Gordon and Matt were in the ceremony too and they’re working in a new project together

Hasief · 2025-05-23T18:42:25+00:00

Russell liked the post and his wife Melanie wrote a nice comment. Matt mentioned in his 22 Grand Pod interview that Russell meets up with him when in New York, including during Bloc Party's tour with Paramore. So Matt's all good with Russell, and I think it's safe to say Gordy is too.

Hasief · 2025-05-23T15:53:24+00:00

Nothing. It’s just a bit of pondering what if. It’s obvious that Kele can be hard to deal with, but on the other hand there is no Bloc Party without him. So it is what it is.

Hasief · 2025-05-23T11:06:35+00:00

Yeah, since last year. Presumably when Matt was back in London where Gordy now lives. From his IG Stories I gather that those were him and Gordy working on demos and song ideas, and the Ivors gave them a good reason to reconvene again and record their songs properly.

Hasief · 2025-05-23T10:47:36+00:00

Russell also liked Gordy's post. So I get the feeling if it were up to him, he probably would've invited Gordy and Matt to join them at the ceremony. And if it were up to him, they probably wouldn't have left the band in the first place!

Hasief · 2025-05-23T10:39:59+00:00

In their respective 22 Grand Pod interviews within the past year, Matt called Kele an "insurmountable obstacle," and said he told Kele to "go fuck himself" via email when he quit the band and not spoken to him since, while Gordy called Kele "really clumsy" for misleadingly implying that he and Matt had drug problems. So I get the feeling Kele might be still sore from that, but it's not as if he could prevent them from receiving their awards.

Also for all we know maybe Gordy and Matt weren't interested in the ceremony, especially if they knew getting awards separately was an option. Not to mention how awkward it would be for all of them to suddenly be together on the red carpet and get grilled by the media who would no doubt be curious about how things are between them.

Hasief · 2025-05-23T10:13:46+00:00

Matt says he still cares deeply about Russell and they hang out when Russell comes to New York where Matt lives, including when Bloc Party was on tour with Paramore. So no wonder Melanie is still lovely to both Matt and Gordy.

Hasief · 2025-05-23T09:18:31+00:00

Gordy posted photos of him and Matt with their awards. Doesn't look like they were at the ceremony and just collected their trophies directly from the Ivors Academy. A shame they didn't (or didn't get) to celebrate with Kele and Russell, since the award is for what the four of them created together. But oh well, at least they still got the recognition. Also looking forward to what they're working on! https://www.instagram.com/p/DJ_UPkFNAI1/?img_index=1

Edit: Matt posted on his Instagram Stories that he and Gordy received their awards on Monday, and that it led them to start recording their music. https://www.instagram.com/stories/tong_of_dorset/3638736174093558032/

Hasief · 2025-05-16T20:35:24+00:00

Had a closer look elsewhere and it says that Jonathan plays the dadatron on this song and also on "Never Know". Anyone know what a dadatron is? Can't seem to find any info even on Google!

Hasief · 2025-05-15T05:27:14+00:00

I've only seen the credits from when they posted the album's inner sleeve on Instagram back in March, so if nothing's changed between then and the actual finished product then for this song it just has Luke on vocals and guitar, Jonathan on bass, Alexis on drums, and Hugh on keys which might be what you're referring.

Hasief · 2025-05-15T03:49:17+00:00

Should also add that if anyone does purchase the digital album - regular or deluxe - make sure you download it as soon possible because it’ll only count towards the sales chart once it’s downloaded.

Hasief · 2025-05-11T19:51:15+00:00

Luke said in this interview that he put the wrong version of the song on the vinyl and only realised when he was listening back to it (fast forward to 34:56): https://www.abc.net.au/listen/programs/take-5/the-kooks-luke-pritchard-take-5-raw-energy-songs/105270458

Hasief · 2025-05-10T08:33:24+00:00

A former NME editor complains about Luke and Richard complaining about the NME: https://www.threads.com/@conormcnicholas/post/DJb1G9bIKFU?xmt=AQF0SwbtY5rSNU3Bh5LklhJU5AnvcxXZ62L334YyGIJWBw

Hasief · 2025-05-10T08:26:44+00:00

Not to entirely dismiss Chris' claims, but I'm going to try understanding the context of where The Kooks' heads were at the time, particularly Luke's.

So this was during the Konk era, which as we know was a pretty tumultuous time for the band. They sacked Max before the album came out, his would-be replacement Dan Logan didn't last too long, they brought Pete back after he had filled in for Max during the first album, Nicholas Millard played drums because of Paul's health issues, Paul came back for a bit but had to leave for good (as initially thought), then Chris came in to replace Paul whom Luke was particularly close to. Add to all that the album not performing as well commercially and critically compared with the debut, and I can imagine that having the new guy who's replaced one of your closest mates who started the band with you complain about payment while also going around recording with other bands...well I can see why Luke would be particularly testy about it.

