{"id":438821,"date":"2026-01-26T16:07:08","date_gmt":"2026-01-26T16:07:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/438821\/"},"modified":"2026-01-26T16:07:08","modified_gmt":"2026-01-26T16:07:08","slug":"we-were-so-different-it-was-almost-like-they-were-doing-like-rap-music","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/438821\/","title":{"rendered":"We were so different \u2013 it was almost like they were doing, like, rap music"},"content":{"rendered":"

Luke Pritchard has reflected on The Kooks<\/a> sharing the same debut album anniversary as Arctic Monkeys<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Read More:\u00a010 nerdy facts about Arctic Monkeys seminal debut album \u2018Whatever People Say I Am, That\u2019s What I\u2019m Not\u2019<\/a><\/p>\n

Both bands released their debut albums on the same day, January 23 2006, with the Sheffield band\u2019s \u2018Whatever People Say I Am, That\u2019s What I\u2019m Not<\/a>\u2018 becoming the fastest selling debut album in British music history, while The Kooks\u2019 \u2018Inside In\/Inside Out\u2019 went in at Number Nine and peaked at Number Two in the UK albums chart.<\/p>\n

At the time, The Kooks praised\u00a0the Sheffield band for helping make their debut become one of the most successful albums of that year<\/a>, and\u00a0Pritchard recently sat down with Radio X<\/a> and insisted there was no competition because the bands were very different.<\/p>\n

\u201cI didn\u2019t really think too much about it because The Kooks weren\u2019t really meant to be as big as we were,\u201d he said. \u201cLike, we had a very small record deal. Everyone was talking about the Arctic Monkeys, like, no one really was talking about us, so we didn\u2019t really feel particularly in competition.\u201d<\/p>\n

Instead, Pritchard recalled a sort of mutual appreciation between the two bands, adding: \u201cThey\u2019d come to our gigs and we\u2019d go to their gigs. We kind of knew them.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s funny now with the lens, you see it. It\u2019s quite a similar scene, but I felt like we were so different. Like, at the time we were in such a different kind of space,\u201d he continued. \u201cLike, to me, it was almost like they were doing, like, rap music. It was like rock and roll rap, you know, and it was, like, very tough and, like, almost like industrial. Like, the record was really mixed, so industrial, that first one\u2026 and we were more warm.\u201d<\/p>\n

Despite the their stylistic differences, Pritchard said he was \u201cproud\u201d to share the milestone and be part of that period in British music history.<\/p>\n

\u201cNow I look back at it and I feel really proud that we were, like, at the same time as them. It was a really great time for music. And I loved that record then. I love that record now. And it got loads of kids into guitar music at that time and still now.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo I felt like a good kind of\u2026 like a brotherhood with them, you know. It\u2019s amazing to be part of that pantheon.\u201d<\/p>\n

Last year also saw Pritchard reflect on the band\u2019s shared history \u2013 namely a row he\u2019d famously had with\u00a0frontman\u00a0Alex Turner<\/a>.\u00a0Back in 2008, Pritchard spoke about a feud he once had with the singer which resulted in him kicking Turner in the face<\/a>.<\/p>\n

He said at the time: \u201cWe have had a weird relationship with the Arctics since we first met. 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.<\/p>\n

\u201cI tried to patch things up with Alex but he just turned his back and walked away. I suppose they are quite arrogant,\u201d prompting Monkeys fans to hit out at the\u00a0comments as a \u201cdesperate attempt to get some publicity\u201d<\/a>.<\/p>\n

However, a 2025 interview with the Daily Mail<\/a>, Pritchard played down their feud, saying: \u201cOn a personal level, there\u2019s never been a rivalry<\/a>. But I respect them, and I think they respect us. We come across them quite a bit, and it\u2019s always fine.\u201d<\/p>\n

He added: \u201cThere was the \u2018kick in the head\u2019 \u2013 we were meant to tour with them around our first album, and it didn\u2019t happen. They came down to our gig, and there was a bit of an incident. But again, it was all fun. It was crazy times, man.\u201d<\/p>\n

Pritchard also previously praised Arctic Monkeys\u2019 \u201cdevelopment\u201d over the years in a separate interview<\/a>. \u201cIt\u2019s amazing their development and how they\u2019ve managed to not look back. I think it\u2019s a well trodden path and I think that people have to give a bit of time and space to artists.<\/p>\n

Pritchard went on to explain how he no longer really feels connected to some of the lyrics and emotion from The Kooks\u2019 earlier work. \u201cThe thing with Arctic Monkeys where they are very similar to us as well, is that we\u2019re the same age. Again, we were the next gen from the indie bands at the time, so we were very young.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"ArcticArctic Monkeys have released new single \u2018Opening Night\u2019 from the new \u2018Help(2)\u2019 album in aid of War Child. Credit: Phoebe Fox\/Jonathan Glazer<\/p>\n

Earlier this month, the Monkeys\u00a0released a brand new song called \u2018Opening Night\u2019<\/a>. This was recorded as a one-off release, and it is the first taste of a new all-star charity album \u2018Help(2)\u2019, made in conjunction with War Child.<\/p>\n

NME\u00a0gave \u2018Opening Night\u2019 a four-star review<\/a>, noting that the song\u2019s release had been \u201cenveloped in hearsay \u2013 that\u00a0it\u2019s\u00a0their final release, that\u00a0it\u2019s\u00a0an outtake from \u2018AM\u2019 sessions\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you\u2019re looking for answers as to what the future holds, you\u2019re not going to get them here,\u201d it read. \u201cBut if this is the last piece of music we\u2019re going to get from Arctic Monkeys, it\u2019s a solid way to bow out \u2013 interesting, enjoyable and for a mighty good cause. More tunes aside, it\u2019s all we could ask for.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Luke Pritchard has reflected on The Kooks sharing the same debut album anniversary as Arctic Monkeys. Read More:\u00a010…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":438822,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[64,63,134,1770,136],"class_list":{"0":"post-438821","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-music","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-entertainment","11":"tag-indie","12":"tag-music"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/438821","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=438821"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/438821\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/438822"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=438821"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=438821"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=438821"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}