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 chose a band name from a song off the 1971 David Bowie album Hunky Dory, entitled “Kooks”. When Virgin tried to trademark 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 wrote The Kooks’ hit song “Naïve” when he was only fifteen years old, which after release catapulted the debut album, Inside In/Inside Out into the UK Top 20 charts for more than half of 2006. The album has sold more than a million copies and has 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.





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