Booker & Stryker chat with Luke and Hugh from The Kooks

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Booker and Striker. Look at this, the kooks are here.

Speaker 2 (00:02):
Welcome you Guyllo, thanks for having us, Thanks for being here,
Luke and then Hugh right here. So we're just curious, like,
what did you do this morning in Los Angeles before
coming here?

Speaker 3 (00:12):
Yes, we we had an incredible moment and we we
we yesterday. It started yesterday and we we were trying
to put on a radio station and accidentally went to
a different radio station, which ended up being a community
radio station that played two of our songs. So we
obviously lost our minds, right right, this is crazy.

Speaker 2 (00:29):
Yeah, and old.

Speaker 3 (00:30):
Songs as well, and so we rang up the radio
station and then we went down there today and play
some songs for them, Okay, and then.

Speaker 1 (00:37):
You know what they did afterwards? Tell the podcast, but
tell them what it was based on. Yeah, this is great.

Speaker 3 (00:42):
Yeah, well the podcast. So you know Cobra Kai it's
Loan Lobos the karate.

Speaker 2 (00:48):
Yeah, dude, you talked about the karate with Jacob today,
are you serious?

Speaker 3 (00:53):
Amazing guy? Yeah, in the same room at the same time.

Speaker 2 (00:57):
I'm a little older than you. Guys. Do you like
the original right of course?

Speaker 3 (01:01):
Of course in the valley mister, Yes, absolutely, legendary. I
used to do Quaranti when I was a kid as well.

Speaker 2 (01:10):
Is that true?

Speaker 3 (01:11):
Because of the second down Brown Bell.

Speaker 1 (01:14):
He had that one move this one is.

Speaker 4 (01:17):
That it was called the Real Mental It didn't work
though it did work? N yes, yes, exactly What do
you think of the valley? Did you enjoy the valley?
Is the valley everything you've seen it to be in movies.

Speaker 5 (01:33):
It's got a reputation, that's for sure. The valley that
we haven't really seen that side of it yet.

Speaker 3 (01:38):
But no, we love it here.

Speaker 5 (01:39):
Yeah, we love the valley, we love the vibes, we
love the people, we love the community.

Speaker 3 (01:44):
We're from London.

Speaker 5 (01:45):
It doesn't look like this, so we're very happy.

Speaker 2 (01:48):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (01:48):
Actually the country's oldest guitar shop as well.

Speaker 2 (01:52):
Which one is that's it? Cooling Guitars? No?

Speaker 3 (01:56):
No, maybe it's in la.

Speaker 5 (02:00):
I've got a photo of it here. But it's ninety
seven years old. Wow, yes, and it basically is ninety
seven years old. Access to we established nineteen twenty eight.
They sell guitars, violins, Candellus, candelas.

Speaker 6 (02:13):
Are you the kind of guys that could go into
a place like that and disappear for a few hours
and just kick around.

Speaker 1 (02:19):
You do you play when you go into.

Speaker 2 (02:20):
Guitar stores or you just look if they let us?

Speaker 3 (02:23):
Oh okay, yeah, but yeah of course, yeah no we do.
It's amazing. I mean we're big fans of vintage equipment.
Yeah great.

Speaker 2 (02:30):
And when you do go into a guitar store, do
you play your own music or do you have a
go to good question song?

Speaker 3 (02:38):
Norwegian? Would nice? Very nice?

Speaker 5 (02:42):
I just kind of, I don't know, I just improv.
Is that a bit kind of I don't know, a
bit kind of wistful maybe, but just whatever comes, you know. Obviously,
no stairway, Yeah.

Speaker 2 (02:53):
No stairways.

Speaker 1 (02:54):
It's illegal. But is it? Is it noodling? Or is
are there songs?

Speaker 6 (02:59):
And is there a level of where you're not allowed
to show off in a guitar store.

Speaker 5 (03:04):
I actually wrote a song in the Chicago Music Exchange
last time. I was there on one of their guitars,
and I was, I have to take this guitar now.
It's given me this piece, and I bought it and
I took it home and it was wonderful. It was
like a magical moment match made in heaven.

Speaker 2 (03:20):
Luke and Hugh are hanging out with Booker and Striker.
For those of you listening, of course you're watching us
right now. We're at the Viper Room. Last night we
got out of the house. They let us in. We
were very lucky. What are some of the first venues
you guys played in la many years ago?

Speaker 3 (03:34):
The first one, I think this is a Safari Wow.
I think that that was the first one we ever played,
Safari Lange. I'm not sure it's there anymore.

Speaker 5 (03:45):
Roxy. We did two shows at the Roxy. We did
a matinee and then an evening at the Roxy. That
was chaos. Yeah, oh yeah, that's right. A load of
old friends came down and just things got real troubadov
of course. Like that was a really memorable night. Sound
in that room is just magnificent, isn't it. It's just

(04:06):
like those wolves. See they use they aid your sound
and you're playing the wood on the walls.

Speaker 2 (04:12):
Are there magical.

Speaker 6 (04:13):
Big venues like that that have a like I don't know,
the garden or wherever there's you know that they're noteworthy that.

Speaker 1 (04:20):
You go into it. They actually don't sound that good.
Are there some of those?

Speaker 3 (04:26):
Well, most of.

Speaker 2 (04:30):
Us.

Speaker 3 (04:30):
One in London called Ali Pali, which is like it's
I guess I think the used to store trains there.
It's just like glass and yeah, and just concrete, but
they've gotten it better. But yeah, that one's.

Speaker 1 (04:43):
It's just the acoustics, just it just of everything.

Speaker 3 (04:47):
Yeah, I mean, it wasn't designed for music, you know.

Speaker 5 (04:49):
I think like sometimes a bad sound can still get
you going, though, can't it, Like when you feel the
walls are rattling and the venue is moving, and those
old theaters are kind of like the Old Dame of theaters.

Speaker 3 (05:00):
They are a bit rattically.

Speaker 5 (05:02):
And whilst you wouldn't say that's like the perfect sound,
like it doesn't sound like a studio, but it's got
this kind of feel to it which is kind of
just age aged.

Speaker 2 (05:13):
I remember in two thousand and six listening to your
debut album going who hell are these guys? And then
seeing you play, I'm like, Wow, these guys are really good.
Was there like a goal of the band early on
because you took off from what I remember it was
pretty fast rise for people knowing who you were, where
you're from, but also here in the United States.

Speaker 3 (05:32):
Yeah, I mean, we we just were at the beginning,
we just wanted to go and play music. Like we
didn't really think about it like too much. We took
it quite seriously, I guess, you know, but it happened
really quick. It was really a song called Naive. It
just like that took us into kind of, you know,
more mainstream and we just hit this lucky moment where
like guitar bands, like especially in the UK, and I

(05:53):
guess of course, like all the New York guys and
you know, had come over and kind of done the
guitar thing again and hit this wave where it was
kind of mainstream again. Yeah, it was really exciting.

Speaker 6 (06:03):
It's funny you mentioned Naive because before we interview somebody
sometimes we just kind of put the songs on to
get the vibe, and that's what we put on. Have
you looked at how many streams that song has and
have you seen the money? You know what it is,
because I can tell you when they're finished.

Speaker 3 (06:20):
It's quite a lots substantial. We actually just got the
brit billion, yeah, which is like where you're doing billion
streams in the UK and I think probably half of
that is probably Naive.

Speaker 6 (06:31):
Yeah, it is, say it's like seven hundred million on.

Speaker 1 (06:35):
Spotify alone or something. It's insane.

Speaker 2 (06:38):
Absolutely when it comes to the new album, all you
just wanted to produce it yourself, and I'm curious, like,
why why didn't you not want to? Why didn't you
bring anyone else in the room with you? Guys?

