The Kooks' Luke Pritchard reflects on Arctic Monkeys 'row' where he kicked Alex Turner in the head

15 April 2025, 16:37

The Kooks' Luke Pritchard and Arctic Monkeys' Alex Turner. Picture: Luke Brennan/Getty Images, Christopher Polk/Variety via Getty Images

By Jenny Mensah

The Kooks frontman has recalled an incident with the Sheffield rockers, which saw him kick Alex Turner in the head, while insisting there's no rivalry between the bands.

Loading audio...

Luke Pritchard has looked back at his band's history with Arctic Monkeys and explained why their noughties skirmish is all water under the bridge.

The Kooks frontman previously recalled a bit of an upset between the Brighton band and the Sheffield rockers, which culminated in him kicking Monkeys' frontman Alex Turner in the face.

As reported by NME, the Ooh La singer once commented on their "weird" and uneasy relationship in 2008, revealing: "We 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.

“I tried to patch things up with Alex but he just turned his back and walked away. I suppose they are quite arrogant.”

However, the Kooks rocker has looked back at the time and insisted there was never any "rivalry" from their perspective, but they just happened to release their debut albums - Inside In/Inside Out and Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not - on the same day (23rd January 2006).

The Kooks - Seaside live at On The Beach

Read more:

In a new interview with the Daily Mail, the Pritchard reflected: "From our point of view, it just happened that our albums came out the same day, we were the same age, and we had similar influences."

"On a personal level, there’s never been a rivalry, added the Naive singer. "But I respect them, and I think they respect us. We come across them quite a bit, and it’s always fine.”

Looking back at their previous beef, Pritchard admitted: “There was the ‘kick in the head’ – we were meant to tour with them around our first album, and it didn’t 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.”

The Kooks' admiration for Arctic Monkeys has been clear in recent years, with their frontman praising the 505 rockers for continuing to develop as a band.

"They're a great example," Pritchard told Dan O'Connell ahead of their homecoming show at On The Beach in Brighton last year. "It's amazing their development and how they've managed to not look back. I think it's a well trodden path and I think that people have to give a bit of time and space to artists."