Mick Jagger in awkward wardrobe blunder encounter in backstage meeting with The Kooks

The Kooks singer Luke Pritchard has revealed the moment he realised he’d made it in music – and it was when Rolling Stones legend Mick Jagger showed up at his band’s gig.

They always say never meet your heroes, but it seems meeting the iconic Stones frontman backstage was a life-affirming moment for the beloved indie rockers.

However, one thing is also crystal clear: the handsome indie hitmaker didn’t expect to be sporting a towel when Mick walked into the room.

Speaking exclusively to Daily Star, Luke told his epic tale of when Mick Jagger himself came to watch his band’s show at Brixton Academy in London, and how he ended up “shooting the sh**” with one of his heroes.

It comes ahead of The Kooks’ new record 10 Tracks To Echo In The Dark, the band’s sixth record which is being released in three EPs.

Luke’s star-studded Mick meeting came to pass during the The Kooks’ early days, near the time of their dazzling debut record – Inside In / Inside Out – which came out in 2006.

The quadruple-platinum-album scored a Brit Award nod for its seventh track She Moves in Her Own Way, and Track Nine, Naïve, went on to become the band’s best-selling single ever.

When asked whether there was a special moment which made him realise he’d made it in the industry, Luke said: “Probably Mick Jagger coming to the show, you know? Mick came to Brixton Academy and sat next to my mum, you know what I mean?

“Then I was like ‘Okay, we’re doing something’ and that was on the first album. I was like ‘we’ve got to be doing something right.’”

Dishing on what Mick was like in person, Luke said: “He was so nice and came backstage and everything. But you think when it’s one of your heroes, one of the greats turning up, that’s like bigger than anything to me. That’s respect and yeah, that was cool.”

He went on to admit he felt bad, because he was kitted out in a towel when he met the Stones titan.

Luke went on: “I felt bad because Mick came in and we’d just come off and I was in a towel and I was just shooting the sh** with him in a towel. But I mean Mick’s amazing. He’s so lovely. It was fine. I think we spoke about what M&Ms we put on our rider or something.”

On how it feels to be touring again after the pandemic, Luke said he felt like he was “home” the minute he climbed back on stage.

He said: “It’s really cool, man. The first couple shows were really intense in a great way but I don’t think I’d been nervous for a show since I was like 18 but it’s like the first one.

“It was like amazing because you just get onto autopilot. It’s like what you do. You’re so used to like ‘I’m gonna get on stage’.”

He went on: “The first one back, in Sheffield I think, the minute I got on stage it was like ‘I’m home’, you know? It was like amazing. It was like this serenity comes in.

“But it was really just a bizarre experience to have two years away. And yeah, just seeing the fans, man. Seeing the people singing the songs back after all that time was really good, man. I’m just feeling grateful, really.”

The indie star said he still gets that adrenaline hit when he performs, and he reckons live music is “probably the most healthy addiction someone can have”.

Describing the feeling of playing, he said: “The adrenaline hit is very exciting. Live music in general is chemistry between a bunch of people. It’s like you become more of the sum of your parts. It’s a really amazing thing and it’s an addiction. It’s probably the most healthy addiction someone can have. More healthy than coffee.

“And I think that never quite goes away. I don’t know about other people but you never know what’s gonna happen when you go on stage. You could have the best show of your life or it could be terrible. Anything can go wrong but that’s part of it, you know?”

For fans wanting to know if Luke and the boys have any pre-gig rituals, it seems a quick meditation session and a shot of tequila does the trick.

Pritchard said: “People have asked me this recently and I’m starting to think I need to be more superstitious! But I don’t really have any.

“I do like a little meditation vibe. I do quite like that about half an hour before to take a minute. And a shot of tequila with the boys. That’s it. Meditation then tequila. In that order.”

After thrilling crowds earlier this year, the band will be touring all over the globe this summer – with shows in Paris and Vienna to Sao Paulo in Brazil.

They’re also playing a number of UK festivals including Truck Festival and Kendall Calling, both of which are for the first time.

On playing Truck and Kendall, Luke said: “Yeah, long time coming cos they’ve been on the radar for a long time, and great festivals. Always heard wicked things about them so just really gonna be a lot of fun.”

Teasing what fans can expect, he replied: “The band’s on fire, I know that. We’ve just had such a good tour. It’ll be like The Kooks before but better.

“We’re gonna play our entire first album which is something we did on the tour but we’ve never really done it so that’s exciting.

“Listen, the thing with The Kooks is it’s about the people, you know? Our shows are great because the people. It’s like that atmosphere and it’s like a proper togetherness thing.

“Hopefully I’ll run into Jane Birkin backstage and we’ll be singing a song together, you never know!”

The front man also spoke about how things like meditation and family life have impacted his songwriting – after struggling with the lack of live gigs during the Covid crisis.

Pritchard described his new record 10 Tracks To Echo In The Dark as “euphoric” and “instinctual”, adding that he didn’t want to overthink on the album.

Luke said: “Quite a few things have had an impact on my writing and one of which is the meditation. Being a bit more centred, a bit more grounded, and being a bit more settled in my personal life. Married, got a kid and those things have been hugely impactful and I think the album is very euphoric. It’s got a lot of hope.”

He went on: “I was trying to be imaginative because I did have a really bad time at the beginning of the pandemic and I was really struggling because playing live is part of my identity, who I am. I love performing and so I did have a tough time but I found getting back to working.

“I did a lot of it in this room. Some of it we’d already had written but it was a bit more insular and I think the meditation had an impact because it made me want to write an album about losing the ego and the kind of fight of a human being of trying to lose the ego and it being about the next generation.”

“There’s songs on the album that I really think have that but just in a kind of vibe I think a lot of the music is quite free, it’s quite effortless.

“I didn’t want to overthink on this album and it’s quite an instinctual record. Quite minimal as well. I think again the meditation made me want to do something like that. It’s just a bit less hectic in the musical arrangements. It’s keeping things very simple. A couple of musical elements and a message and hopefully a bit of vibe.”

The Kooks’ new album 10 Tracks To Echo In The Dark is set to be released on July 22.

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Source: Celebrities - dailystar.co.uk