whole new avenue for me as a writer.    

Best gig of last year?

That's really hard to tell actually. Jersey Live was cool, it was a good  vibe. Ibiza Rocks was surprisingly good that was a mental gig, the crowd were  crazy!    

We're insane for you on Facebook, Do you have a profile?

I do have a profile, like under a under a different name that I sometimes  go on just to see my friends in New York, see their pictures and stuff.    

Do you keep an eye on The Kooks page?

Sometimes and with the website, just to see how it's going, I think we  have a really strong following on the internet which is cool. I really like  seeing people's covers.    

Of your songs?

Yeah.    

Do you have a favourite?

There was one of ‘Seaside’ years ago by this girl from Santiago, Chile I  think. A really cool girl, she must have been like 14, she had the most  gorgeous voice. I even emailed her, going like 'Hi it's Luke, great song!' she  just replies "you're not, fuck off, leave me alone!" *laughs*  

Oh and lastly, when will the album be out?

Summertime.  

That's it,  Shall we go in?

Yeah it's fucking freezing.  Thanks for that.

No,  thank you.     

xx