In a music landscape where reinvention can often seem forced, The Kooks have taken a different approach: reflection as a form of renewal. With their seventh studio album, Never/Know, out today, the Brighton-formed indie mainstays offer a vibrant, emotionally grounded record that doesn’t just revisit their roots—it reimagines them.
The Kooks
Luke Pritchard, the band’s ever-charismatic frontman, took the reins as producer for this 11-track collection. The goal wasn’t to mimic the breezy charm of their 2006 debut Inside In / Inside Out, but to dive deeper into the question of identity—what defines The Kooks now, nearly two decades after they first burst onto the scene? “It’s not about going back to the first album’s sound,” Pritchard explains, “but to the roots of our influences and asking, ‘What is the identity of this band?’”
That sense of inquiry courses through Never/Know—an album that is both immediate and introspective, soaked in the warmth of analogue textures and lyrical vulnerability. The band kicks things off with Never Know, a swaggering single that marked the start of their comeback campaign back in January. It landed as Radio X’s Record of the Week and picked up airplay across BBC stations, offering a signal that this wasn’t just a nostalgic cash-in—it was The Kooks, reenergised.
To celebrate the album’s release, the band have dropped a video for If They Could Only Know, one of the album’s emotional high points. It’s a poignant meditation on family, legacy, and time’s quiet passage—written with both humour and heart. “My Gran loved my wife, but she only met her when we’d been going out for a few months, and then she died,” Pritchard shares. “My dad also died when I was a kid. I just wish both of them could see me happy. Essentially, it’s as simple as that really.” He laughs, almost in self-deprecation, when referencing one of the song’s more unexpected lines: “And I love the line about my Granny’s cooking… because it was bloody awful.”
The album’s rollout hasn’t shied away from nostalgia. The band launched Never/Know at a sweaty, packed-out Indie Club Night at London’s Notting Hill Arts Club, throwing it back to the same kinds of venues where their journey began. The crowd was a fascinating mix: longtime fans mouthing lyrics with the muscle memory of old mixtapes, shoulder to shoulder with Gen Z fans who’ve discovered the band through TikTok edits and festival live streams.
While many of their peers have faded into footnotes, The Kooks have enjoyed something rare: a second wave. In part, it’s thanks to songs like Naïve and She Moves In Her Own Way being rediscovered online—but it’s also because the band themselves have never stood still. From the chart-topping Konk to the synth-pop flirtations of Listen, The Kooks have continually reinvented their sonic world. One of the album’s standout moments is a cover of Wings’ tune Arrow Through Me, a track Pritchard says heavily influenced the album’s production.
The Kooks
“I was listening to it a lot and it was informing the production on the album,” he explains. “It sounds simple but the time signature is quite weird; it showed me how genius it is to make something so complicated feel like a pop song. That’s high art to me.” He cites The Police, The Beatles, and even Bob Dylan among his reference points—but the album feels far from retro. It’s sleek, modern, and full of inventive flourishes, from the lush harmonies of Sunny Baby to the subtle krautrock grooves layered into the deeper cuts.
Now, The Kooks are poised to bring the album to life on stage, with a UK arena tour this autumn that includes their biggest ever headline show at London’s O2 Arena. For a band that once made its name in 400-capacity clubs and house-party playlists, it’s a full-circle moment with added scale—and no shortage of sentiment. As Pritchard puts it: “What kind of music do we want to make, and how do we make it feel natural?” On Never/Know, they’ve answered the question by crafting a record that’s not only natural—but necessary.
Upcoming UK Tour Dates:
OCTOBER
3rd – Co-op Live – Manchester
4th – Cardiff Utilita Arena – Cardiff
5th – Brighton Centre – Brighton
9th – Newcastle Utilita Arena – Newcastle
10th – Birmingham Utilita Arena – Birmingham
11th – The O2 – London
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