This article or section may require restructuring to meet Wikipedia's quality standards. Please discuss this issue on the talk page. Left-to-right: Javier Weyler, Kelly Jones and Richard Jones
Background information
Origin	Cwmaman, Wales
Genre(s)	Rock Indie rock Alternative rock Britpop
Years active	1992–present
Label(s)	V2 Records Vox Populi Records
Website	Stereophonics.com
Members
Kelly Jones Richard Jones Javier Weyler
Former members
Stuart Cable Steve Gorman

Stereophonics are a rock band from Wales with members Kelly Jones, Richard Jones (no relation to Kelly) and Javier Weyler. Kelly and Richard grew up together in Cwmaman, South Wales. Kelly and Richard, along with original drummer, Stuart Cable began writing and performing in working men’s clubs together in 1992 as a teenage cover band.

Contents 1 Band members 1.1 Current Full-time members 1.2 Live Band members 1.3 Previous members 2 Biography 2.1 Formation and early years 2.2 Signing and Brit Award 2.3 Just Enough Education to Perform 2.4 You Gotta Go There to Come Back 2.5 New drummer appointed and Language. Sex. Violence. Other? 2.6 Live from Dakota 2.7 Other Projects 2.8 Pull the Pin 3 Songs in pop culture 4 Discography 5 See also 6 References 7 External links 7.1 Official Band Websites 7.2 Band member websites 7.3 Fan Sites

Band members

Current Full-time members

• Kelly Jones (vocals, guitar, keyboards, main songwriter)
• Richard Jones (bass guitar, vocals, keyboards)
• Javier Weyler (drums, percussion)

Live Band members

• Tony Kirkham (Live Keyboards)
• Adam Zindani (Live Guitarist)

Previous members

• Stuart Cable (drums, percussion, vocals) 1992 - 2003
• Steve Gorman (drums, percussion) 2003
• Scott James (Live Guitarist) 2001 - 2006
• Aileen McLaughlin (Live Back-Up Singer) 2002 - 2003
• Anna Ross (Live Back-Up Singer) 2002 - 2003

Biography

Formation and early years

The three-piece began writing and performing music in working men’s clubs together in 1992 as a teenage cover band known as 'Tragic Love Company', a name inspired by their favourite bands Tragically Hip, Mother Love Bone and Bad Company, although initially they were known as "Blind Faith" - but quickly renamed after discovering that Eric Clapton had a band of that name. The band later changed their name to "The Stereophonics", named after the manufacture of then drummer Stuart Cable's Grandmother's Gramophone.

Signing and Brit Award

In 1996 the band were signed to a newly formed record label, V2. The record label was created by Richard Branson and were the first artist to be signed. Upon signing, they dropped "The" from their name and simply became "Stereophonics".

In February 1998 the band received a BRIT Award for the Best New Group. In the same week the band re-released the single "Local Boy in the Photograph" which in turn, reached position 14 in the UK Singles Chart. The band's debut album, Word Gets Around also went "Gold" in the UK from the heightened publicity .

In November 1998, The Bartender and the Thief, the first single from Performance and Cocktails, was released. It hit number three on the UK charts. "Just Looking", was released next and reached number 4 in March 1999. The same month the much anticipated new album was finally released, entering at number 1 and within three weeks went platinum. Later that year the band played what was widely regarded as the best gig of the year in Britain in front of 50,000 people at Morfa Stadium in Swansea. They also collaborated with Tom Jones on a cover of the Randy Newman song Mama Told Me Not To Come for his album Reload.

Throughout 1998 and 1999 the band toured in Europe, Australia and the USA. On June 12, 1998 Stereophonics played to over 10,000 spectators at what has become, one of the bands largest gigs. Footage of the concert was released in VHS and DVD titled Live at Cardiff Castle. As the title suggests, the concert took place in the grounds of Cardiff Castle in Wales.

The band took a break during 2000 as well as recording their third studio album.

Just Enough Education to Perform

The band released their third album, Just Enough Education to Perform in April 2001. The album included the critical track "Mr. Writer" which is about the lead singer's dislike of journalists and the media. The song caused controversy which in turn caused a lot of bad publicity for the band by the main stream media.

To promote the new album, Just Enough Education to perform, they [Stereophonics] played a two day festival which was called "A Day at the Races". The two day concert was held at Donington Park on the first day and Cardiff's Millennium Stadium on the second. The concerts were supported by Ash, Black Crowes and Proud Mary. Matt Bellamy of Muse fell out with Kelly because Kelly claims Muse demanded large amounts of money to support them. Matt Bellamy replied that this wasn't true, and in fact the Stereophonics has asked for a huge amount of money to play Reading Festival. Over 200,000 separate tickets were sold for the weekend festival in total. The performance was released on a DVD in 2002.

