Ten years ago, as the second wave of Brit-pop reached its zenith, The Kooks were at the top of the pile, being feted with all manner of accolades and gongs, including MTV and Brit Awards. The previous couple of years had been a whirlwind rollercoaster of success for the band, who formed when they met at Croydon’s famed Brit School.

Named after a track on David Bowie’s Hunky Dory album, the Brighton lads traded defiantly and unashamedly in classic pop, releasing a brace of catchy, melodic, indie-lite anthems, storming the charts for several years over. Their two million selling debut album, Inside In/Inside Out, featured instantly hummable hits such as ‘Naïve’, ‘Ooh La’ and arguably their most recognisable chart-topper, ‘She Moves In Her Own Way’. Their second album, Konk, named appropriately after the studio owned by Kinks legend Ray Davies, consolidated that success, debuting at number one while the band became regular festival headliners throughout Europe.

It seemed like the perfect rock ‘n’ roll dream come true but looking back at those heady days frontman Luke Prichard is more than a little philosophical.

“To be honest we were like a big bag of monkeys at the time,” he reflects. “We were very young, we had more or less instant success, we were having fun and it was all a bit of a blast. But I don’t think it’s possible to appreciate that kind of success when it’s happening. It’s only when you look back at how it all happened you think, ‘Wow man, was that really us?’”
They were never critics’ darlings, attracting the dubious tag “landfill indie” more than once.

Fractious relationships, line-up changes and rumours of drug abuse were just some of the stories that circulated about the band.

“It’s just the way it is,” Pritchard muses. “Even if you’re the most loved band in the world – they’ll fuck you up in the end. They’ll always find a way of getting you.”

Was their main crime the fact that success came so quickly and that they hadn’t “suffered for their art” as it were?

“Oh yeah, that was it without a doubt. That’s a given – especially in the UK where there are strange rules and funny things about the music industry and how things work in the media. It definitely did affect us and that became a problem. There were a few things that were said back in the day that really annoyed us and we let it get to us. It’s not a healthy way to be.”

The core of the band today includes founder members Pritchard and Peter Harris along with Peter Denton and new drumming addition Alexis Nuñez. Their most recent album Listen saw a change of direction towards a much more rhythmic and percussive backdrop. It garnered rave critical notices from several quarters including a four-star review in the Telegraph from former Hot Press-er Neil McCormick. Was this a surprise to the band?

“Well, we set out to do a few new things and some people appreciated that and it was nice, but it didn’t break through commercially. So we’ve had the big success and now the critical acclaim but not at the same time unfortunately.”

Still a huge live draw, The Kooks continue touring with their teenage fans of yore now older but still just as enthusiastic for the old hits.

“All those awards were great and it was nice to be patted on the head and all that but the main thing is we’ve pulled the band around from being basically kids to being adults. Seeing the reaction from people who come to see us now is really great. Having those songs embedded in their heads from when they were growing up is something we appreciate now. And however much I might hate playing some of those old hits, as soon as I hit the first chord it’s just an amazing feeling. ”

Finally, their very first UK tour was supporting Dublin pop-rockers, The Thrills – any special memories from that time?

“Oh yeah, that was pretty crazy, man, it was our first tour playing big shows and they were great to be with. We didn’t really hang out much with them on that tour but later we’d meet up, whether it was passing through LA or Dublin or wherever. They were great guys and a great band.”

The Kooks play Indiependence, which returns to Mitchelstown from July 29-31