During a candid and personal appearance on The Evening Show with Dan O’Connell on Radio X, The Kooks singer Luke Pritchard spoke honestly about how the band’s sudden breakthrough after their 2006 debut album, Inside In/Inside Out, affected him behind the scenes.

“I Wasn’t a Very Stable Person”

Thinking back on the fast moving years that followed their rise in the indie rock scene, Pritchard admitted the lifestyle came with mistakes and lasting effects on his health. “Me personally? Oh yeah,” he said when asked about things he would change. “I mean, listen, I wasn’t a very stable person. I’m half deaf in my left ear, which probably could have been avoided by just being a bit more, yeah, on top of things like that.”

With hindsight, the frontman said he wishes he had taken more time instead of pushing forward so quickly. “I wish I'd been strong enough to like not tour as much and not go straight back into creative on the second album, particularly, and maybe even the third,” he admitted. “I think we just didn't give ourselves time to give that space, and it would have been more enjoyable and maybe more fruitful creatively.” Still, he also recognized the mindset they had at the time: “You're young... we were just trying to just get on with it.”

A Legacy in a Box of Records

The discussion also touched on the group’s emotional new video for "See Me Now," which includes old family footage of Pritchard’s father, who died when he was just three years old. “Everything comes back to the loss of my dad when I was a kid,” Pritchard shared.

He went on to describe how his journey in music feels connected to something his father never got the chance to finish. “My dad was in a beat band in Bristol... but, you know, he never made it,” he explained. “Because all he left me was a box of records and a Gibson Les Paul, I think that was my way of connecting with him, was to try and do that for him.”

Pritchard said including the old VHS clips felt like a meaningful way to bring the story full circle. “My mum found these old VHSs of him doing rock star training, basically, when I was three,” he said. “And I was like, ‘Yeah, we should share it with people.’”

Tune into The Evening Show with Dan O’Connell on Radio X weekdays from 7:00pm to 10:00pm and on Global Player.