'We Take Pride In Making Sure We're The Best Live Band We Could Possibly Be': Stereophonics On Their Long-Awaited Australian Return

For over three decades now, Stereophonics have arguably been one of the best known rock acts to emerge from Wales.

With their roots tracing back to 1986 when guitarist and vocalist Kelly Jones and drummer Stuart Cable first started playing together, it was until 1992 when Stereophonics asserted itself as a fully formed band. By this point, bassist Richard Jones (no relation to Kelly) had joined, with the trio spending their next few years writing and recording in anticipation of releasing their first batch of tunes.

That debut, which came about by way of 1997's Word Gets Around, was a stellar success for the nascent rockers. Hitting No. 6 in the UK and reaching the top 100 in Australia, it set themselves up not just for the impressive run of milestones which was to follow, but a global journey that continues to this day.

"When we first started, everything was a case of 'Let's see what happens in the future,'" Richard Jones recalls via Zoom. "We all had dreams and goals, and I suppose for us, growing up in a small village, we probably never thought that we could be in these big situations.

"But as soon as the ball started rolling and people started taking notice of us, things started happening," he adds. "Singles in charts, singles being played on radio, and then we realised we had a good shot and we knuckled down and put all the hard work in."

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Jones recalls that the moment at which their successes started to become noticeable was when DJ Steve Lamacq started playing their 1997 single A Thousand Trees on the radio. Soon enough, Stereophonics were something of a rising force to be reckoned with, performing dates with iconic groups such as Manic Street Preachers, Skunk Anansie, and The Who.

"Everything just kind of snowballed then," he remembers. "It all happened really fast and before you know it, we were on the road touring across America, Europe, and Australia. Then we have to think about doing the second album, and then we're thrown straight in the studio."

Per Jones' recollection, much of their success was due to having an agent who would put them up for any possible gig. Huge names like David Bowie, U2, and the Red Hot Chili Peppers all brought the band on as supports, with Jones claiming the band would just say yes to everything. "What's the worst that could happen?" he says. "We could steal some of their fans."

This desire to say yes to everything would bring Stereophonics down to Australia for the first time in early 1998 in support of their debut, with a return visit occurring the following year in support of their first UK No. 1, Performance And Cocktails.

"I think it was about two or three weeks we were in Australia," Jones recalls. "Our manager managed to get us three days off on the Gold Coast, so we were up near Brisbane for about three days before we started the tour. We went out on the road with The Living End and a band called Eskimo Joe.

"We would do matinees as well, so we were doing probably about three or four shows during the weekend, so it was pretty full-on," he adds. "But the crowds were brilliant. It was so refreshing to see crowds around the world reacting the same to your music."

Of course, a lot of UK groups find themselves singing the same song, with their first trips down to Australia being filled with massive crowds, fond memories, and a new fanbase eager for their fresh blend of rock music.

Occasionally though, those bands will find that novelty wearing off with repeat visits, though Stereophonics have managed to maintain a strong following in Australia for the entirety of their career, despite any ups and downs they may have experienced elsewhere.

"We've had a couple of lulls in our career where we've fallen out with the record company or we've changed record companies and then we don't have as big a representation when we come to certain places," Jones admits. "But we've always stuck with Michael Coppel, the promoter in Australia, and he's always told us the truth when it comes to selling tickets."

In late 2025, Stereophonics will once again return to Australia – their ninth visit to the country – for their first run of shows since 2018. Alongside closing their longest gap of shows on our shores to date, the tour is set to be their biggest yet, with performances scheduled in Sydney, Brisbane, Melbourne, and Fremantle in October.

Of course, the standard question needs to be asked: how does it feel for Stereophonics to be returning after so long away?

"I love coming to Australia," Jones admits. "The people have got such a brilliant honesty and sense of humor that it feels a lot like Wale, for me anyway.

"There's no bullshit, people tell you how things really are, they have a good time. I think that's kind of like the working class ethic, and that's really humbling for me because I come from those places."

Indeed, Australia does tend to mimic the 'work hard, play hard' ethos of the working class as Jones suggests, with Stereophonics set to off Australians plenty worth celebrating when they return to the country this year.

Most notably, the band have expanded their discography considerably since their last time on-ground. Having previously toured in support of 2017's Scream Above The Sounds, the group have been rather busy in the interim, releasing records such as 2019's Kind, 2022's Oochya!, and 2025's Make 'Em Laugh, Make 'Em Cry, Make 'Em Wait! – all of which topped the UK charts upon their release.

Despite the title of the latter seemingly rather prescient given Stereophonics' time away from Australia, the record has been the group's main focus of late, having been released only a matter of weeks ago in late April.

