Singer-guitarist Luke Pritchard has a healthy sense of pride about his band, The Kooks, which plays the Pipeline Cafe tonight.

"I've got a bit of an ego about it," he admits, when asked whether The Kooks can buck the recent trend of Brit-pop bands (Arctic Monkeys, Kaiser Chiefs) achieving superstar status at home but remaining cult faves in America.

"I think we're a great band," Pritchard, 23, said in an April interview. "And I don't see why we can't do well" in the States.

He has reason to be cocky. The Kooks' sophomore album, "Konk" (named after the Ray Davies-owned studio where it was recorded), is loaded with the kind of colorful guitar lines, sparkling pop hooks and cut-the-crap lyrics ("do you wanna make love to me?" Pritchard chants repeatedly on one track) that could break the accent barrier.

It's a sound that's earned the band huge sales at home and comparisons to classic British bands like Blur, the Smiths and even the Beatles — but also barbs from some critics and fellow bands, who are quick to dismiss the group's catchy sound as fluff.

In your bio, it mentions that you guys listened to James Brown's "I'll Go Crazy" every day while you were working on "Konk." Did you in fact go crazy working on this record?

(Laughs) Well, yeah. Being in a band, sometimes you do feel like you're going ------- nuts. Sometimes you feel like pulling your hair out. But that's all part of being in a band, you know?

Another British band, Kasabian, said you guys make "music for girls." Do you take that as an insult or a compliment?

Loads of interviewers have said that quote to me and said, "What do you think of that?" First of all, that's (Kasabian's) kind of sense of humor, I think. And it's weird to me, because I've met their singer, and he's real cool about our band.

But like you say, I would see it as a compliment, really. Lots of girls do listen to our music. We want to be the Beatles, you know what I mean? That idea of screaming girls — who ------- wouldn't like that? (Laughs) Just 'cause they make music for sweaty old men doesn't mean we have to.

You've said about music in general and The Kooks' music in particular that if it doesn't make you feel good, then what's the point?

Our music's fresh and upbeat — most of the time. Some of the lyrics aren't exactly real pretty; some of them are dark. I think it's also being young, man. You know, Kasabian's quite a lot older than us — they're pushing 30 or whatever.

We just want to make people have fun.