Kelly Watch The Stars

Stereophonics have returned to the fold with their sixth album, Pull The Pin. The follow-up to 2005’s Language. Sex. Violence. Other? (the band’s fourth UK No.1 album in a row), the record is a classic Stereophonics mix of belting rockers and tender acoustic moments, and will no doubt prove hugely popular with their loyal fanbase.

Originally emerging at the tail end of Britpop alongside a plethora of other Welsh bands (including Catatonia, Super Furry Animals and Gorky’s Zygotic Mynci), Stereophonics have shown remarkable staying power, with 2007 marking the tenth anniversary of their debut album, Word Gets Round. Having survived the departure of original drummer Stuart Cable, and regrouped after an illness in Kelly Jones’ family forced the band into a hiatus in 2006, it’s tempting to see Pull The Pin as heralding the start of a new era for the band.
Is that how Kelly regards it?
“Not really,” he replies. “Some people will see that the band has been around for ten years and talk about us beginning a new decade, so to speak. But for us it’s always been an ongoing process, every time we make a record we do something different from the one before.”
To mark Stereophonics’ tenth anniversary, earlier this year the band released the Rewind DVD, a feature-length documentary which saw various rock luminaries singing the group’s praises, including Bono, Jimmy Page, Roger Daltrey, Paul Weller and Noel Gallagher. There seems to be a particular kinship between Kelly, Weller and Gallagher, I suggest.
“Around the time our first record came out, Paul Weller phoned me up when we were doing a gig in France,” recalls Kelly. “I was 24, so you can imagine that I didn’t know what the fuck was going on. The support and encouragement he and Noel gave us from day one was amazing. I mean, Noel introduced me to The Who, which is ridiculous. Even when I say it out loud, I still think I’m lying. It never really changes for me, it’s always a bit weird. You see one of their names flash on your phone and you go, ‘Fuck me’.
“I feel quite proud to be in that league of songwriters, relationship-wise, and then we get to meet people like Jet or Kasabian, who come up to me and say they loved our first album. They did their driving test around the time ‘Traffic’ came out! It’s bizarre really, the cycle goes on and on.”
I remember seeing a picture a few years back in which Noel was making his exit from a pub with Kelly – beer can in hand – hoisted on his shoulders.
“We’ve had some good nights,” he chuckles. “Noel came back to my house that night and pinched a three-year-old kid’s bike. He phoned me the next day and said, ‘I’ve got a three-year-old’s fuckin’ pedal bike in my living room’. I had this French family living under me at the time and they weren’t very happy for ages afterwards. I couldn’t bring myself to tell them that Noel Gallagher pinched their kid’s bike!”
Talk of Stereophonics’ headlining performance at Slane a few years back leads me to mention The Rolling Stones’ gig at the venue in August. Kelly, of course, has been friends with the Stones’ Ronnie Wood for quite some time. Has he ever visited the guitarist’s County Kildare abode?
“I’ve had a couple of lost nights there. Mainly we’ve been to his home in Kingston Hill in London, but the farmhouse in Ireland is great. I remember we went back there after we played Dublin Castle. I got invited to a party at Ronnie’s and he ended up making me sing on a beautiful song on one of his solo albums, Not For Beginners. He’s a lovely guy, you could almost call him ‘Uncle Ronnie’ cos he treats you like one of his kids.
“Even if you take some of your mates along, he’s the type of person who treats all your mates equally, even if they aren’t famous, and I love that. Cos some people, at that level, they only talk to who they need to talk to. But Ronnie and his family are so warm. We actually toured with the Stones, on the album before the last one. We only did four shows, but again, it’s so surreal, it’s like walking into Almost Famous.”
What’s Mick Jagger like?
“He’s good, man,” enthuses Kelly. “He came into our dressing-room and was trying to chat up all our birds as usual. Asking all our birds if they’re backing singers or dancers. It’s like, ‘No, that’s his fuckin’ girlfriend!’”
Is Kelly still feuding with Matt Bellamy?
“That was years ago, we’ve kind of made up,” he responds. “Well, I apologised, actually, a few years later in the paper. It was a time when we were bigger than them (laughs). Just before Performance And Cocktails came out, we were doing 50,000 capacity stadiums in Wales and stuff. We did our own show and invited different people to play. We did a press conference and somebody asked about support bands. I said, ‘We did ask this band called Muse, but they wanted 50 grand, and we could get a Radiohead tribute band a lot cheaper.’
“So it fucking kicked off, and then it went back and forth a bit. It was just daft really. It was me being a bit of prick, to be honest. I don’t regret it really, it’s part of growing up, my man (laughs).”
Finally, I mention Stereophonics’ US tour with David Bowie a while back, which witnessed the Welsh outfit getting stuffed in a footie match by the Thin White Duke’s road crew.
“Yeah, we played David Bowie’s crew, and he came to watch,” Kelly winces. “It was a five-a-side game, and he took great pleasure in telling every fucking arena across America that we lost! He brought the trophy down above our heads, like Spinal Tap, and told everyone how bad we were at football. But he was great, he used to watch our soundchecks.”
Yet another of Stereophonics’ high profile admirers. And as long as the band keep producing the goods, it’s a list that’s only set to grow.

Pull The Pin is out now on V2. Stereophonics play the Odyssey, Belfast (November 27); INEC, Killarney (28); and the RDS, Dublin (29).