Speaker 3 (06:48):
Well, well, it felt like the right time. I mean,
I had quite a kind of lightning bolt experience when
I like with this one, where within like five days
I kind of had written, like you know, melodically and lyrics,
written this record, and I just had a vision like
for how it to be and get back to like
bang chemistry and all this stuff. So it just felt

(07:08):
like the right time. The confidence, you know, and we
had definitely embraced bringing producers in as artists and writing
with them for a few albums, but I just felt
personally like a slightly was losing my identity in that,
so as I just you just bring it back to
like the writing songs in the bedroom. That's kind of
the mentality I had, and I think it really worked.
And we did that. You know, we went to the

(07:29):
country side, didn't we, And we just like just kind
of rekindled our band chemistry.

Speaker 1 (07:35):
It's really good doing it yourself.

Speaker 6 (07:37):
Was there any moment when you realize there was something
that somebody else does and you're like, crap, I have
to learn how to do this or do you just
figure it out?

Speaker 1 (07:46):
And that's part of the fun.

Speaker 3 (07:48):
Figure out And that's part of the fun. I mean,
I think you got to leave. I think with production
it's a lot about psychology more than anything.

Speaker 2 (07:55):
Really.

Speaker 3 (07:56):
I think you just got to leave. You got to
leave the room for like like room in the recording,
for happy accents and for people to share their to be,
their personalities to blossom and the best that they can be.
That's what I feel.

Speaker 5 (08:09):
And there's imperfections in the best music has imperfections. There's
nothing which is really well rehearsed or polished that really
is of artistic value.

Speaker 2 (08:17):
You know.

Speaker 5 (08:18):
We like the kind of scuzzy sounds and it's about
the chemistry and feeling confident and safe as a band
and supported to take risks like that. You know, it's
been twenty years since we started, so it's more connecting
with each other and finding our strengths as musicians.

Speaker 6 (08:36):
Let me just add to that one. Do you know
it immediately when you're done with the track? Do you
have a sense reach?

Speaker 3 (08:41):
That's a good question, unanswerable. I mean, I like the
EEno thing. He's like, you abandon it rather than finish it.
I've always like that because you can always do more.
It's true, it's really yeah, it's hard and you get
in your brain and that's why I mean this album
was so we did it so quick, and it's such
spontaneous album, and it came out really optimistic and like

(09:03):
it's a real positive record and joyous, and I think
part of that is just like not overthinking.

Speaker 5 (09:08):
It and creative limitations, like we didn't allow ourselves to
have loads of time in the studio and each take
we were given like one or two takes and we
were like, that's it. Don't touch it, leave it, leave
it there, it's done. And that's the creative. That's that
Audrey Hepburn thing, isn't it. You know, before you go out,
get dressed up, put all your makeup and your lovely
stuff on, and then take one item off before you

(09:29):
leave the house. It's finding that kind of sweet spot
with the band and with art as well, where you
kind of are at your strongest.

Speaker 2 (09:35):
I guess I'm wondering if you ever said to each other,
we still got it, baby, after you wrote those songs,
We have no idea what that feelings like.

Speaker 5 (09:50):
We don't know what it is, but we still got it.
Well something.

Speaker 2 (09:54):
Yeah, what about your favorite songs as we sit here now?
Like your top two to play live? What are they? Wow?
From the new record?

Speaker 3 (10:04):
From the new record, Compass Will Fracture. Yeah, of the
new album, if you heard it, it's like a that's
a really really cool and it's kind of almost like
desert rock stone rolling stones kind of thing, and it's
very spooky live, you know. Yeah, I love that one.

Speaker 5 (10:21):
Yeah, If They Could Only Know, which is another very
like melancholic kind of song. It's got this well, all
of the songs have guitar solos in them. It's got
this particular one where I felt like I was kind
of in some kind of video game and building a
melody around that concept. That felt really I guess abstract
and like fun.

Speaker 3 (10:43):
So that one too.

Speaker 2 (10:44):
Yeah.

Speaker 6 (10:45):
As a player, when it's more intricate, is it more
daunting to play live or is it more Does that
make it more fun to do?

Speaker 2 (10:55):
So live?

Speaker 5 (10:56):
It's really daunting at first because there's just your if
you still haven't gotten your body or your mind around
the song, if it's not in your pocket. Yet it
takes a bit of time for it to sync into
your kind of DNA so that you can perform it
without any worries. And that just takes time and touring
and hard work.

