The Rock ’n Roll Circus, The Kooks, Razorlight, The K's, Seb Lowe, The Molotovs, Girl In The Year Above, and Girlband

Arriving on the British indie rock scene in 2006 were vocalist and guitarist Luke Pritchard, lead guitarist and synth player Hugh Harris, drummer Alexis Nunez and bassist Peter Denton (the original bassist was Max Rafferty, who left in 2008 and original drummer Paul Garred was eventually replaced due to a nerve problem in his arm, making him unable to play live).

The four Brighton boys that make up The Kooks joined the likes of the fresh-faced Arctic Monkeys in releasing their debut album in the mid naughties; theirs recorded in Konk studios, London in 2005 and entitled “Inside In/Inside Out.” Although they were a little overshadowed by Arctic Monkey’s simultaneous release and instant success, the album received great critical acclaim and massive chart success in their UK home, eventually securing the number two position in the Albums Chart for two consecutive weeks. The album was also certified platinum by the British Phonographic Industry and the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry and launched their mainstream success, winning them the Best UK and Ireland Act at the 2006 MTV Awards.

Singles from their debut album such as “She Moves in Her Own Way” and “Naïve” broke the top ten in the UK singles chart and achieved success in charts in Europe too. The latter single being covered in Radio One’s Live Lounge sessions by British songstress Lily Allen cemented the band’s wide reaching appeal and demonstrated their strength in song writing skills. With influences like The Rolling Stones, The Strokes and Bob Dylan, this particular skill certainly didn't happen by mistake.

Their second album, “Konk” (named after the studio in which the first and second album were recorded) was released in 2008 and went straight to number one in the UK Albums Chart and was certified gold in the UK and Ireland. Single “Always Where I Need to Be” even achieved chart success in the US, reaching number 22 in the Alternative Songs Billboard chart.

In 2009 The Kooks began working on their third studio album (also recorded on label Virgin Records, as with their preceding albums). However, work was slow and after moving between new producers and writing methods to finally work with producer Tony Hoffer again, front man Pritchard announced in January 2011 that they had finally recorded fourteen tracks. Two months later the release date of 12th September 2011 for “Junk of the Heart” was announced and the album released with a more modern sound than before.

The Kooks then released a new single in April 2014 from their album, “Listen” released the following September. With surprise slots at festivals like Glastonbury, this particular year felt a little like a come back for The Kooks with Pritchard stating himself “that kind of fearlessness when you make the first album kind of crept back in.”

For a period of time, Razorlight were one of the biggest bands in the United Kingdom. Far eclipsing everyone else who had come out of the same East London indie rock scene, even though that scene brought the world everyone from The Libertines to Bloc Party. From 2004 to around 2007, they were only second to Arctic Monkeys themselves in terms of albums sales, fan devotion, radio play and sheer popularity. However, the crucial thing to remember about Razorlight is that no amount of success, no matter how all-encompassing it was, was ever going to be enough for their frontman, one Mr. Johnny Borrell. Borrell formed the band in 2002, after ditching a solo career that he'd spent as an intense, young singer/songwriter supporting bands like the aforementioned Libertines in Whitechapel bars. Once he'd put together the first line-up of the band, and recruited NME scribe Roger Morton as the band's manager, the band made their live debut supporting The Von Bondies at Camden's Dingwalls and recorded demo versions of their songs “Rock 'n' Roll Lies”, “Rip It Up” and “In The City” shortly afterwards.

Borrell soon became something of an indie rock celebrity, thanks to his pin-up looks and habit of saying things in the press that were alternately bonkers, brilliant, disgustingly arrogant or a hybrid of all three. As I said before, no amount of success would satisfy the ambitious young rocker, so the sheer amount of critical acclaim and commercial success that they enjoyed straight out of the gate is arguably the best and worst thing to happen to Razorlight in their entire career. After the band signed with Mercury Records, their debut album “Up All Night” was released in June 2004, and was an immediate top three hit. In 2005, after their single “Somewhere Else” had crashed into the singles chart at number two, the band solidified their place as the next big thing by performing to an audience of 200'000 people at that summer's Live 8 festival in Hyde Park.

Their self-titled second album saw them ascend into the stratosphere. After its release in 2006, the band secured their first number one single in the form of “America”, Borrell's co-writing effort with their drummer Andy Burrows, and support slots with Queen + Paul Rodgers, The Rolling Stones and Oasis followed in short order. In October, they embarked on a sold out tour of arenas in the UK and the following year, they capped off their imperial phase by headlining the Reading and Leeds festivals, the biggest gigs of their career by far. Ever since then, the band have remained one of the most beloved acts of the 2000's as much for their singer's eccentricities a for their titanic back catalogue of hits and their consummate live show. For remaining relevant well past a lot of their peers, Razorlight come highly recommended.