Aloha !
I'm not sure if there really are a lot of Stereophonics fans here, but anyway, I'm going to tell you a little bit about them, you will download a few songs of them and we'll see where it goes.
I got interested in this band roughly at the same time I became interested in Oasis. However, unlike Oasis, their latest album wasn't really that exciting and there wasn't a lot exposure on them here in Holland. Have A Nice Day was their current single at that time and was what did it for me. A song written about a taxidriver that drove songwriter Kelly Jones thru New York. The lyrics are pretty self explanatory and yet tell a story. I thought the lyrics were clever, and the poppy chorus made the song complete.
Now, 7 years further I got interested in the Stereophonics again, and this time I bought all the albums in roughly 2 months, something I'd never done before. Up intil then I only had one album of them (JEEP) but I soon found out that it wasn't what they were like at all.
Their music sounds a bit indie with some punk influences, mixed with a pop sausage. It all blends rather well and over the years they've become a very good live band. Some of their lyrics are funny (My beer don't taste the same without my name painted on my glass) but Jones has written serious tunes as well. What actually striked me just the past few months since I really gave them a good listen is how Jon always says how he wants to write about things that are happening now (9/11, the presidential election, the economical crisis) but never ever succeeds, while the simple lyrics of the Stereophonics do exactly that. Some examples of this;
It Means Nothing;
You can find yourself a God
Believe in which one you want
Coz they love you all the same
They just go by different names
Did ya fly your flag today?
written about the bombings in London.
Daisy Lane;
Now there's red spray paint slashed on the wall
R.I.P. Baby, we love you from all
Just that one moment, ended their days
Outside my house on Daisy Lane...
Written about how a young boy was stabbed to death in the street Kelly Jones lives.
Local Boy In The Photograph
He'll always be 23, yet the train runs on and on
Past the place they found his clothing
There's no mistake, I smell that smell
It's that time of year again, I can taste the air
The clocks go back, railway track
Something blocks the line again
And the train runs late for the first time
Today
And all the friends lay down the flowers
Sit on the banks and drink for hours
Talk of the way they saw him last
Local boy in the photograph
Today
Written about a boy who committed suicide by jumping in front of the train, and people suddenly recognizing him as the local boy in the photograph.
Mr. Writer
I used to treat you right
Give you my time
But when I'd turn my back on you
Then you do what you do
Written about a journalist who had toured with the band and had later gave them negative reviews, a thing Jon without a doubt can talk about as well.
It's lyrics like these that I think touch people, and I don't think it'd hurt if Jon would go back to writing songs like these, because songs like August 7 and Midnight In Chelsea have proved that he's capable of doing so.
The new Stereophonics album is being released on the same day as the one of Bon Jovi, and the band are huge in the UK, I think only Oasis are a bigger band in the UK, but I'm not sure. I think it's rather weird that they never broke thru outside of the UK, because they seriously do have some good songs that are very underrated.
Anyone else a fan of this band? Personal favourites? Favourite albums?
My favourites; Dakota, Local Boy In The Photograph, It Means Nothing, The Bartender And The Thief, Mr. Writer and Drowning.
My favourite albums: Pull The Pin and Performance And Cocktails.
Salaam Aleikum,
Sebastiaan