It’s been ten years since the late Stuart Cable left Stereophonics, in that time they’ve released three studio albums with new drummer Javier Weyler, two of which went to number one in the charts. They also achieved their first and only number one single with Dakota. Having failed to grab the headlines with 2009’s ‘Keep Calm And Carry On,’ the Welsh rockers are back in 2013 with a new album and yet another new drummer.
‘Graffiti On The Train’ is Stereophonics 8th studio album and one which bassist, Richard Jones is eager for the fans to hear. “When we were recording it we knew we were taking a different path, with a grander sound, we just wanted to show the audience that there’s a different side to the band again and hopefully they’ll feel the same as we did when we recorded it.”
The ability to show a different side to themselves with every release is something that, as a band, Stereophonics have always tried to achieve. Not many can say that any two successive Stereophonics records have sounded the same. “That’s always been a goal, to show a different side of the band. It’s very easy these days to rest on your laurels and work one type of thing, depend on one of your hits and try to copy it over and over again. If that’s what you want to do, fair enough but for us it’s always about showing the different sides. ‘Cause we’re big fans of music, we listen to all types of music and that all comes out in one shape or another.”
Their last album, ‘Keep Calm And Carry On,’ entered the charts at number 11, their lowest charting album to date, but Richard claims that they weren’t overly disappointed by that. “We felt the last album didn’t work to its full potential, whether that’s anybody’s fault we’ll never know. It is partly to do with the change in what’s happening regarding sales. There’s a drastic shift from physical sales to online. It depends on who’s buying it and who’s downloading it for free, you have to take that into consideration,” he explained.
“Every album we work on we’re really proud of, and we put everything into making it work so, when it doesn’t reach its full potential, it’s not so much disheartening. You do have to ask questions, why didn’t that go like it should have gone? I think with this one (‘Graffiti On The Train’) we didn’t want that pressure, we didn’t want to try and make it a chart success.. We just created something which we felt we needed to do.”
Drummer Javier Weyler, who replaced Stuart Cable in 2003, decided to call it a day in the summer of 2012. Surely such an upheaval in the midst of recording a new album couldn’t have been easy. “The album was completed actually and, in regards to Javier, we felt that when it comes to touring we needed to make changes, and he was involved in that decision.” It didn’t take long for the band to find a replacement however. It came in the form of ex-Noisettes drummer Jamie Morrisson. “We auditioned about twelve people and Jamie was the first. We felt we needed to go through the process and audition them all but Jamie’s a brilliant musician and such an enthusiastic music fan. His passion for music is on a par with us so it’s great to have somebody like minded.”
Richard was quick to deny that there was ever a chance of the band calling it a day when either drummer left. “We’ve always had that mindset when it comes to the band; we didn’t want one member to be bigger than the band itself. In regards to somebody leaving, it is a gap to fill and, as long as we can do it in the best way possible, there’s no reason to stop really.”
Despite twenty years on the road together, Jones feels that Stereophonics have not changed who they are despite their success. “We’re still in the frame of mind that we want to make the band the best we can. The goals we want, we still want to reach as many people as we can and continually show people that we have these different sides to us. So in that sense we haven’t changed our focus as a band. Obviously we’ve changed as people, we were in our early twenties when everything kicked off for us. We’re in the latter parts of our thirties now, in regards to the youthful exuberance and craziness, we’ve not so much slowed down but prioritised when we can go crazy now. It’s a natural progression. As long as we get a day off then we can let our hair down the night before.”
The Welsh rockers come to Dublin’s Olympia Theatre on March 9th and they couldn’t be any more excited. “We always have a great time whenever we’re in Ireland. We haven’t been for about 2/3 years so it’s going to be brilliant. The last gig was the Arthur Guinness in 2010 or 2011.” They played in the Storehouse followed by a unique surprise show in Bruxelles off Grafton Street. “It was… eh… unique I’d say, that little venue,” he said with a laugh
After they play Dublin they’re quite busy. “We’ve a small run of dates in March and from that it kind of takes us everywhere really. I think we’re in Japan in April, Australia in May, festivals in June and July and then Ameirca, South America and probably end up back in Europe in late Autumn/early Winter. Gigging is where we thrive; the live performances are the moments we get to be a little bit selfish. It’s our time and we don’t get interrupted like in the studio when someone’s instrument breaks or something like that.”
‘Graffiti On The Train’ is released in Ireland on Friday March 1st and in the UK on March 4th. Tickets for their show in The Olympia are still available from Ticketmaster priced at €39.05 inclusive of booking fee.