After a quiet 2012, Stereophonics return with a brand new album and cinematic sound. Jim Swidenbank gets the lowdown from Kelly Jones on the album and a work-in-progress film script.
Thanks to those good folk at MTV, the Welsh valleys boast a somewhat questionable reputation in the UK following their portrayal of a choice selection of its inhabitants with dubious morals drinking beer out of each other’s bum-cracks on a regular basis. Thankfully these aren’t the only folk to reside amongst our rolling hills and green pastures. 20 years ago a Welsh musical institution was born when three friends formed what has become arguably one of the biggest bands the UK has seen in the past two decades. This side of the bridge the Stereophonics need very little, if any, introduction. Thundering out of the small community of Cwmaman with their uber-successful debut Word Gets Around in 1995, they’ve gone on to forge an eye-wateringly successful career which has seen them notch up some 17 platinum discs over seven albums not to mention achieving the much-coveted UK number one single slot. As singer, guitarist and chief songwriter, Kelly Jones reminisces that it wasn’t always plain sailing. “Even we struggled when we started out. At one point we seriously contemplated digging out the boot polish and becoming a Jimi Hendrix tribute act,” he laughs.
Fast forward to the tail end of 2012 and all is quiet in the Stereophonics camp following a busy few years promoting their seventh studio effort Keep Calm and Carry On and a successful greatest hits album. The ensuing tour dates had seen them take in the usual array of arena-sized venues – including the inaugural concert at the new Cardiff City Stadium which was attended by some 30,000 fans – yet they saw last year out by playing a short string of much smaller, more intimate shows.
“I think last year was the first year we hadn’t toured in over 16 years,” explains Jones. “We’ve just been enjoying making music. It was really nice to get out and play some venues we hadn’t played in a long time – some ever before – and also to play some of the new songs. It was a really different experience,” he continues. “The great thing with this run of shows was that we really delved into the band’s seven-album back catalogue; we pulled out songs we hadn’t played live in a long time and some ever before. It was great to try and mould a set around what goes with the new material.”
This year sees the band release Graffiti On A Train, their eighth studio album and first on their own label Stylus Records – a move effectively making them their own bosses. “Time is normally against you in the studio, you always end up with the smallest amount of time making a record which doesn’t make much sense. You end up with six weeks to make a record and then 14 months going around the world telling everybody about it,” laughs Jones, “it’s the strangest thing. So this time we just decided to stop all of the running around for once.”
So that’s just what they did and the removal of time restrictions allowed for a far more relaxed approach to the song writing. “We got our own little studio where Rich and I just kept coming every day and making music and the main objective of it was not to worry about how the radio or other people would react to it or even how we’d sell it. By doing that it was a lot freer,” he says, before going on to elaborate. “In the past we’d have such a short timescale to make a record I’d just turn up with a dozen finished songs which we’d try and record as best we could in that time. This time I’d turn up with little bits of tunes recorded on to my phone or whatever and we’d piece them together and see what came out. It allowed us to take much more time over our choices so when it came to deciding on the 10 tracks to use on the album we had around 40-50 to choose from, which was a great process. “
Graffiti On A Train also sees the band collaborate with something of a legend in composer and producer David Arnold. “I’d never met David,” admits Jones, “Jim [Lowe, producer] and I started experimenting with string ides on a few tracks just for a bit of a laugh and the sound just got bigger and bigger and ended up sounding like something from Star Wars,” he jokes. “We just said ‘we should get David Arnold in to do this,’ not really thinking for a second he’d actually do it, but we managed to somehow organise a meeting with him. He listened to the tracks and just said ‘that’s right up my street, I’d love to do it’. We couldn’t believe it. Suddenly we had a 36-piece orchestra featuring all of the people who’d played on original Bond soundtracks – even the trumpet player who played on Dr No!”
There’s also a cinematic side to the new material, something which has become a bit of a labour of love for Jones. “The album has kind of been parallel to a film script I’m writing called Graffiti On A Train and the soundtrack and the story have been running parallel for about two years,” offers Jones by way of an explanation. “The music is sort of a soundtrack to the movie; it’s not a musical or a concept piece though. It’s a bit of a rite-of-passage story about two boys who end up leaving their small town and end up going to pick fruit in Lyon and throughout their trip across Europe they really discover things about themselves and each other and about life and that’s really the basis of the story. It’s like a cross between Stand By Me and Quadrophenia.”
So it sounds like the more lethargic 2012 is about to give way to a far more frenetic 2013 for the boys from Cwmaman. “Graffiti On A Train has been a huge thing for us; we’ve essentially been in the studio for the last 15 months,” summarises Jones. “We’re just looking forward to getting out there and playing some shows over the next year! We’ll bring out another bunch of songs about a year after this one and hopefully by then start bringing out some visuals with regards to the whole film thing. The next three years will be all about this and we’ll hopefully get out to the festivals over the next few summers whilst releasing lots of new material gradually giving people time to absorb it without over saturating.”
In spite of having a wealth of new material to play with at the moment the iconic double or triple album idea, however, was never really an option. “We did consider doing it but we didn’t want to leave too short a gap between releases. The joy of having your own label is that you can pick and choose how and when to release things, and we felt this was the best way to maintain a good level of interest and excitement in the material. The hardest part of this project was narrowing it down to the final 10 songs from all the ones we recorded.”
It sounds like the passion and excitement is just as prevalent within Stereophonics as it was when they were making a racket in a dirty Welsh garage all those years ago, with forays into film and follow-up albums ensuring it’s going to be a busy few years for Kelly and the boys. All hail the valleys.
Stereophonics’ new album, Graffiti On A Train, is out on Mon 4 Mar. Their first single, Indian Summer comes out on Mon 25 Feb. Info: www.sterophonics.com