After their biggest year yet, English indie rockers The Kooks have their sights firmly set on returning to Australia in early 2025.
The Kooks tour Australia this coming February-March armed with a new album and a newfound invigoration for the band they started in Brighton 20 years ago. "I think it's been the biggest, the most seismic year we've ever had," lead guitarist Hugh Harris says."Everything has changed for us for the positive I feel. A lot is clicking in. . . and the band is f...ing cool, sorry to swear but it's a really great thing at the minute, better than it’s ever been. We've got the great new album and we're going to tour it and that feels really good."
Singer-guitarist Luke Pritchard adds that it's been an amazing year for The Kooks. "We did lots of festivals and completed an album," he says. "We have also re-found a spark. Not that it was gone, but the spark has gone kind of exponential, and that's not easy.
"You go through these ups and downs in 20 years and like Hugh said, it feels really good. The world in general has been a crazy time of extremes. . . the band for me as a person has kept things anchored and it's a great refuge for that through crazy, turbulent times."
The Kooks have never been sticklers for genre, their discography traversing a vast and varied soundscape. Their latest single 'Jeanie' simply reaffirms Hugh and Luke's open-ended approach to creating new music. "The model of the band can be bent, it's quite flexible," Hugh explains.
"There's a plasticity to it that is quite healthy and robust, and it can go into genres – it can go into mainstream, it can go into rock, it can go into dance or disco, which I think we're becoming really confident in, as is the world in exploring genrelessness [sic].
"I think we've always been genre-less. Even from the start we never really knew what the heck we are. Now as adults we're leaning into that a bit and 'Jeanie' is a great example of all of that."
The past two decades have seen a consistent creative output from The Kooks that has ingratiated the band into the zeitgeist of modern indie rock with beloved hits like 'Ooh La', 'She Moves In Her Own Way' and 'Junk Of The Heart (Happy)'.
The Kooks share a strong relationship with Australian audiences that has only grown over the years. For Hugh, touring Australia feels like a long-awaited homecoming.
"I used to go to Sydney a lot as a kid and it's always moving going back [to Australia] because it's deeply linked to my family, and it's also quite beautiful and lovely. I think The Kooks are an honorary Australian band, really, in so many ways."
"It was quite obvious the first time we went that that was the case," Luke adds. "We have a lot of gratitude for it and it's always too long until the next time we go. I think we should be really coming out and making records over there," he laughs.
"You put your music out there and you don't know where that's going to happen, but I feel a lot of synergy with a lot of Australian bands when we're there; the feel and mentality is similar.
"We don't ask too many questions as to why that is, but we just feel very grateful. Australia has some amazing music, especially in our area of music, so to be part of that is really amazing. We don't know why; we just want to keep coming and see what happens."
The Kooks 2025 Tour Dates
Fri 7 Feb - Party In The Paddock (Tasmania)Thu 20 Feb - Hordern Pavilion (Sydney)
Thu 27 Feb - Palace Foreshore (Melbourne)
Sat 1 Mar - The Fortitude Music Hall (Brisbane)
Sun 2 Mar - Yours and Owls Festival (Wollongong)
Tue 4 Mar - Hindley Street Music Hall (Adelaide)
Thu 6 Mar - Red Hill Auditorium (Perth)
