Stereophonics

Biography: The Stereophonics are a rock band whose members are all from the same village of Cwmaman in the South Wales valleys. The original band members were Kelly Jones who does the lead vocals vocals, plays guitar and keyboards and is also the main songwriter, Richard Jones, who also does vocals and played bass guitar and keyboards and Stuart Cable who plays drums and percussion. But in 2003 the drummer Stuart Cable was sacked from the band by Kelly Jones and Richard Jones, because of problems with commitment to the band. He was then replaced by the present drummer Javier Weyler. The trio began performing in 1992 in a working men's club as a band known as 'Tragic Love Company' which was a name inspired by their favourite bands 'Tragically Hip', 'Mothers Love Bone' and 'Bad Company'. They later changed their band name to 'Stereophonics' after the maker of Stuart Cable's grandmother's gramophone. The band also supported both the bands 'The Manic Street Preachers' and 'Ocean ColourThe Stereophonics are a rock band whose members are all from the same village of Cwmaman in the South Wales valleys. The original band members were Kelly Jones who does the lead vocals vocals, plays guitar and keyboards and is also the main songwriter, Richard Jones, who also does vocals and played bass guitar and keyboards and Stuart Cable who plays drums and percussion. But in 2003 the drummer Stuart Cable was sacked from the band by Kelly Jones and Richard Jones, because of problems with commitment to the band. He was then replaced by the present drummer Javier Weyler. The trio began performing in 1992 in a working men's club as a band known as 'Tragic Love Company' which was a name inspired by their favourite bands 'Tragically Hip', 'Mothers Love Bone' and 'Bad Company'. They later changed their band name to 'Stereophonics' after the maker of Stuart Cable's grandmother's gramophone. The band also supported both the bands 'The Manic Street Preachers' and 'Ocean Colour Scene'. Then in 1996 they were signed to Richard Branson's newly formed record label, V2, they were the first artists to be signed to this label. The band signed a deal to record six studio albums with the label V2. In February 1998 the band received a BRIT award for best new group. Also at this time the band re-released their single 'Local Boy in the Photograph', which reached number 14 in the UK singles chart. The bands first album 'Word gets around' which was release in 1997 went "gold" in the UK where over 100,000 copies had been purchased in the UK alone. In November 1998 the band released the single 'The Bartender and a Thief'. It reached number 3 in the UK singles chart. It was their first single from their upcoming second album 'Performance and Cocktails'. The single 'Just Looking' was released next. It reached number 4 in the UK singles chart in March 1999. The same month the long awaited album 'Performance and Cocktails' was released entering number 1 in the UK albums chart and within three weeks of it being released the album went platinum. Throughout 1998 the band toured Europe, Australia and the USA. On June 12th 1998 the Stereophonics played to over 10,000 spectators at what has become one of the bands largest gigs. The footage of the concert was released on video and DVD and was entitled 'Live at Cardiff Castle' because it took place in the grounds of Cardiff Castle in Wales. In April 2001 the band released their third album 'Just Enough Education to Perform'. The album included the critical track 'Mr Writer' which is about the lead singer Kelly Jones' dislike of journalists and the media. The song caused controversy, which in turn caused a lot of bad publicity for the band by the mainstream media. To promote their new album they played at a two day festival called 'A Day at the Races' .The concert was supported by the bands Ash, Black Crowes and Proud Mary. Over 200,000 tickets were sold for the weekend festival in total. The footage of the concert was released on DVD in 2002. In 2003 The Sereophonics released their fourth album 'You Gotta Go There to Come Back' and they also changed their main logo. At the end of 2003 the band did a sold out tour of the UK, ending with a Christmas show at the Millennium Stadium supported by the bands Feeder and Ocean Colour Scene. The bands fifth studio album 'Language, Sex, Violence, Other?' was released in March 2005. The band finally had their first number one in the UK singles chart, with the albums first single 'Dakota' the next single from their newest album was 'Superman' which did not have the same success as their previous single, it reached number 13 in the UK singles chart. Next came the new single 'Devil', which reached number 11 in the charts. The album was nominated for a pop factory award at the end of 2005. At the present time, they are now working on their sixth album 'Pull the Pin', which will be released some time in October.… Expand