Backstage Banter with The Kooks’ Hugh Harris: From Tequila Rituals to Rock & Roll

For nearly two decades, Hugh Harris has been quietly shaping the sound of The Kooks—one jangling guitar line, one late-night studio session, one chaotic tour bus ride at a time. Since the band’s early days in Brighton’s mid-2000s indie explosion, Harris has become the group’s melodic anchor: the guitarist balancing frontman charisma with thoughtful musicianship, helping turn songs like Naïve and She Moves in Her Own Way into generational soundtracks for late-night walks, messy breakups, and the quiet optimism of growing up.

But behind the breezy riffs and festival sing-alongs is a songwriter who treats music less like a formula and more like emotional archaeology. Harris talks about songs the way people talk about unresolved relationships, something you return to again and again until the feeling finally lands.

Ahead of the band’s show at Razzmatazz, our very own journalist Lise Desmee sat down with a relaxed, witty, and disarmingly honest, Hugh Harris backstage in Barcelona to talk about songwriting patience, pre-show tequila rituals (or ginger shots, depending on the night), and why music, unlike most art; stays with us for life. The rest, as it turned out, flowed easily. LISE DESMEE: Amazing, cool. Okay, welcome to Barcelona.

HUGH HARRIS: Thank you.

LISE DESMEE: Um, we'll start with some quick icebreaker questions, just to get into the interview. So if you had to describe The Kooks in three words—no thinking—what three words would you use?

HUGH HARRIS: Um, I guess inclusive, fun, uh, rock and roll. That's four or five. Can I get “rock and roll” in one?

LISE DESMEE: Of course.

HUGH HARRIS: Thank you.

LISE DESMEE: Rock and roll, we love it. Okay, so I have a question, but I think I already know the answer: coffee or beer before the show?

HUGH HARRIS: It's a beer today, ’cause, uh, we're in Barcelona, of course. Um, coffee is for the morning, please. I stop drinking it around midday.

LISE DESMEE: Okay.

HUGH HARRIS: It helps me sleep.

LISE DESMEE: That's a good tip.

HUGH HARRIS: Yeah.

LISE DESMEE: So Belgian beer or British beer?

HUGH HARRIS: Ooh, um, obviously British-Belgian beer, the crossover. Stella's British, isn't it?

LISE DESMEE: Yeah.

HUGH HARRIS: Um, no - obviously Belgian is incredible. Uh, there's just too many of them, so I find it difficult to pick. It's like Netflix.

LISE DESMEE: Yeah, I see. Any favourites, though?

HUGH HARRIS: Um, I like, um, the elephant—the pink elephant.

LISE DESMEE: Oh, Delirium.

HUGH HARRIS: Delirium.

LISE DESMEE: Yeah.

HUGH HARRIS: Yeah, I like that.

LISE DESMEE: It's also a bar.

HUGH HARRIS: Yeah.

LISE DESMEE: Yeah, where you can get, like, very strong shots with fire and stuff.

HUGH HARRIS: Oh God.

LISE DESMEE: So if you go to Brussels, I can recommend the place.

HUGH HARRIS: Yes, please.

LISE DESMEE: Okay, so quick question. I guess it's not you, but who would be most likely to arrive late for the show?

HUGH HARRIS: Wow, um, I would say me, actually.

LISE DESMEE: Oh, yeah?

HUGH HARRIS: But not today, I'm usually a bit of a straggler.

LISE DESMEE: Okay.

HUGH HARRIS: Um, I quite like to stay behind and get involved in extracurricular activity, so I'm often kind of catching up with the tour bus, uh, to the next city.

LISE DESMEE: Or doing interviews, like today.

HUGH HARRIS: Well, you know, I'm a man of commitment, and I committed to this, so here I am.

LISE DESMEE: Okay, and thank you for this.

HUGH HARRIS: Pleasure.

LISE DESMEE: Um, what's the most unhinged tour habit someone has on your team?

HUGH HARRIS: The most unhinged tour habit?

LISE DESMEE: Before each show that you're like, wow.

HUGH HARRIS:Um, it's quite unhinged, but we do this kind of ritual before we go on where we play the song, uh, “Tequila.”

LISE DESMEE: Okay.

HUGH HARRIS: Um, oh my God, how does it go? I've just completely forgotten.