Speaker 1 (11:14):
There's no muscle memory, I imagine.

Speaker 5 (11:16):
Yeah, there's no shortcut to the kind of comfort on stage.

Speaker 3 (11:19):
There's just go through it.

Speaker 5 (11:21):
You've got to go straight through it and just get
there as fuss as you can.

Speaker 2 (11:24):
I just want to go back again to some of
the early days when you first played your early shows.
Could you feel the cohesiveness with this guy and everybody
that at that time, like, oh yeah, this this feels
really nice.

Speaker 3 (11:36):
Really early days, yes, yeah, I mean it was, it was.

Speaker 2 (11:39):
It was.

Speaker 3 (11:41):
It was a crazy chemistry that we had there. We
were all four very different people, like different kinds of music,
but something very magic happened and we could see it
in the audience. Even like we started to gather, you know,
we have like same ten people would come because we
would play every two days in Brighton in like small clubs,
so we get the same you know, you know, so
we get like ten people and then twelve people and

(12:03):
you could see and that, Yeah, it was it was special.

Speaker 2 (12:05):
Ten people there.

Speaker 6 (12:06):
Were there early are they're probably like I was there,
I saw that.

Speaker 1 (12:11):
How does a band that's been around for so long.

Speaker 6 (12:14):
Do you have goals? Like for every record? Do you
have anything you say out loud to one another? Is
there be some map where you want to be at
the end of I don't know that album.

Speaker 3 (12:27):
That listen if you could, I think if you can
get to seven albums eight ms and you still loving
making the music, that is one achievement. And then obviously,
I mean we we would love to be in the
States more. You know, it's like it's we've we've really
we've come here quite a bit. But I mean it's
it's the mecha of music for us. It's where all
the music comes from, the space, the lineage, you know,

(12:50):
through to what we do. And so that's that we'd
like to be here more. But we've achieved so many
cool things we wanted to do. But you know, that's
the beautiful, beautiful thing about music. You can there's no rules,
you can keep finding new stuff.

Speaker 2 (13:04):
Is I'm hanging out with Booker and Striker at the
top of what you have.

Speaker 3 (13:07):
Achieved on my manifestation?

Speaker 2 (13:10):
Okay, the one thing they said.

Speaker 6 (13:12):
Out loud, los Angeles Striker like a manifesto.

Speaker 1 (13:16):
I believe it would be more proper. I don't know
how we could ask we could keep going all day?
How do you want to keep rocking? Boring? You you
got bored? Are you going to go all day long
with this?

Speaker 2 (13:26):
I don't know if you guys eat meat or your vegetarians,
but do you guys like In and Out Burger?

Speaker 5 (13:33):
That was the first thing I did when I landed.
It's a pilgrimage, isn't It takes quite a while to
receive your order at the kiosk. It's very very popular.
Kind of feel like they're still making my order and
it might be ready around Christmas.

Speaker 1 (13:50):
Here's a question. Do the fry stink.

Speaker 4 (13:54):
Like?

Speaker 2 (13:54):
Are they not good? In your opinion?

Speaker 5 (13:58):
I think they're nice potato fries?

Speaker 1 (14:00):
Yeah?

Speaker 3 (14:01):
How how could it be?

Speaker 1 (14:02):
It's everyone's gripe about In and out Burger?

Speaker 2 (14:05):
Not everybody, fifty percent of people.

Speaker 3 (14:09):
The fries man.

Speaker 2 (14:11):
Soft at times and baby you to noodlely. Yeah.

Speaker 3 (14:15):
Oh, I like the nudliness. I'm down with the nudliness.

Speaker 1 (14:21):
All right, let's wrap wrap a nonsense.

Speaker 2 (14:23):
We peaked two minutes ago, we did.

Speaker 1 (14:25):
We should have just dropped our mincs left okay.

Speaker 6 (14:28):
Thank you for the time and we really appreciate you
being here and putting up with us.

Speaker 2 (14:33):
And thank you for the birthday cake.

Speaker 4 (14:35):
They got me a birthday cakethday everybody, thanks you so much.