Luke Pritchard Opens Up About The Kooks and Arctic Monkeys' "Rivalry"

JAKARTA - The Kooks vocalist, Luke Pritchard, has opened up again about the old memories regarding the "competition" and the unique relationship between his band and the Sheffield-based indie rock giant, Arctic Monkeys.

Although the two bands are often compared by the public for releasing their debut albums on the same day, on January 23, 2006, Pritchard emphasized that artistically they were on very different poles.

At the time, Arctic Monkeys released the album "Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not" which broke the record for the fastest selling album in the UK, while The Kooks launched "Inside In/Inside Out" which slowly but surely climbed to number two on the UK charts.

Pritchard stated that at that time he never felt in a hot competition with Alex Turner et al. According to him, The Kooks emerged with a small record contract capital and expectations that were not too high compared to the media's excitement about the Arctic Monkeys.

He actually saw a kind of mutual respect and brotherhood because they grew up in the same scene and often visited each other's concerts.

"I don't really think about it because The Kooks weren't really meant to be as big as we were then. We had a very small record deal," Pritchard said in a recent interview with Radio X.

"Everyone talks about Arctic Monkeys, no one really talks about us. So we don't feel like we're competing," he added.

Musically, Pritchard has an interesting perspective on the early work of the Arctic Monkeys. He considers Alex Turner's lyrical style and delivery on the first album to lean more towards rap music than conventional rock.

For him, the sound produced by Arctic Monkeys is very loud and raw, contrasting with the warmer and melodic feel of The Kooks' music.

"It's funny to see it now. The scene is similar, but I feel we are very different. For me, at that time they were almost like playing rap music. It was like rock and roll rap, very loud and almost sounded industrial. Their first record was mixed very industrially, while we were warmer," said the 40-year-old vocalist.

Although there was a rumor about a physical fight in 2008 - where Pritchard was rumored to have kicked Alex Turner in the face for trying to pull the cable of his guitar pedal on stage - now Pritchard chose to soften the atmosphere.

Pritchard emphasized that the incident was just a seasoning of a wild and energetic youth. He admitted that he was very proud to be part of the same generation as the Arctic Monkeys and to see how both bands managed to survive for two decades in the global music industry.

Pritchard also gave high praise to the way Arctic Monkeys continued to evolve and were reluctant to look back for commercial convenience. He felt connected to their journey because of the same age factor and status as the next generation of indie bands of their time.

"It's amazing to see their progress and how they managed not to look back. I think it's a good path and people should give time and space for artists," he concluded.