The Kooks have been getting a lot of respect from their indie and rock peers but guitarist Hugh Harris admits he had an embarrassing moment with Irish band Fontaines D.C. because he didn’t know who they were when he met them.
The Kooks are getting a lot of love from the new bands they meet – but they had no idea who Fontaines D.C. were when they met the Irish post-punk rockers.
The indie band – comprised of original members, singer Luke Pritchard and guitarist Hugh Harris – have just released their seventh studio album ‘Never/Know’ and 19 years after they started out they are happy to take on the mantle of elder statesmen of rock.
The Kooks have been told by numerous bands and artists they run into that they are fans of the group, but Hugh admits he had an awkward meeting with Fontaines D.C. – who are fronted by Grian Chatten – as he didn’t know who they were and didn’t realise they were so popular.
Speaking to ContactMusic.com, Hugh said: “Last summer I had to Google Fontaines D.C., I was outside our dressing room and they came to say hi and give their respect and love to the band. I was like, ‘Who the heck are they?’ Then I was like, ‘Oh my god they’re huge!’ It’s nice to have that support from both sides.”
Luke admits it’s been a new experience to be told by so many fellow artists that they are fans of the band’s songs, which include the hit single Naïve’, because they did not feel that much love when they first released their debut LP ‘Inside In / Inside Out’ in 2006.
The ‘Ooh La’ singer said: “Everyone loves us now. It didn’t used to be like that!”
“We are lucky like that.”
Luke – who along with Hugh is heading out on a UK arena tour later this year – also gets told by younger fans that their music was popular with their parents when they were growing up.
He added: “The thing that I hear a lot about The Kooks, which is maybe a unique-ish thing to us, I always hear the same thing, which is, ‘I used to listen to The Kooks in the car with my parents and my younger brother.’ It’s always an intergenerational thing. Their parents would get us because they would hear The Kinks and The Beatles and Bob Dylan and the kids liked us, too.”
Luke believes that the 2000s era of British indie rock music is finally getting the recognition it deserves as an era of rock ‘n’ roll in its own right.
He said: “There’s a huge appreciation of it now.
“What we’re seeing as The Kooks – I can’t speak for other bands of our generation – is the young people now, the teenagers, are getting into our music, which is crazy. I guess that shows the appreciation of what it was and the carrying on of guitar music, rock ‘n’ roll, which is more of a kind of mentality than anything.
After Britpop you had a lot of garage and stuff like that. Then White Stripes and The Strokes came along and we as Brits answered it.”
