With their new album, Listen, The Kooks decided to move in a new direction. "We were known for songs that are three minutes long and catchy as hell," says frontman Luke Pritchard. "With this [album], we wanted to evolve some new sounds."

Now on tour supporting Listen, the Kooks were in town on Saturday to play a show at First Avenue in Minneapolis. Earlier in the day, they stopped by The Current studio to play some songs off the new album and to chat with Bill DeVille.

One of the ways the Kooks expanded their musical boundaries was to work with a hip-hop producer; thus began Pritchard's collaboration with London-based Inflo, who co-produced the new album. Pritchard also did more experimenting with computers, writing a number of tracks using Logic. And for a lot of the writing of the album, Pritchard and Inflo decamped to Los Angeles. "Being in L.A. wasn't distracting," Prichard says. "It was me and Inflo, and we found it actually more focused and chill."

The resulting album gave the Kooks a busy summer of festival gigs, and they deliberately tried to book more North American festival gigs than they had before. Listen to the full interview to hear the Kooks compare and contrast the North American and European festival experiences.

Pritchard and the rest of the band also talk about their experiences seeing live music in Nashville, Tenn., and in New Orleans; about the pros and cons of writing catchy, sing-along melodies; about their fondness for David Bowie's music and career; and about the photo shoot that involved an Italian greyhound — a breed for which The Current's Bill DeVille has a particular fondness.

Songs Performed

"Around Town"
"Bad Habit"
"See Me Now"

All songs off the album, Listen, out now on Virgin EMI Records.

Hosted by Bill DeVille
Produced by Derrick Stevens
Engineered by Michael DeMark
Web feature by Luke Taylor

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• The Kooks - official site