Working on third studio album

In April 2009, the Kooks revealed to BBC’s Newsbeat that they were working on their third studio album. The band’s drummer, Paul Garred left the band in late 2009 due to a nerve problem in his arm. He was temporarily replaced by Nicholas Millard, from the band Crackout , and then Chris Prendergast for live shows. However, Garred returned for the recording sessions in late 2010, while continuing to not tour with the band, as Pritchard recently stated his injury “turned more into a psychological thing” whereby he “feels uncomfortable playing for long periods of time” for fear of his arm “flaring up”. One of the band’s first main attempts at writing for this album together took place away from their usual surroundings, as frontman Luke Pritchard told Newsbeat , “We kind of barricaded ourselves in the countryside for a few weeks—stayed at some friend’s who have a cottage in Norfolk.” However, the band recently revealed that over two weeks there, the band only managed to make one new song: “Eskimo Kiss”. After hiring and firing new producer Jim Abbiss ( Arctic Monkeys , Kasabian , Adele ) despite having some “really good sessions together”, the band returned to previous producer Tony Hoffer who gave them a “new direction” and they recorded the album in a more contemporary style.