HUGH HARRIS: “Tequila!” That's how it goes, but I've forgotten the music before it for some weird reason, and we play it every night.

HUGH HARRIS: Um, but not all of us are drinkers anymore, so sometimes we just do, like, a ginger shot instead of a tequila shot, which is pretty unhinged, if you ask me.

LISE DESMEE: Yeah, a little detox. Maybe it helps the voice?

HUGH HARRIS: Yes, it does. Yeah, it helps the mind and the soul. Yeah.

LISE DESMEE: Okay, so that's your ritual before going on stage?

HUGH HARRIS: Yeah. It's a beer.

LISE DESMEE: Layer shots, alcohol or not?

HUGH HARRIS: Yeah, we do non-alcoholic shots of tequila.

LISE DESMEE: Who pretends to be chill but is not?

HUGH HARRIS: Um, that would be me again, probably. I give a calm energy, but actually it's chaos inside.

LISE DESMEE: Okay, well, I work like this as well.

HUGH HARRIS: Really?

LISE DESMEE: So this is me as well.

HUGH HARRIS: Good, as long as the front is kept.

LISE DESMEE: Exactly.

HUGH HARRIS: The mask is kept firmly on, we're good.

LISE DESMEE: And then we're good. Everything is about pretending, right? Fake it till you make it.

HUGH HARRIS: Exactly, pretentiousness, yes, haha.

The Roe team ahead of the interview

LISE DESMEE: So let's talk about your music. So out of your last album, if one of your songs was a feeling, which song would it be and which feeling?

HUGH HARRIS: Uh, I think the song “Never Know” would be a feeling of, um, glamour, optimism, and hope.

LISE DESMEE: Okay.

HUGH HARRIS: And it's got this great line in it, which I love, which is: “You can't take the money when it's time to go,” which is just brilliant because it's kind of talking about the afterlife - so let's blow it like we're movie stars. I love that line. It's so glamorous and fun.

LISE DESMEE: I like it too. Is it your favourite song on the album?

HUGH HARRIS: Um, I think it's up there, yeah. I also, um, really like, I've forgotten their names.

LISE DESMEE:Maybe you can sing it.

HUGH HARRIS: Oh my God.

LISE DESMEE: It's okay.

HUGH HARRIS:’ Cause we haven't been playing it live.

HUGH HARRIS:What's the other one that I really like? Oh my God. Do you know what? Do you know when that happens? Your mind just goes completely blank.

LISE DESMEE: Yeah, it's okay. It happens to me every day. In front of my students I’m like, “Oh, it’s okay.” So what’s the weirdest place where you’ve felt inspired for a song or to create, to compose?

HUGH HARRIS: Um, the weirdest place I've ever felt inspired to create music.... I think the shower is quite - it's not super weird, but it's quite kind of niche.

LISE DESMEE: Yeah.

HUGH HARRIS: Um, there's this harmonic resonance that you can get with your voice in the bathroom - and you might have it in a room like this, ’cause you've got tiled walls - where your voice kind of makes this resonant note.

LISE DESMEE: Yeah.

HUGH HARRIS: And I love kind of making a drone with the room and just kind of spacing out with my own voice and droning.

LISE DESMEE: Meditation under hot water. That's a good one.

HUGH HARRIS: Exactly.

LISE DESMEE: Do you believe in timing or chaos when it comes to writing music? I think I know the answer.

HUGH HARRIS: Do I believe in timing or?

LISE DESMEE: Yeah - like, do you feel like today I'm going to feel inspired, I'm going to be prepared, I'm sitting at my desk, I'm going to write a new song, compose a new song? Or is it more like something that comes to your mind, like, I don't know, you're having fun with your friends?

HUGH HARRIS: I think you can begin a song. You can construct the skeleton of a song, but if you're not ready to nail the vocal, then that can take months. So, like, yesterday I sang a vocal for a song of mine that I'd been trying to get for maybe two or three years.

LISE DESMEE: Okay.

HUGH HARRIS: And I nailed it last night for the first time.

LISE DESMEE: Cool.

HUGH HARRIS: And the rest of the song is complete, but I just couldn't get my head around what I was singing. It was quite a difficult subject. It was about an ex. It was about moving her into her apartment in New York.

