The Kooks
Background information
Origin	Brighton (also Bridgnorth), England
Genre(s)	rock
Years active	2004–present
Label(s)	Virgin records
Website	www.thekooks.co.uk
Members
Luke Pritchard Hugh Harris Max Rafferty Paul Garred

The Kooks are an English rock band from Brighton.

History

The band formed at the Brighton Institute of Modern Music, where they were all students. Lead singer and rhythm guitarist Luke Pritchard got bassist Max Rafferty involved in a college project, which formed the base of the band. After getting lead guitarist Hugh Harris and drummer Paul Garred involved, they choose a song name from the 1971 David Bowie album Hunky Dory, entitled Kooks. It should be noted that when Virgin tried to copyright the name, they found that in the late/mid 1990s a Swedish band by the same name released a single in Sweden called "Too Much of Nothing".

The Kooks released a debut EP and played Brighton's Free Butt festival, and were instantly signed to Virgin Records. Pritchard has claimed he wrote The Kooks' hit song 'Naïve' when he was only sixteen years old, which after release catapulted the debut album, Inside In/Inside Out in the charts for more than half of 2006 in the UK Top 20, has sold more than million copies and attained triple platinum status. During a promo tour, the band refused to be interviewed on Channel 4's Popworld after presenter Simon Amstell made repeated references to Pritchard's ex-girlfriend, Katie Melua.

The group released Inside In/Inside Out and went on their first US tour in October 2006, selling out shows both in New York and Los Angeles.. They also played at the Reading/Leeds festivals in the NME/Radio 1 Tent to a huge crowd; the crowd was so big they were forced to stop playing at one point so that security could tell people to move back as people were being crushed.

Among the band's honours are a nomination for Best New Act at the 2006 Q Awards and the award for Best UK and Ireland Act at the 2006 MTV Europe Music Awards and had one nomination at the BRIT Awards and a shortlist nomination

Members

• Luke Pritchard – vocals and guitar
• Hugh Harris – backup vocals and guitar
• Max Rafferty – bass
• Paul Garred – drums

Notable Performances

- Supported The Rolling Stones on their A Bigger Bang Tour at Millenium Stadium in Cardiff, Wales.
- After touring America the band came back to London and played a secret gig at Proud Gallery, Camden.
- Performed on the Album Chart Show at midinght on Saturday 18th March 2006.
- Played at Radio 1's Big Weekend, Europe's largest free festival in Dundee on 15th March 2006.
- Performed "Ooh La", "Naive" and "She Moves In Her Own Way" at the "Jools Holland Annual Hootenanny 2006".
- Recorded a live session at Abbey Road Studios for Live From Abbey Road in August 2006.
- Played at the Glastonbury festival in June 2007.

Discography

Albums