"We finished the album back in March last year, so we've been sitting on it for a year before it came out," Jones recalls. "But as soon as we started playing songs live, people were really responsive. I think all the songs that are out on the radio platforms, they've got a bigger response than the ones that aren't.

"But I think everybody just likes getting new music from bands, you know? When there's a bit of a break, people just get the appetite and they just love hearing it from us.

"It's been brilliant," he adds. "We had about six weeks recording; we'd done two or three weeks in [London's] RAK Studios recording the drums and the main parts of the songs, and then we had another two weeks in our own little studio in Shepherds Bush finishing it off."

The result is what amounts to Stereophonics' shortest album, at just shy of 30 minutes, but arguably one of their most immediate. It's a case of all-killer, no filler where all the fat has been trimmed to leave nothing but the band at their most pure.

"I think when it comes to recording material, we're always very conscious not to do something that we'd done before," Jones notes. "You do all the editing after the project's done, of course. I think we did 11 songs with this project, but we only usd eight on the album. So we did leave a couple off.

"But I think with music in this day and age, people haven't got the kind of attention span for big pieces of material now," he adds. "There's a lot of artists cutting back on what they call albums now.

"But it also, it kind of goes back to the classic albums of the '60s and '70s where there used to be like four songs on each side, it's a nice piece of work, and you just want to put it on again."

With the album being shorter than most of Sterephonics' releases, and Jones noting how artists are cutting back on albums, it harkens back to comments made by Kav Temperley of former tourmates Eskimo Joe, who noted in 2020 that full albums might not be the sort of thing the group have in mind going forward.

For Jones though, he doesn't particularly see a future for Stereophonics where full albums fall by the wayside.

"I think it depends on your history and your involvement with how you grew up with music," he admits. "For us – being an older, established band – we grew up with albums and cassettes, and CDs came out towards the late '80s. We thought CDs were a revolution with putting everything on just one side.

"You just gotta go with the times, really. If the trends are just releasing four, five songs, then maybe you have to do it to survive. But for us, we are more established than a new artist and we are fortunate to be able to release music in the format that we want to really,.

"If that's having the 15 songs on an album, we can do it, and if that's shortening it, we can do that as well," he adds. "It's nice to have that choice."

Of course, with so much music to choose from across their storied back catalogue (their newest record is their 13th release in 28 years), the question becomes how does a band like Stereophonics play all the hits while allowing themselves the opportunity to flex their new material?

After all, anyone who has been to recent shows will be aware that they're not leaning on their latest record too much, instead ensuring the shows are a bit of fan service to thank their loyal followers for years of support. However, it's yet to become a problem of treading a thin line in which they attempt to keep fans happy while keeping themselves content.

"When people go and see an established band, whether it's the Rolling Stones or Black Sabbath, you're gonna want to hear the hits aren't you?" Jones asks. "You don't want to go there and hear all the brand new material, you want to hear the classics.

"For us, we don't want anybody walking away from the show going, 'I wish they'd done this instead of this.' We want to try and give them all the big bangers and hopefully they'll walk away from the show thinking that they want to come back again.

"It does get a little bit harder, the more albums you write and record to try and fit them in the set list, but as soon as the song becomes a fan favorite, you kind of know where it fits in the set list," he adds.

"We're really fortunate because we've got the back catalogue so that we can have a nice big show with like 23, 24 songs on there. It's getting harder to leave certain songs out, but we haven't had any, anybody asking for their money back as of yet."

While the option of pulling a Bruce Springsteen and playing marathon sets pulling from a dizzying back catalogue is yet to present itself as an option, Stereophonics are just dedicated to ensuring they provide the best show they can, and remain dedicated to giving the fans a night to remember.

"We take pride in making sure we're the best live band we could possibly be," Jones admits. "We've always put a lot of energy into our live shows and we've always wanted to let the songs represent themselves when it comes to playing live.

"It might not sound exactly like the album version; it might sound better and it might sound different, but what we do do is put 200% into everything we do when it comes to playing live.

"For us, it's all about that fan experience," he adds. "Making them have a good time, making them lose themselves for those two-and-a-half hours that they are with us so they can leave the show and just feel like they're on cloud nine, or that they've experienced something that they haven't experienced for a while."

For Jones, it's a testament to what he wants to receive from a live show as a lifelong fan of music himself.

"I still go to live shows and when I do go to a show, you want to have an experience with that performer or band or whatever," he explains. "You want to absorb them and just walk away thinking that that's gonna be the best thing you've seen for a long time.

"Hopefully that's what people get from us."

Tickets to Stereophonics' Australian tour are on sale from 12pm local time on Thursday, June 19th, with pre-sales launching from Monday, June 19th.