The Kooks are an English Indie rock band formed in Brighton, East Sussex, in 2001. Formed by Luke Pritchard (vocals/guitar), Hugh Harris (lead guitar), Paul Garred (drums), and Max Rafferty (bass guitar), the lineup of the band remained constant until 2008 and the departure of Rafferty. Dan Logan was drafted in as a temporary replacement, until Peter Denton joined the band on a permanent basis in October 2008. Early in 2010 Pritchard announced the departure of drummer Paul Garred, due to a nerve problem in his arm.. Since gaining mainstream media attention The Kooks have incited a number of rivalries with other bands, most notably with Razorlight and Arctic Monkeys. In an interview with NME in 2006, Razorlight's lead singer Johnny Borrell claimed that The Kooks were simply copying their style; furthermore he claimed The Kooks were creating singles simply for the purpose of gaining radio airplay. Borrell stated, "The Kooks sound like they’re rolling over and begging Radio 1 to F*ck them." In response, The Kooks dedicated their single "Naïve" to Borrell live onstage during their final concert at London's Astoria. However Pritchard, in an attempt to end the feud, spoke with Borrell at the Q Awards in 2006, to which Borrell replied "Who are you again?".. In 2008, The Kooks revealed an ongoing dispute with Arctic Monkeys. The feud arose from Pritchard kicking Alex Turner, lead singer for Arctic Monkeys, in the face whilst onstage. Pritchard claimed that Turner had been attempting to disrupt his performance. "I had to kick Alex in the face after he tried to pull the leads out of my guitar pedals while we were on stage." Pritchard spoke to The Daily Mail about his efforts to apologise for the incident later on. "I saw them recently in a studio and tried to patch things up. I asked Alex if he wanted to have a bit of a jam in the studio, but he just turned his back and walked away." Pritchard went on to describe the Arctic Monkeys as "arrogant" but conceded that Turner is "a genius musician, and a really talented song writer, but now we've got this beef. But he shouldn't have touched my guitar."...
read more (wikipedia)