The Kooks: 'We lost identity after second album'

The Kooks have revealed that they lost their sense of "identity" after the release of their second album Konk in 2008.

Frontman Luke Pritchard explained that they threw away several tracks for their recent third album Junk of the Heart, before moving to record the rest of the LP in the US.

Pritchard told The Sun: "Your first album, you're just kids and you're just doing what comes natural. The second one came off the back of touring. We did it very quickly.

"On the third one, you're trying to figure out who you are. You tend to struggle with your identity. So the pressure of that was just overthinking it. That's why we scrapped half an album - we were overthinking what we were doing.

"Once we stopped doing that, all the tunes came really quick and easy. We try not to feel pressure because that can suffocate your music. So we went to America and got outside of being at home to escape those pressures."

Pritchard added that there is often a healthy amount of tension in the band when working on new material.

"We get on pretty well but when it comes to music, we're all very opinionated so there are frictions. But you need to have a bit of that going on," he said.

"We're pretty much like brothers. We have arguments but we respect each other. With music, you can argue without being a d**k about it. Tussles are kind of how music happens. You're all pulling in different directions and you find a common ground."

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Watch the video for 'Is It Me' by The Kooks below: