‘It’s like starting all over again’ – Stereophonics' Kelly Jones on getting back to work

Gigs were axed, tour plans postponed and the cycle of album-tour-album-tour that had been normal throughout his adult life was brutally curtailed.

Covid put the music industry out of business – or, as good as – as we were told to stay home, not mix and definitely not stand shoulder-to-shoulder with 10,000 other like-minded souls as we sang anthemic tunes at the top of our voices.

And now we’ve got a pass. Live is back and Stereophonics can get back to business. There’s a new album, Oochya!, due on March 4 while an arena tour this spring will work its way to Birmingham’s Resorts World Arena on April 2. Stadium dates will follow when the band play Cardiff’s Principality Stadium for two nights in June. 60,000 will flock to see them each night and the God of Welsh music, Tom Jones, will be their support. It sure feels good to be back.

The signs are good. Stereophonics’ new single Forever, the third instalment from Oochya, is a magnificent slice of radio-friendly pop-rock, the type of tune that made us fall in love with the band when their debut, Word Gets Around, dropped 25 years ago. Ten million record sales followed.

Forever followed the previously released Hanging On Your Hinges and Do Ya Feel My Love?, which received widespread national radio support added to A-lists across all key networks, and has now received over two million streams across all platforms.

Forever reminds us why Stereophonics have been one of the cornerstones of British music for a quarter of a century. It oozes with glistening guitar and sweeping vocal melodies, paired with romantic storytelling. A reflective track that evokes freedom and the open road, the bridge builds to a euphoric chorus where frontman Kelly Jones is heard bellowing “I wish I could fly away forever, I wish I could take away the pain from you and release you”. Letting go is felt in the heights of his singing, as much as it is when Kelly puts pen to paper.

Kelly says: “‘Forever’ is about escapism. It’s about longing for a freedom for someone and taking away the pain they’re going through, it’s about taking a bullet for them. It’s about wanting to free the ones you love of pain, but we can’t – life’s pain is where we find growth. So the song has a lot wrapped up in it. People are feeling a lot of that these days.”

Oochya! calls upon certain tones, feelings and themes that’ll resonate with fans young and old alike. Kelly Jones explains: “It’s quite an emotional record. At times it’s very nostalgic. The whole album is melodic. You put it on and it’s one of those albums you don’t really want to turn off because it keeps going onto different styles and the songs hold your attention. It shows a lot of styles of the band.”

With Oochya!, Kelly Jones continues to cement his place amongst the great British songwriters. Having now achieved seven UK Number 1 albums, 10 Top 10 albums, 23 Platinum Sales Awards, 8.5 million albums sold in the UK alone, five BRIT Award nominations and one BRIT Award win, Stereophonics stand as undeniable giants of British music.

Jones is pleased with the reaction to his new work. “I had the lyrics for Forever for quite a long time, years back, but it didn’t fit on anything until now. I don’t think of songs as being old or new, some carry over to the next project depending on how they do or don’t fit in. It’s dressed up in a very poetic way. It came out really well.”

Oochya! is a more diverse and eclectic collection of songs that we might previously have expected. Lockdown gave Jones the opportunity to explore the band in a new way.

“The record is a collection of lots of different styles of music. There are songs written recently, some songs didn’t find a home, some songs were begun and not completed. They take people through rock’n’roll stuff, there’s darker stuff, there’s soul stuff. There’s a lot of different sides of what the band is capable of. It wasn’t intended to be an album. I booked a session and we recorded the guts of it in seven days. We had a good time because we hadn’t seen each other for a long time. I brought it back to work on it with the guy I’d worked with on Performance and Cocktails.”

Oochya! wasn’t the only new arrival during lockdown. Jones also welcomed his fourth child. A notable family man, who gives his kids as-normal-as-possible an upbringing, he was delighted to become a father again.

“I had my fourth child in the lockdown. So most of our time was with the kids. I have kids from 17 downwards. They’ve all got things to do like college and GCSEs so lockdown was all about that, really.

“Lockdown is weird because singing itself was a huge release. I wasn’t doing it. It became quite a strange thing for a year. It was the first time we stopped. Physically we stopped. It was the first time in 25 years I wasn’t going from town to town or country to country. I learned a lot about myself and did a lot of work on myself.”

There were other projects, including the remarkable and heartfelt documentary, Don’t Let The Devil Take Another Day. The film told the human story of one of Britain’s most-loved artists who, when confronted with a revelation that had threatened to undermine his career and future music making, rediscovers his distinctive voice and experiences a remarkable 2019.

The episode was transformative. Jones had, after all, been singing on stage since the age of 12. From the working men’s clubs of the Welsh valleys, to headlining Glastonbury with his band Stereophonics, to 20 years of sold-out arena tours, he had released more than 150 songs, across 11 albums, and counted such heroes as Bob Dylan and David Bowie as fans of his music.

A personal uphill battle that remained secret from the public, however, Kelly’s recovery was recorded for that film, providing a triumph over adversity and offering hope in unprecedented times. A beautifully authentic, life-affirming and inspiring story, it was Jones at his best.

“That project came around when I was looking at solo shows. I’ve always had an interest in doing some solo shows where I can be in an environment and communicate better with the audience. I wanted to get down and deliver those songs in a very different way and tell a few anecdotes in between and bring them back up in the storytelling. You had to be completely fully present, it’s like climbing a mountain face. If you lost your concentration for a minute, you’d mess it up. You couldn’t go into autopilot on any level. There were 20 shows and it was amazing working with different musicians.

“It was out of my comfort zone. We did six shows with Just Enough Education To Perform, where we talked about it. I could feel my guts going and I was getting tight. You feel like you’re not doing something you are familiar with. I think that’s a good sign. Going forward, I want to do something different. My passion for the band won’t go away, though, both things are important.”

Jones has enjoyed a remarkable career and is happy to be back. His hunger and passion are undiminished by the past two years.

“We’ve been very fortunate. We’ve had lots of great moments. All our idols who we brought records from, they took us on the road, from the Stones to U2 and the Chilli Peppers. We were really lucky to be able to have five minutes with those people and let them tell us a story, or to just be in the same room as them. To watch the Stones warm up before a show is ridiculous. It never gets normal. I still feel like that kid in a pub, playing covers. You learn a lot. You learn from being around them.”

There will be more albums after this one and Jones doesn’t rule out eventually releasing his own solo work – something that fans would welcome.

“I’ve never written a studio album for myself but the solo tour and releasing the live record was received really well. So going forward I have another record coming out at some point this year, with two of the guys from that tour – The Wind And The Wave – I’ve made an album with them, that’s Country and Americana. I think they’ll start releasing some of those songs. I’ve got some ideas for things I write on the piano. I feel there’s some stuff outside the ’Phonics camp.”

For now, he’s thrilled that the pandemic is passing and there’s a new album to promote and a tour to look forward to. The connection with fans never becomes tiresome.

“I like getting back to the band. That’s what makes it special. It’s been a great response to the new album. It feels like starting fresh all over again.

“The album is a mixture. It’s got some beautiful songs. There’s some great rock’n’roll songs. There’s dark stuff. It’s like a greatest hits that people haven’t heard.

“The tour will be great. We’re doing the stage designs now and using some of the pop art stuff that we’ve got on the cover. We’re going to do some new songs from the album then there’ll be all the big hits. Twenty-five years back then felt like a long time. But it’s gone by very, very fast. We just wanted a catalogue that stood the test of time.”

He’s achieved that – and much, much more.