The Kooks formed at the Brighton Institute of Modern Music in 2005, where they were all students. Lead singer and rhythm guitarist Luke Pritchard and bassist Max Rafferty formed the base of the band for a college project, and subsequently incorporated lead guitarist Hugh Harris and drummer Paul Garred. They chose a band name from the song Kooks of the 1971 David Bowie album Hunky Dory.

The Kooks released a debut EP and played at Brighton’s Free Butt festival, after which they were immediately signed to Virgin Records. Their debut album, Inside In / Inside Out, spent more than half of 2006 in the UK Top 20, attained triple platinum status, and has sold more than a million copies. Pritchard has claimed he wrote the hit song Naive when he was only sixteen years old. The group went on their first US tour in October 2006, selling out shows both in New York and Los Angeles. They also played at the Reading/Leeds festivals in the NME/Radio 1 Tent to a huge crowd. Among the band’s honours are a nomination for Best New Act at the 2006 Q Awards and the award for Best UK and Ireland Act at the 2006 MTV Europe Music Awards and had one nomination at The BRIT Awards and a shortlist nomination.

Arctic Monkeys are a British Indie band from High Green, a suburb of Sheffield. Formed in 2002, the band currently consists of Alex Turner on lead vocals and guitar, Jamie Cook on guitar, Matt Helders on drums and backing vocals and Nick O’Malley on bass guitar and backing vocals, who replaced Andy Nicholson. Their debut album Whatever People Say I Am, That’s What I’m Not, released in January 2006, was at the time the fastest-selling debut album in British music history. Arctic Monkeys achieved their success through fan-made demo tapes and online file sharing. They were heralded as one of the first acts to come to the public attention via the Internet, with commentators suggesting they represented the possibility of a change in the way in which new bands are promoted and marketed.