Interview

with

RICHARD JONES

from

STEREOPHONICS

Interviewer: Georgia Dickinson

.

.

Australians love Stereophonics. In fact, it seems as though that we can’t get enough of them. With the announcement earlier this year declaring their return to the country, came sold out shows in multiple capital cities at illustrious venues such as the Sydney Opera House.

Whilst on their biggest Australian tour to date, guitarist Richard Jones sat down with AMNplify to discuss the tour, their recent album Scream Above The Sounds and the legacy Stereophonics have created from over 25 years of performing.

.

.

So first of all, I know you guys are currently on tour in Australia at the moment! How has Australia been treating you so far?

It’s been really good! We started off in Sydney last Wednesday for our first show, so we did Wednesday and Thursday in Sydney and then, Saturday and Sunday up in Brisbane. We’re looking forward to Melbourne tonight.

.

It’s been five years since you guys played shows in Australia, why such the long wait to come back?

I don’t know why we waited so long. We wish we could come down on every album cycle but sometimes, due to record campaign politics or tour routing, it’s not possible. It’s a shame we can’t make it down more often but we really enjoy ourselves when we’re here. We really appreciate the crowds and the fans coming to see us.

.

You guys have been playing your biggest Australian shows to date this tour. Do you guys prefer to play larger shows or more intimate ones?

It’s good to do a more similar show to what we put on back in the UK. We wish we could do that for everybody wherever we tour. It’s just due to different size stages, you’re not able to take all the equipment in there a lot of the time. So we’ve had to change it up a little bit due to different size stages.

These shows in Australia have been great though. We played Sydney Opera House, which is a first time for us, and we had the most amount of people we’ve had in Australia come out to watch us. It’s been really, really good and we can’t wait to build on that and hopefully, the next time we come back, we can fill bigger rooms again.

.

.

Do you or any of the other guys have any particular favourites that you like to play live?

I think, for us, it’s always good to showcase new material. We’re always very excited to play the new albums whenever we finish them. Songs like “Taken a Tumble” off the new album have been getting a really good reaction. As you said before, we haven’t been here for five years so we’ve got another two albums worth of material as well, which people in Australia haven’t seen live. So, we’ve been doing songs off Keep The Village Alive that people have been really getting into. I think one of the favourites live so far on this tour has been “Mr and Mrs Smith” from that album. Jamie [Morrison], our drummer, does a solo spot at the end and the crowd seems to really get into that.

.

Aside from “Taken A Tumble”, how have fans been reacting to the songs off Scream Above The Sounds live?

It’s been really good! Australia is the 3rd or 4th biggest streaming market around the globe so people have been listening to the new material and the fans have really been getting into it at the past four shows.

.

All live music aside, have you guys been able to do any sightseeing while you’ve been in Australia so far?

We have, yes! We had a couple of days off in Sydney so we took a boat over to Manly and had a nice afternoon on Manly Beach. We also had a nice sightseeing walk in Brisbane Botanical Gardens when we were there. I know it doesn’t sound very “Rock N Roll” but that was really good [laughs]. Now, we have a couple of days in Melbourne. I have a walk around the city earlier and took in the vibe of the place and we’re going to be tourists tomorrow so you might catch us riding bikes somewhere.

.

.

Scream Above The Sounds is the tenth album to be released by you guys, have you noticed a difference in the band’s writing and recording process as you guys are progressed as a band?

With every album, we try and highlight a new thing that we haven’t done before. When we created Graffiti On The Train, it was letting go of expectations of the band and in turn, is a very selfish record. And that selfishness reflected onto the next two albums, it’s like they all link in with each other.

Scream Above The Sounds is very much the same type of vibe for us. We have our own little studio in West London where we go and write songs, first and foremost for ourselves. We try to be as selfish as possible and hopefully, the rest of the world like them. 

.

Stereophonics have been a band for over twenty-five years. What would be the biggest highlight for you from the past 25 years?

I think playing with our heroes have always been special moments for the band. We did the Reality tour with David Bowie across America, that was a special moment. We’ve also played with The Rolling Stones and Nick Cave And The Bad Seeds. In the early days, we played with Bjork and Beck and all these other amazing artists. We also have shows with Pearl Jam this year, which is also going to be a big highlight for us because we’re big Pearl Jam fans.

Mixing with our contemporaries and our heroes up there for us, it’s one of the reasons why we got into music. And to be up there on the same stage as those artists always blow our minds.

.

Do you have any advice for those wanting to start their own band and reach those goals and highlights that you’ve mentioned?

Yeah, just be yourself! As soon as you find something that you can identify with, put it into words and music. Don’t follow trends and just be honest. People always respect our honesty and they can relate to the sentiment of songs.

.

.

So, what’s next for Stereophonics for the rest of 2018?

When we finish in Australia, we got a couple of shows on the way back to the UK. We’re playing Singapore and Dubai, and then we’ve got some big stadium shows in the UK. We have some festival headline spots across Europe and then, over to America in September. After that, it’s pretty quiet then so we’ll probably head back into the studio and see what sounds we can conjure up to mould into songs.

.

.