“When I grew up, I didn’t know many people that had lost a parent so young”

The Kooks have released a new version of ‘See Me Now’, which was captured at their show at London’s O2 last year.

The touching track originally featured on their 2014 album ‘Listen’, but has found a new wave of interest in recent months after being played live on The Kook’s biggest-ever UK headline tour last year.

Frontman Luke Pritchard wrote the song about losing his father when he was just three-years-old. Now, after a new surge in popularity, the band have shared a live version of the song, which was filmed at their performance at The O2 in London last year.

It comes with an evocative music video directed by Julien Temple, which blends together footage from the track’s original 2014 video, clips from 2025 performance, and home footage of Pritchard as a child with his father.

“There’s been a new meaning in that song for me since having kids. I realised that music was the connection to my dad,” the frontman said. “And the fan reaction has been humbling… sometimes a song just has its time.”

He then added that he began to reconnect with the song after his mum “dropped off a load of tapes of me and my dad that I’d never seen”, and he realised how much his father’s limited presence helped shaped his life.

“It was like a time capsule experience,” he continued. “There are videos of him literally teaching me to use a microphone, play guitar, pose like a rock star, all when I was three. It unlocked a lot of memories. I was so young, I hadn’t realised it happened.”

Discussing why it was the performance from The O2 that was chosen for the live recording, Prichard shared that the set felt like “a particularly special performance”.

“I didn’t actually think I would be able to finish the song. My mum and sister were in the audience. I just thought how much this would blow his mind – that I played the song to that many people in London,” he continued.

“And then all the stories from other people started coming into us. When I grew up I didn’t know many people that had lost a parent so young. I’ve just had so many people contact me and talk to me about their stories.”

‘See Me Now (Live At The O2 Arena, London)’ arrives as The Kooks are also gearing up to celebrate the 20th anniversary of their pivotal debut album, ‘Inside In/Inside Out’ later this summer.

They will be performing the album at a series of outdoor concerts this summer, including at Delamere Forest, Scarborough’s Open Air Theatre, Isle of Wight Festival, The Piece Hall in Halifax and more. Visit here for tickets.

The band are also working on new material too, which will be the follow-up to last year’s seventh studio album, ‘Never/Know’.

They have teamed up with acclaimed producer Tony Berg (Phoebe Bridgers, Sombr) for the release, and revealed that it is leaning toward a “psychedelic rock and roll record” this time around.

In a statement shared exclusively with NME, Pritchard shared what it was like to be working with the producer, and explained that it is making them take extra care with the new material.

“We’re working with Tony and he’s a really, really good producer,” he said. “He’s very tough on us – and that’s how I like it. I feel like he’s a bit of a teacher actually. You’re never going to complete making records, there’s always more to learn.

“Every lyric is considered, it’s very good to be pushed.”

The new announcements from The Kooks comes following the frontman recently looking back at how the band shares the same debut album anniversary as Arctic Monkeys, and retracing their past rivalry.

“It’s funny now with the lens. It’s quite a similar scene, but I felt like we were so different. Like, at the time we were in such a different kind of space,” he shared. “To me, it was almost like they were doing, like, rap music… it was very tough and almost industrial.”

Before then, NME spoke to the band about their latest album, and they opened up about seeing a resurgence in popularity with a younger generation.

“You talk about DNA – we still have that coming-of-age feel when we play music. We still have it,” Pritchard said. “Hopefully, it’s just because we’re keeping fresh, we’re evolving, and we’re quite open to new things. We don’t think about it overly, we just try to play with a kind of spirit that works with people of all ages, really.”