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Stereophonics are the iconic British rock group formed in 1992 in the Welsh village Cwmaman. The group was initiated by two future members of the band Kelly Jones and Stuart Cable, who were actually living on the same street.
The group, which started as a few teenagers jamming in a garage, remained at the level of a local rock band for many years. Yes, the musicians made attempts to record some demo songs, for example, the song Zephyr, but there was no consensus on musicians' vision of the future of the group and guys scattered in different directions. Moreover, this situation has recurred several times. We can say that the group finally got together in 1992 under the name Tragic Love Company. By the way, we would like to point out an interesting fact: this name is just a compilation of separate words from the groups that inspired the new naming of the group.
At this stage, the group also remained a collective that had several tracks of its authorship and covers of different popular at that time British rock-groups. Back those days, the group was mainly performing exclusively at small venues in South Wales. However, even the musicians themselves did not like the name of the group, therefore, they decided to change it, the new name of the group was the Stereophonics, and later, guys just removed "the" from their name.
The first real success of the group was performances at the Coliseum Theater and the beginning of cooperation with V2 Records, with which the group recorded their first album. It immediately began to take high places in the British charts, which happened in 1997. In 1998, the group went on a foreign tour and was recognized as the best young group according to BRIT Awards. The debut album Word Gets Around immediately went gold in the United Kingdom. In the same year, in the wake of growing popularity, the band immediately began recording their second album, which was released by the group one year later.
The band played its first concert for 50,000+ listeners in Swansea, and made its first tours to Australia and the USA, right after the album release.
The group consisted of only three people at that moment:
Kelly Jones - lead vocalist, lead guitarist, keyboardist and the author of most songs;
Richard Jones - bassist, keyboardist, and occasional back vocalist;
Stuart Cable - drums and percussion. By the way, Stuart left the band in 2002.
Also, you could see the following musicians that were playing in the band at different times:
Javier Weyler - drums, percussion, backing vocals. (2004-2012);
Adam Zindani - rhythm guitarist and back vocalist (2007-present);
Jamie Morrison - drums (2012-present).
As you can see, the band evolved as a result of the mid 2000-s fame, and one additional guitarist arrived in 2007. Usually, we give here the composition of the group, which is available as of today; nevertheless, in this case, we decided to describe the collective with which it entered its mainstream period. Usually, the 2001-2006 period is called like this. Stereophonics has released three successful albums in 5 years, which were warmly greeted by most critics and fans. Even the main drummer's substitution did not prevent the band from releasing its most recognizable song, Dakota. It confidently takes the first place in all British singles charts. Also, at the same time, their first live album titled "Live from Dakota" was recorded.
In 2004 Stereophonics was nominated for the title of Best Rock Artist according to BT Digital Music Award, and in 2005 it received this title. 2004-2007 became a real peak of the group's popularity.
The group continued to work on new albums, releasing Keep Calm and Carry on in 2009, consisting of four members, already, but he did not receive such dizzying fame as the previous ones. And yet, it does not seem correct to us to speak of the following years as decadence, as it often happens at this stage of the default rock-band existence. The band performed at the Vancouver Winter Olympics with their song I Got Your Number in 2010.
Let’s also talk about how it sounds. If the very first albums of the group were typical in the modern understanding of British rock, then after the 2003-2004 period, keyboards began to play an increasing role in the group, which was a good decision in terms of popularity. In fact, after the peak of its popularity in the mid-late 2000-s, the band's sound began to resemble American indie projects increasingly, which was also confirmed by winning the 2020 Best Indie by Global Award.
In the 2010s, the group finally found its fan base in the field of indie rock. During this time, the group had four albums, each of them received moderately good ratings. The latest album Kind, released by Stereophonics in 2019, was especially distinguished. It became the band's most-listened release in a decade and was certified Silver on the UK charts due to the number of sales. Despite its relatively long history, the group is still growing in terms of its fan base and the growing number of new listeners. In 2020, the band continues its oeuvre. Although it had to completely cancel all her summer shows due to the Covid-19 pandemic, Stereophonics continue to work on creating new releases.