The Kooks

With their follow-up Konk (2008) debuting at number one on the UK Albums Chart, it recorded first week sales of 65,000, achieving gold status in both the UK and Ireland. Their third studio album, entitled Junk of the Heart, was released on 12 September 2011.

The original members of The Kooks all met as students at the Brighton Institute of Modern Music in 2002. The inspiration to form a band came to Pritchard as he and Garred were out shopping for clothes one day in Primark. Speaking to MTV Garred said, "we had this vision on how we wanted the band to look and stuff—so we bought some clothes and these hats." Sharing a love of The Rolling Stones, Bob Dylan, The Police, and David Bowie Pritchard got Harris and Rafferty involved under the guise of a school music project. Pritchard himself said "We got together just on a whim, really." With no demo of their material Garred and Pritchard went in search of a gig, and according to Garred, they were able to book their first show simply because the manager liked their hats. "So we went in to get a gig, we don't have a demo, and this guy told us, 'Well, you can't get a gig if you don't have a demo, but I like your hats, so I'm going to give you a gig'", said Garred. However, the band was unable to make the performance as they were making their demo at the time. Read Less