your greedbagStereophonics
profiles
Kelly Jones (Vocals, Guitars)Richard Jones (Bass)
March 2002, Stereophonics finish touring 'Just Enough Education To Perform', with the exceptions of the UK summer festivals where they headlined Glastonbury, V2002 and Slane Castle.
Throughout the year Kelly Jones wrote an albums worth of new songs, both on and off the road. He began turning them into full working demos in a small studio in Fulham, London working with the band's 'live recording' engineer Jim Lowe. This was a new and exciting way for Kelly to work and it accidentally lead him into producing the Stereophonics fourth long player.
"I started by going into the studio, from 10.00am to 6.00pm and aimed to come out at the end of the day with a finished track. I'd always heard stories of writers doing this, people like John Fogerty from Creedence Clearwater Revival, and the Brill Building writers. It not only focused my writing, it lead me to finding the direction and sound of the new record. I loved the freedom and the problem solving, y'know, trying to get the songs to sound exactly the way I heard them in my head and working with Jim, made everything fresh and new. It just naturally lead to me carrying on in that fashion and producing the record."
The band made the decision to hold the rehearsals with no crew, managers, etc for the first time in almost six years. They played through the new songs which Kelly had been demoing all summer. When the band were later asked to describe the making of the album which they began recording in late September 2002, the answer was simple..."The best time we've ever had in the studio! We feel like we felt before we had a record deal. It was a wild time. It was a very creative time. We feel happy with ourselves and each other. We feel confident that this is our best record yet, and as long as we can keep making that progress from record to record, and develop our sound on each record, and keep it exciting and fresh, then in the long run we will naturally achieve our goals."
Each Stereophonics record has developed in style and increased in sales. 'Just Enough Education To Perform' sold over 2.3 million albums worldwide including more than 1.6 million records in the UK alone. The resulting sell-out UK arena tour, helped all three albums to re-enter the Top 50 UK album chart at the same time in 2002.
'You Gotta Go There To Come Back' was finished recording by early December 2002 and it was mixed in LA in January 2003 by Jack Joseph Puig at Oceanway Studios, all in all a pretty quick process. "We wanted to make a more dynamic, more varied and soulful record. We felt a lot of today's radio formatting has resulted in everyones' records sounding the same. No individuality: all for the sponsors lets say and nothing from the heart. Every note and lyric on this record is from the heart. It's important that people remember music is for the soul, it's not about celebrity and fame. I suppose that was our main focus for the record."
'Madame Helga', the first UK single from 'You Gotta Go There To Come Back' was released back in May 2003 (entering the charts at No 4), a glammy, dirty, sweaty rock 'n' roll track that was previewed at the festival shows in 2002. Other album tracks include 'Climbing The Wall', a lyric so simple and personal about boredom, 'Help Me (She's Out Of Her Mind)' is a balls out rock 'n' roll rollercoaster with clavinet riffs and seven verses of rambling, trying to work out the female species ending in guitar solos and riffs taking the song to almost seven minutes. The nostalgic and beautiful 'Getaway', a reminiscence of lost innocence and childhood simplicity.
Other titles include the serious radio mugging singles 'Maybe Tomorrow' (released July 2003, entered the charts at No 3) and 'Since I Told You It's Over' (released November 2003, No 16), 'Jealousy', 'Nothing Precious At All' and 'I'm Alright (You Gotta Go There To Come Back)'. The album weaves in and out from style to style, constantly changing its mood. Using strings and brass for the first time, and gospel singers. 'You Gotta Go There To Come Back' has truly defined the Stereophonics sound.
If 'You Gotta Go There To Come Back' is Stereophonics most varied selection so far, then lyrically it is Kelly Jones' most personal, explicit, and crushingly soul searching collection yet. Check the breath taking 'Rainbows And Pots Of Gold', for its combination of bitter words and pulse rising strings.
'You Gotta Go There To Come Back' when asked is explained as "it's about experiencing life, making mistakes, having good times, bad times, and learning from them, learning about yourself, and becoming a better person. Muhammad Ali once said, "if you're the same man when you're sixty as you were when you were thirty, then you've wasted thirty years.""
Stereophonics ended 2003 with a massive sold out arena tour of the UK, including two nights at London's Earls Court, and a Christmas show at the Millennium Stadium, Cardiff. 2004 will see the band kick off the year with a brand new single 'Moviestar'. Released on February 9th, 'Moviestar' was written and recorded in London in November 2003 and was an instant hit when debuted on their arena tour. Stereophonics continue their world tour in the USA throughout February and March.
links
- http://www.stereophonics.co.uk (official)