HUGH HARRIS: And just kind of describing seeing the moon and the stars out of the window and just all the world falling apart around us in the relationship. And I just couldn't quite feel the confidence to sing the lyric. But last night I did, and I nailed it, and it felt fucking - like completion, you know?

LISE DESMEE: Congratulations.

HUGH HARRIS: Thank you.

LISE DESMEE: That's a good feeling. Good accomplishment.

HUGH HARRIS: Yeah, like closure.

LISE DESMEE: You can hear the story behind it.

HUGH HARRIS: Exactly. I think songs open up your heart and your soul, and then essentially you're looking for closure in some way over a feeling which is unresolved or unfinished. And so that can take time.

LISE DESMEE: Yeah, it takes time, indeed. Okay, maybe another question regarding your music. So a lot of people listen to this on late-night walks. What do you think comes to their mind when they're listening to your music?

HUGH HARRIS: What do you mean late-night walks? It sounds really dangerous.

LISE DESMEE: Like - no, in a good way.

HUGH HARRIS: Creepy.

LISE DESMEE: It's like, you know, when you're alone, you want to feel - yeah, maybe it's my English, sorry.

HUGH HARRIS: No, no, not at all.

LISE DESMEE: It's just like, you know, this moment where you're with yourself. Your day’s over, you just want to relax, and you're playing nice music.

HUGH HARRIS: Yeah, so what's the question?

LISE DESMEE: So what do you think - how does your music help people feel? Is it relieving?

HUGH HARRIS: I suppose the music is down to interpretation. In some ways, we can be listening to a sad song, but it can be very uplifting. Or a happy song, but it can remind us of someone who we aren't really seeing anymore. It's completely down to interpretation. I think music is something which you can use over and over again.

HUGH HARRIS: Like, there are some films you can do that with, but mostly you've watched a film -that's it. You won't go back to it. But with music, you do quite often go back and seek deeper meaning or find other purpose in it. It's very elastic like that, and it can take a big session. It can take a big kind of emotional battering, and it will always be there for you.

LISE DESMEE: Yeah.

HUGH HARRIS: Unlike a relationship or some friendships, it will always be there to describe how you're feeling and help.

LISE DESMEE: And it reminds you as well of what you thought back in the day when you were listening to this song. When it pops up 10 years later you're like, “Oh wow, I remember this stage of my life.”

HUGH HARRIS: It's a time capsule. Yeah. It's how we decorate our lives—with music. And there can be songs that can be benchmarks and milestones to all our events.

LISE DESMEE: No, definitely.

HUGH HARRIS: It's wonderful.

LISE DESMEE: Also each album is like a different part of your life, I guess.

HUGH HARRIS: Yeah, totally, yeah.

LISE DESMEE: Like you grew up also in your artist way, like your composition.

HUGH HARRIS: Absolutely.

LISE DESMEE: Yeah.

HUGH HARRIS: It's lovely.

LISE DESMEE: Okay, so maybe let's take it easy to round up. Describe your bandmates in one word each. How would you describe them?

HUGH HARRIS: Alexis is a koala bear.

HUGH HARRIS: He's cuddly and lovely and snoozy.

LISE DESMEE: Okay.

HUGH HARRIS: John is a stable horse.

LISE DESMEE: Stable horse.

HUGH HARRIS: I'm going with animals. He's like a Shire horse. Quite strong, bass, kind of, you know - four pillars to the floor. I see him as this well-put-together character. Very expressive and creative and artistic as well.

LISE DESMEE: Okay.

HUGH HARRIS: And he encourages a lot of madness behind the scenes and a lot of unhinged behaviour, but he's inherently quite well put together himself.

LISE DESMEE: Bringing grounded energy, then.

HUGH HARRIS: Yeah, grounded energy. And Luke is unpredictable, I think.

LISE DESMEE: Okay.

HUGH HARRIS: But creative. Very explosively creative and I think quite enigmatic.

HUGH HARRIS: So there are a lot of words there. I'm sorry.

LISE DESMEE: I like all of them. Good descriptions.

HUGH HARRIS: Okay, good.

LISE DESMEE: And how would you describe yourself?

HUGH HARRIS: I am a complex mess of egotistical insecurity and a work in progress.

LISE DESMEE: Okay. I think like all of us.

