Stereophonics

Emerging from Cwmaman in South Wales toward the close of the Brit-pop era, the long-running rock outfit Stereophonics fused gritty, roots-oriented guitar work with expansive alternative-pop hooks. Anchored by Kelly Jones’s gritty, instantly recognizable voice, the group broke through commercially in 1999 via its second full-length release, Performance and Cocktails. Across subsequent years the Welsh quartet sustained consistent chart dominance at home, issuing more than a dozen studio albums, eight of which reached the summit of the U.K. rankings, among them the 2022 set Oochya!

The lineup of vocalist and guitarist Kelly Jones, bassist Richard Jones, guitarist Adam Zindani, and drummer Jamie Morrison traces its origins to the teenage covers outfit Tragic Love Company, which originally included the late Stuart Cable behind the kit. Early critical notices frequently compared the newcomers to the Manic Street Preachers, and their first singles did little to dispel that perception. Jones, however, soon proved himself a capable songwriter and distinctive vocalist, a recognition that solidified only after the band’s debut album appeared. One of the inaugural acts signed to Richard Branson’s freshly launched V2 imprint, they were brought aboard by chief executive Jeremy Pearce in August 1996, even before the label began formal operations. Their first outing, the November double-sided single “Looks Like Chaplin” backed with “More Life in a Tramp’s Vest,” later spun off the latter track as a standalone release. Breakthrough arrived with “Local Boy in the Photograph,” after which each follow-up single improved on the last, ultimately placing the debut LP Word Gets Around inside the U.K. Top Ten and sending “Traffic” into the Top 20. The introspective tone of the latter cut showcased Jones’s plaintive delivery to particular advantage. A reissue of “Local Boy in the Photograph” also cracked the Top 20, arriving the same week the band collected a Brit Award for Best New Group. Their reputation as a singles act continued to grow when “The Bartender and the Thief” became a radio fixture through late 1998, setting the stage for Performance and Cocktails the following year.

Originally intended to bear the shorthand title J.E.E.P., the band’s third album, Just Enough Education to Perform, was retitled after Daimler-Chrysler asserted trademark ownership of the word “Jeep.” In September 2003 Stereophonics delivered their most candid collection to date, You Gotta Go There to Come Back. Less than a month after its U.K. arrival, founding drummer Stuart Cable departed; Kelly Jones later attributed the split to Cable’s waning commitment following Just Enough Education to Perform. The group elected to proceed as a duo while ex-Black Crowes drummer Steve Gorman handled live duties for several dates. Language. Sex. Violence. Other? surfaced in 2005 and introduced new drummer Javier Weyler. Spring 2006 brought the first live document, Live from Dakota. Following an extensive trek that included shows in Moscow and Latvia, the band issued three physical versions of the single “It Means Nothing” two weeks prior to the October 2007 street date of Pull the Pin. The career-spanning Decade in the Sun: The Best of Stereophonics arrived in 2008, succeeded by the new studio set Keep Calm and Carry On in 2009.

After touring in support of Keep Calm and Carry On, Stereophonics replaced Weyler with Jamie Morrison. The refreshed configuration made its recorded debut on 2013’s Graffiti on the Train, which yielded the hit “Indian Summer.” Certified platinum—unlike the preceding two gold-certified efforts—the album owed much of its commercial lift to “Indian Summer” and the title track. Two years later Keep the Village Alive appeared. Summer 2017 saw the release of the tenth studio album, Scream Above the Sounds, timed to mark the twentieth anniversary of Word Gets Around. Two years afterward the band returned with the chart-topping Kind, their seventh U.K. number-one album. In 2021 the high-energy single “Hanging on the Hinges” previewed the twelfth studio effort, Oochya!, which reached stores in early 2022.