You Gotta Go There to Come Back

2003 saw the release of their fourth album You Gotta Go There to Come Back and a change to their logo. Drummer Stuart Cable was sacked from the band due to reported commitment issues, Cable at the time presented a TV show called "Cable TV". Because of this he missed several rehearsals and live concerts. He was eventually replaced by present drummer Javier Weyler. Steve Gorman, The Black Crowes Drummer stood in for the bands live performances until Javier Weyler was appointed.

Towards the end of the year they did a sold-out tour of the UK, ending with a Christmas show at the Millennium Stadium, Cardiff, supported by Feeder and Ocean Colour Scene. The group took a break after their 2003-2004 world tour, which included a set at the Manchester Move Festival in July 2004.

New drummer appointed and Language. Sex. Violence. Other?

Their fifth studio album Language. Sex. Violence. Other? was released in March 2005; it marked their first recordings with their new drummer, Javier Weyler. The band grabbed their first number 1 hit in the UK singles charts with the album's first single, the punky, upbeat Dakota. The second single from the album, "Superman" was a growling, Black Sabbath-inspired rocker. This song however did not repeat the success of "Dakota", peaking at number 13 in the charts, partly due to limited radio airplay. After "Superman" came "Devil", which featured a controversial video and reached number 11 in the charts. The album was nominated for a Pop Factory award at the end of the year, losing out to Feeder's Pushing the Senses.

The band played in Vancouver, Canada in April of 2005 with opening band The Manvils. Following the concert, Kelly Jones invited The Manvils lead guitarist, fellow Welshman Mark Parry to join Stereophonics on the road as second guitarist in the band for their world tour.

On July 2, 2005, the group appeared at the Live 8 concert, in Hyde Park, London, playing to their biggest audience yet.

The band were scheduled to support Oasis for a number of dates across Europe in early 2006, but pulled out due to family commitments. After taking a break, they are currently working on their next album. In a diary entry on the bands official website, made on the 15 May 2006, Jones talked about how he felt that the new album was their best yet, and those who had heard the demos gave similar sentiments.

Live from Dakota

2006 also so the release of Stereophonics first live album Live from Dakota. The album is a 2-disc compilation featuring 20 tracks spanning all five of the band's albums and capturing the best of their 2005 world tour. Rather than being a recording of single show, every night of the tour was recorded and the band picked out the best version of each song individually. The album also features a previously unreleased track Jayne.

Other Projects

In 2007 Lead singer Kelly Jones released a solo album titled "Only the names have been changed" while recording the bands sixth studio album, Pull the Pin. The album contains 10 tracks all named after a woman and features a simple arrangement of guitar, piano and subtle strings. The album also includes the song Jayne, a previously unreleased Stereophonics track featured on the live album Live from Dakota.

Drummer Javier Weyler also released a solo album titled Lagrima in 2007 under the persona Capitan Melao. The name Capitan means captain in Spanish and Melao is a Latin American slang word for swing, rhythm or soul.

The album has been described as being a mix of Bossanova, Bolero and Rock and being the consequence of someone born in Buenos Aires Argentina, growing up in Caracas Venezuela and living in UK that integrates his cultural influences and experiences.

Pull the Pin

Stereophonics' announced the name of their forthcoming album Pull the Pin in late April, along with a download-only taster; "Bank Holiday Monday". The track was also available for free to people who pre-order tickets for the band's concerts in 2007.

Songs in pop culture

• "Rewind", season one (2006), t.v. show "Friday Night Lights".

• "Maybe Tomorrow" (from You Gotta Go There to Come Back) is featured over the end titles of the film "Crash", which won the Academy Award for Best Film in 2006. It is also used in the 2004 psychological thriller Wicker Park, in episodes of Charmed, Cold Case, One Tree Hill and Traveler.

• "Have A Nice Day(Stereophonics song)" (from Just Enough Education to Perform) is featured in Zack Snyder's remake of "Dawn Of The Dead".

• "Help Me (She's Outta Her Mind)" (from You Gotta Go There to Come Back) is featured in the Vince Vaughn film "Dodgeball".

• "High as the Ceiling" (from You Gotta Go There to Come Back)was featured in a 2005 commercial for a Nissan sports utility vehicle.

• "Devil" (from Language. Sex. Violence. Other?) is featured Dennis Leary's TV show Rescue Me in Season 3 Episode 1.

• "Dakota" (from Language. Sex. Violence. Other?) is featured in an episode of the TV Show "Veronica Mars".

• "Rewind" (from Language. Sex. Violence. Other?) is featured in an episode of the CBS TV series Cold Case.

• "Superman" (from Language. Sex. Violence. Other?) is featured in an episode of Smallville.

• "Long Way Round" is a song written and performed by Kelly Jones specifically for Ewan McGregor and Charley Boorman as the main theme for their 2004 travel documentary "Long Way Round". The song is included on the single Dakota.

Discography

Please see the separate article Stereophonics discography for a full discography included Albums, Singles, DVDs and compilation albums in which Stereophonics songs have been included.

See also

• Live from London (iTunes)
• Stereophonics discography

References