The Kooks frontman Luke Pritchard says the band still has so much to say 20 years after the release of their debut album Inside In/Inside Out.
The indie darlings have been riding high off the back of a stellar 2025, which saw the release of their seventh studio album Never/Know, a triumphant arena tour that saw them grace the O2 Arena in London, and an appearance on New Year’s Eve staple Jools’ Annual Hootenanny.
Friday marked two decades of the record that transformed the quartet into household names thanks to massive singles Naïve, She Moves in Her Own Way, and Ooh La.
But Pritchard thinks the band are entering a ‘creative’ and ‘energised’ 2026.
Speaking to Metro at The Cure photo exhibition at London’s Iconic Images Gallery, Pritchard said: ‘I’m so excited for this year. We’ve just started writing the new album and feel really confident to try and write best album we’ve ever made. It’s the first thing on the agenda and not an easy thing to do.
‘We’ll be working a lot – I feel energised. It’s going to be a creative year. I still feel like we have a lot to say. After 20 years, I feel like this is our time.’
Nostalgia is in vogue right now with social media awash with people looking back on their lives in 2016.
But a decade before that, The Kooks were giants among the UK’s thrilling guitar band scene along with Arctic Monkeys, Kasabian, and Kaiser Chiefs.
Reflecting on that era, Pritchard, who attended the exhibition with wife and music collaborator Ellie Rose, said: ‘It was brilliant. These days the whole vibe’s changed but that time was about decadence and touching on the darker things inspired by the 60s and 70s.
‘Now you’re seeing the brighter things people are inspired by, which is juxtaposed by the craziness of an unstable world.
‘To have one album like that (Inside In/Inside Out) in your whole life is pretty amazing. I can see it for what it is more.
‘Back then, we were kids. The funny thing with The Kooks is we weren’t friends. We’d only known each other three or four months, which is kind of crazy. I feel like that one moment of doing that record has been my life. I still think it sounds like a great record. I still feel proud of it. Hopefully it still sounds good live – we are less drunk!’
The Kooks play the Isle of Wight Festival in June along with The Cure, Calvin Harris, Lewis Capaldi, Wet Leg, Tom Grennan, The Last Dinner Party, and more.
‘The Isle of Wight is the best festival in the world for me’, Pritchard added.
‘It was the first festival I went to when I snuck out at 16 with my best mate. I’ve got brilliant memories of the Isle of Wight, and now playing with The Cure is a knock out.’
