CityLife

Academy double for Kooks

INDIE favourites The Kooks will play two dates here on their biggest British tour yet this weekend. Paul Taylor caught up with them for a chat before the shows.

Q What have you been up to recently?

A Luke Pritchard (lead singer/guitar): "So many things. It's been crazy. We've played festivals, Reading and Leeds, which were crazy. We played with the Rolling Stones, which was amazing. We did meet them very briefly just before they went onstage and just said hello and thanks for having us, I think. That day was a bit of a blur, I was quite drunk by the time we met them"

Paul Garred (drums): "We've been to Japan, played the Summer Sonic festival in Osaka and Tokyo. That was really cool. We played a hangar sort of place where 15,000-20,000 people came to see it. In Japan they're very patient. They wait to hear the song then they go completely mental then they stop, clap seven times in unison then it's just silence while waiting for the next song."

Q What music did you grow up with?

A Luke: "The first things I remember picking up on were the Everly Brothers and Buddy Holly, and quite a lot of older country and folk records. The Beatles, obviously. I was always really into melody. I suppose as a kid you are because melody is a kind of language and you probably understand it better than what the song is about. The records and books were just around me. My mum's not massively a music buff and my dad wasn't around because he died when I was young, so I didn't have anyone to educate me in music, really, but my dad spent every penny he had on records and books so I have an amazing record collection and library."

Q Tell us about touring.

A Paul: "Touring is what you make of it. You can get wrecked after a show and feel terrible the next day or you can go for a swim and relax. Lately, I've been doing the latter and I feel a hell of a lot better for it.

"This is the only industry in the world where you live with each other, practically sleep next to each other, drink, eat and socialise with each other. It's an in-bred style of living and takes a long time to get used to."

Hugh Harris (guitar): "Pretty much after every gig we have a play in our dressing room. When you come off stage you want to hold onto that adrenaline, you don't want to let it go, and gigs make a massive difference to your skills as a musician. You're always trying something new. It's quite boring to play the same songs the same way every night.

Q How about the prospect of cracking America?

A Paul: "I'd love to break America and it's something important to everyone in the band. America is a place many British artists have been to and many haven't done as well as they thought they would. We've got a bit of a different attitude, which is to just do what we do and take it right from the very bottom, take it slowly and not put it in people's faces. So we're going to do a bit of groundwork with this album, just to let people know we're alive, and then do a bit more with the next. I'd love to move to LA at some point. It's my bag."

The Kooks play the Academy in Manchester tonight and tomorrow (October 6/7) - both nights are sold out. Call 0161 832 1111 to check for returns. The next single, Ooh Lah, is released on October 23.