The Kooks
The Kooks are back. 2006's Inside In/Inside Out was a huge hit, selling some 2 million copies worldwide, spawning massive singles She Moves In Her Own Way, You Don't Love Me, Sofa Song, Eddie's Gun, Ooh La and especially Naïve - after which the album took on a whole new life of its own. The Brighton quartet quickly rang up sell-out shows not just in the UK but also in America and all over the world, earning a support slot with The Rolling Stones along the way and categorically establishing themselves as A Great British Band.
Singer/guitarist Luke, lead guitarist Hugh Harris, bassist Max Rafferty and drummer Paul Garred quickly came to be regarded as a classic British song-writing outfit, able to stand alongside The Kinks, Oasis, Coldplay or any number of others you care to mention, simply because they understand what makes pop music great.
Anyone who's ever enjoyed (a) pop music or (b) a good night out, has plenty of reason to cheer when it comes to Konk, The Kooks' second long-player, recorded over six weeks at the tail-end of 2007 in Ray Davies' Konk Studios in north London, plus a week at Los Angeles' Sound Factory. The sessions once again united the group with esteemed producer Tony Hoffer (Beck/Air/The Fratellis).
While James Brown's Live At The Apollo classic I'll Go Crazy provided daily in-studio listening, end-of-session downtime was spent in the local Irish pub, The Kooks' soon making friends with the locals.
Indeed, in Konk The Kooks' fanbase will find plenty to recall the freewheeling spirit that made Inside In/Inside Out a true word-of-mouth success - one of those rare cultural phenomena that grew and grew the more people heard it - while others will be aware just how much they've subtly upped their game.
While Gap is classic Kooks, a song like Shine On finds Luke exploring hitherto unchartered lyrical territory over the loveliest of melodies. It's destined to become another lynchpin in The Kooks' live set.
Let the good times roll at Southbound!