HUGH HARRIS: Yeah.

LISE DESMEE: But one positive word? All these were so negative.

HUGH HARRIS: Okay, I'm quite fun. I'm quite artistic. And I'm very encouraging to be around. I'll really support your artistic endeavours.

LISE DESMEE: Maybe you should become a teacher.

HUGH HARRIS: Well, we're all teachers.

LISE DESMEE: You should come to my school.

HUGH HARRIS: We're all students and teachers of each other's work to a degree.

LISE DESMEE: Every day we learn new things. So what's something you've unlearned as an artist over the years?

HUGH HARRIS: I used to think that if you didn't like a song or an idea, then it wasn't good. So I had to unlearn that along the way.

HUGH HARRIS: Now I've learned that if you don't like something, then true collaboration.

LISE DESMEE: You had expectations as an artist when you started, and now you see it differently?

HUGH HARRIS: Yeah. Growing up in a band you find a lot of peace with relationships and friendships. Living with your co-workers on the road - you either thrive in that environment or it's chaos.

LISE DESMEE: Yeah, for sure.

HUGH HARRIS: So learning how to be peaceful with each other and not take up too much space. It's one or two hours on stage, but it's 23 hours around that.

LISE DESMEE: Yeah.

HUGH HARRIS: So yeah - just learning to be at peace.

LISE DESMEE: Do you see each other often during the week to rehearse or compose?

HUGH HARRIS: No, absolutely not.

LISE DESMEE: Okay.

HUGH HARRIS: We all have families and friendship groups outside of the band which we don't usually cross over too much.

LISE DESMEE: So you all have your own space.

HUGH HARRIS: Yeah, totally. And that's healthy. You need somewhere to trauma dump.

LISE DESMEE: Yeah, for sure.

HUGH HARRIS: The trials and tribulations of being on tour with the guys.

HUGH HARRIS: You need a friendship group and a family to dump into.

LISE DESMEE: Okay, let's close off the interview. Finish the sentence: music should always…

HUGH HARRIS: Be music.

LISE DESMEE: Oh yay.

HUGH HARRIS: Unless it's musical theatre.

LISE DESMEE: A lyric you wish you'd written?

HUGH HARRIS: “But she's always a woman.”

LISE DESMEE: What are you romantic about outside music?

HUGH HARRIS: Barcelona. Beers. No - I mean those can be romantic things. But I'm a sucker for being in a museum with a girl, walking around and kissing under an atrium or by Roman statues. It's so wanky, I'm sorry.

LISE DESMEE: No, I love it.

HUGH HARRIS: It's really cute, isn't it? Walking arm in arm looking at art.

LISE DESMEE: You should go to MACBA, the Museum of Contemporary Art of Barcelona.

HUGH HARRIS: Amazing.

LISE DESMEE: Very famous place for skaters.

HUGH HARRIS: Oh my God, amazing.

LISE DESMEE: It's in Raval - the beating heart of the city.

HUGH HARRIS: Yeah, the essence.

LISE DESMEE: Exactly.

HUGH HARRIS: I'll try.

LISE DESMEE: Is your partner here?

HUGH HARRIS: No, I'm single.

LISE DESMEE : Perfect.

HUGH HARRIS: Thanks for the reminder.

LISE DESMEE: Maybe we go to the museum together.

HUGH HARRIS: We'll go together.

LISE DESMEE: Okay, last question. Give one piece of advice you probably shouldn't.

HUGH HARRIS: Start the business. Start - do the thing. Don't worry about the money. If you have an idea, fucking do it.

LISE DESMEE: That's good advice.

HUGH HARRIS: And if it fails, don't be afraid of failure.

LISE DESMEE: Yeah.

HUGH HARRIS: Disaster is okay.

LISE DESMEE: Last question - say something to your fans in Barcelona.

HUGH HARRIS: Hi fans. I hope there's more than one of you in Barcelona. Thanks for having us back time and time again. I hope you're not sick of us - we're definitely not sick of you. Thank you for giving me this job. I would suck at anything else. I'm so grateful I get to travel and play guitar for you.

LISE DESMEE: Okay, bye. Thank you so much.

HUGH HARRIS: Pleasure.

LISE DESMEE: I'm so glad. Thank you so much for your patience.

HUGH HARRIS: Of course.