Assured 'Phonics return to rock

By Michael Osborn
Entertainment reporter, BBC News

Argentinian Javier Weyler (left) and Welshmen Kelly Jones and Richard Jones make up the trio

Welsh rock trio the Stereophonics, who have survived in the music scene for a decade, are returning with their sixth album Pull The Pin.

The band's preparations to promote their new release were thrown into disarray when frontman Kelly Jones injured his arm in a nightclub fracas - which has left him temporarily unable to play the guitar.

"It feels okay, but I've got to wait four weeks before I can do anything. The slash cut the muscle that controls my wrist," explains Jones, less rasping than his distinctive singing voice.

"At the moment we're just doing some unplugged stuff and I'm just singing. Hopefully I'll be ready for the tour in November."

'Cheap booze'

The 33-year-old singer, guitarist and lyricist says the new release marks a buoyant new chapter in the band's history, following on from the success of their last album, Language.Sex.Violence.Other, which spawned their first number one single, Dakota.

I didn't get into this to take four years off sailing on a yacht! I'm always going to write songs and play live Stereophonics' Kelly Jones (pictured right)

"When we made the last album we started believing in what we do a lot a more, and we had so much confidence making this one. We started to realise how good our catalogue of songs is.

Jones calls the new offering a set of "individual songs", from It Means Nothing, written at the time of the 7 July bombings, to the "tongue-in-cheek" Bank Holiday Monday.

"It's about when we used to play in those bars with cheap booze that ended up in fights at the end of the night," he recalls.

He adds that his approach to songwriting is organic and comparitively relaxed.

"I've never forced writing songs and never questioned when they come. I don't carry around a notebook with me - I might not write one for six months or I might write three in a week."

Jobbing musician

The lead singer of an assured rock band with a solid track record has a mixed reaction to new ploys in music marketing, including Radiohead's "choose your own price" album download, and other acts turning their backs on record labels.

"You can put music out independently, it depends what type of record it is. If it's something we want a lot of people to hear outside of our fanbase, then I think you do need a big machine behind you," says Jones.

Kelly Jones (left) sporting his recent arm injury

"If it's just for your fans then it's an amazing thing to do. It just depends where you're at. Bands like Radiohead don't need a record deal and I'm sure they'll have a lot of success with it."

But the rock star revels in the "sense of freedom" he felt by putting out a solo record earlier this year with no marketing, which topped the iTunes download chart within 36 hours.

"It was a complete accident. It was a bunch of left-over songs. The band was in the studio when I made it."

"If it happens again in that natural way, I'll do it. But I'm lucky enough to be in a band where I've got the freedom to do what I want anyway - I don't need to go solo," explains Jones, who adds that he is essentially a jobbing musician.

"This is what I do. If I had a record deal or not I'd still do it.

"I didn't get into this to take four years off sailing on a yacht! I'm always going to write songs and play live," says Jones.

"We've never been media darlings and quite like being the underdogs and proving people wrong. It's quite satisfying."

Pull The Pin by the Stereophonics is released in the UK on 15 October. The band are due to begin their UK and Ireland tour on 29 October.