Though they didn’t form their band until the mid-2000s, The Kooks’ brilliant debut, “Inside In/Inside Out” felt like it was released in the 1960s.
The British four piece proudly wore their love of bands like The Kinks and The Rolling Stones on their sleeve as they created an infectious collection of tried-and-true rock ‘n’ roll songs.
After releasing a formidable follow up in 2008 [“Konk”], the band decided it was time for something different. For inspiration, they turned from their old-time favorites to modern artists like LCD Soundsystem and Lykke Li. The result is “Junk of the Heart,” a new album The Kooks couldn’t be more proud of.
Guitarist Hugh Harris took a few minutes to talk about the band’s entrance into the 21st Century.
After two albums that pull so heavily from another time period, what made you decide to change directions for “Junk of the Heart?”
We’re purist. And we were quite snobbish in the past toward computerized music and things that weren’t analog. But we realized you can’t really go through life like that. We wanted to expand and see what else is out there. We found that synthesizers can be warm and fuzzy and beautiful and distorted as much as the sounds that we love that come out of amplifiers. Through that process, we opened up our minds.
This isn’t what I’d call a “guitar record.” As a guitar player, how do you feel about that?
We’ve had our guitar record. I love playing guitar but there is only so much you can do with it. It’s an instrument that has been played. It’s had it’s day. I’ve really been getting into writing on the viola and writing string arrangements. I’m not saying indie music or guitar music is dead, but to us, we don’t want to be regurgitating the same sound over and over again. Bands who are on their fourth or fifth album and still playing the same sound look so bored on stage. I don’t want us to become that band.
After recording a studio album, what has been like trying to figure how to recreate it live?
It’s been absolute hell. I got quite possessive over parts that I’d done [in the studio] and said, “I’d quite like to play that part.” But then you realize that you don’t have enough hands to play all the parts. The live shows are so much different now. They have elements of punk rock, like our old shows, but they seem much richer and much fuller with these new sonics. It feels great.
Have the long-time fans had any trouble with the sonic shift?
No. Because the change hasn’t felt drastic or contrived. At the heart of the writing is still the same ethic. It’s about pop songs and an uplifting melody. The most fascinating thing about pop music is that it’s totally genre-less. That’s why we feel more like a pop band, because we can morph so many more genres.
How has this record affected what the band will do in the future?
I like that we paved the way to use processed beats — real dance beats that make you want to move. All we’ve ever wanted is to make people dance. Also, the strings are something we haven’t really done before and it’s something we’d like to experiment with. We’re not going to reinvent the wheel, but music always has to feel new and fresh. Otherwise, it goes stale so quickly.