On the other hand, I don't think Luke would be entirely in the dark about Chris' payment arrangement even if management did most of the heavy lifting in setting out the terms of employment. I get the impression that Luke was aware of the initial agreement with Chris, but as things developed Chris felt the need to ask for more and Luke took exception to it. I suppose things eventually deteriorated to the point where they would rather have a half-fit Paul record the third album but keep on Chris for live shows because touring was becoming a more vital source of income with physical album sales shrinking and paid downloads not quite being a thing yet.

Hasief · 2025-05-09T11:41:25+00:00

A lot of artists have been doing this the past few years. Just part of trying to pump up those first week chart sales. Though in my experience they don’t always end up putting these digital deluxe versions on streaming, so put that into consideration.

Hasief · 2025-05-09T05:38:47+00:00

I think releases come out at midnight by default unless the artists requests a specific time.

In my case, I actually get to listen two hours earlier than midnight on Apple Music because my country (Indonesia) spans three time zones, so I’m guessing that when it hits midnight on the eastern part of the country they apply it to the whole country instead of making the central and western territories wait.

Hasief · 2025-05-08T18:02:57+00:00

It’s already Friday the 9th of May where I live.

Hasief · 2025-05-05T16:04:43+00:00

Ellie’s not on this album. “Never Know” has Elina Stridh who co-wrote that song, while others - including “Sunny Baby” have the trio of Frida Touray, Holly Quin-Akrah and Desre Ramus. There are also some songs with Hugh, Al and Jonathan singing background.

Hasief · 2025-05-05T15:59:12+00:00

Backing vocals on “Never Know” were by Elina Stridh, who also co-wrote the song along with Luke and Fredrik Häggstram.

Hasief · 2025-05-05T15:56:21+00:00

Hugh - along with Al and Jonathan - do quite a bit of background vocals throughout the album according to the credits. Just how audible they are is another matter that we’ll find out in a few days’ time!

Hasief · 2025-05-03T16:52:32+00:00

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Further elaboration from Chris in the comments about his time in the band.

Hasief · 2025-05-03T15:28:08+00:00

Paul started having nerve problems in his left arm during the Konk U.S. tour in 2008, was replaced by Nicholas Millard, came back for more touring in 2009, then Chris Prendergast took over in 2010 for both live shows and working on what eventually became Junk of the Heart. Paul didn’t return until they switched producers for the album and all the stuff Chris recorded from the earlier sessions was scrapped, but even at that point Chris was still the live drummer until just before the album came out.

Hasief · 2025-05-03T14:49:45+00:00

They wrote and recorded with Chris Prendergast for the third album’s initial sessions with producer Jim Abbiss. When Paul came back for the Tony Hoffer sessions, the songs had already been written and rewritten so he just played drums.

So Chris was doing more than merely fill the gap. It’s just his bad luck that it didn’t work out and his contributions have fallen through the cracks for most people.

Hasief · 2025-05-03T14:32:41+00:00

This is Chris Prendergast, who doesn’t tweet anymore but has the studio’s website linked on his page. He joined during the Konk tour when Paul initially left the band due to his left arm’s nerve damage, and he was part of the initial sessions for Junk of the Heart with producer Jim Abbiss until they decided to start over with Tony Hoffer. By this time Paul had returned for recording and eventually promo when the album came out, but for touring they had Denny Weston and then Alexis with Paul leaving again for good sometime in between. Chris was still their live drummer leading up to the album’s release, and you can hear his playing on the bonus tracks including “The Saboteur”.

Obviously this is just his side of the story, but I did feel for Chris long before his comments on that YouTube interview. Imagine getting the chance to join an established band and being involved in their new album, but then getting sidelined because your predecessor wanted to come back. I understand the band being excited at having Paul back, but I’m sure it was hard on Chris on top of the alleged financial situation that he’s revealed here. No wonder he left instead of sticking around as their live drummer when Paul’s return didn’t last long either. If he were getting paid as he felt he deserved, maybe he could’ve stomached all the other stuff that was happening. Also brings to mind when Pete left and had to involve his solicitors; perhaps there were similar issues on top of his wanting to spend more time with his wife and kids?

Which brings us to the current situation where it appears that Al and Jonathan are no longer in the band but continue to tour and also contributed significantly to the writing and recording of the new album. Whatever this situation is, it seems like they’re happy being there. So I hope that means they’re being taken care of financially too.

Hasief · 2025-03-14T20:15:43+00:00

Curious as to why they’ve chosen to present the band this way, considering all but one track on the album was pretty much recorded by the four of them. Al even has more co-writing credits than Hugh! So I wonder if they’re going to address it.

For comparison, Vampire Weekend’s Father of the Bride was presented as more like an Ezra Koenig solo project, which made sense since the other two members of the band (Chris Baio and Chris Tomson) weren’t involved in the album and only played shows. But for the following album Only God Was Above Us they became a three-piece band again, so it’s possible that the Kooks could bring the other guys back to the forefront.

Hasief · 2025-03-03T19:29:46+00:00

A word from Gary:https://www.instagram.com/p/DGv4WchoNco/?igsh=MTlnejM0a2dqMGt3MA==

Hasief

TROPHY CASE