Screaming above the sounds with Stereophonics’ Richard Jones…

It’s not often you get a once in a lifetime opportunity and I’ve just had it twice!!

Thanks to VIVA I have just interviewed Richard Jones from the Stereophonics after the pleasure of speaking to Kelly Jones a few years back.

Stereophonics are now celebrating their 20^th year in the business and are about to drop their 10^th album – “ SCREAM ABOVE THE SOUNDS ‘’ – an album to remind us to look at the good things in life, in an uncertain world right now.

Obviously I have to start the interview by telling Richard that I am a MASSIVE ‘Phonics fan!!

Richard – Hi Charlotte , how you doing?

VIVA Charlie – Hi Richard, good and so very excited to be speaking to you, thank you! I interviewed Kelly a few years ago and as I told him, I’m a very big fan!

Richard – Fabulous, that’s great! All the better!

VIVA Charlie – Awesome ! So, 20 years in the business . Amazing and I don’t want you guys to ever stop, so I’m expecting at least another 20 years!

Richard – That’s fine by me, we’ve got no plans of stopping. We can’t do anything else!

VIVA Charlie – Excellent! Album number 10 is out at the end of the month….

Richard – We’ve been sitting on it for 8 months, so we can’t wait to get it out.

VIVA Charlie – And you’re going straight into number 1 again aren’t you?!!

Richard – Well that’s the plan! We always try to reach that goal – but we’re up against Alfie Boe and Michael Ball! So tough competition!

VIVA Charlie – Oh shit!! You’ll smash them! So ” Scream above the sounds” – the general gist I’m getting is that we should try and find some happiness in a world that is very uncertain and scary right now – am I interpreting that right?

Richard – Yes that’s right! Basically there’s so much bad news recently; every day. We just wanted to remind people that there are good things out there too.

VIVA Charlie – ‘’ Caught by the wind ‘’ – your second single from the album, seems to shout this message as it’s so positive.

Richard – That’s what we wanted!

VIVA Charlie – Another track on the album is called ‘ Before anyone knew our name ‘ , as a fan this sounds like It’s going to be an insight into your history?? ….

Richard – It’s a bit of a personal one, Kelly wrote it and it’s about where we come from, the village we grew up in and how much passion we had and still have. It’s mainly about our relationship with Stuart and what happened with Stuart and basically wishing he was still around.

VIVA Charlie – Wow! I imagine that’s going to be very emotional to perform for you and your fans?

Richard – He’s a big part of the band and we miss him every day. We talk about him all the time, especially when we’re on the road. He played such a big role in the band and it’s hard to not think about him. Kelly said that when he wrote the song, he found it hard to not let it come out and when he played it to me , I said that it was exactly how I felt.

VIVA Charlie – That’s amazing, it’s keeping him alive and on the road with you.

Richard – Yeah, Kelly’s such a prolific writer and he can’t help but write what he feels. That’s just the type of writer he is and he’s just so honest and I think that’s what people like about our songs.

VIVA Charlie – I understand that, as I used to suffer with anxiety and your music has helped me through many years.

Richard – That’s great, that’s what music is supposed to do. It’s a release from many things.

VIVA Charlie – Richard you guys got us tickets through another friend dearly missed; Howard Marks at Manchester Arena and we got to sit next to Tom Jones. An awesome gig for Graffiti. How are you feeling about coming back to the Arena?

Richard – We love Manchester and we’ve been playing there since we got our first record deal back in 1996 and with what happened at the Arena earlier this year, it just devastated us. We know so many people up there and it’s such an amazing venue, for something to happen like this is gutting. We can’t wait to get back up there and put on a really good show. Mancunians love their music and we want to do it for them.

VIVA Charlie – I feel it’s a real show of defiance Isn’t it? Just getting back out there and saying no-one can stop us from doing what we want and what we love!

Richard – Exactly, and nobody should. It’s all about you’ve got to live your life the way you want to live it and no one should stop you doing it. It’s like we said at the beginning of the interview  – there’s so many bad things happening every day and we are entertainers at the end of the day . So we are going to go out there and perform and we want to make people happy and have a good time and we want to have a good time too!!

VIVA Charlie – So when you’re in Manchester do you guys go out on the town?

Richard – We’ve had some amazing nights out in Manchester! Some I don’t remember!

VIVA Charlie – As have I !! what goes on in Manchester, stays in Manchester! Richard thank you so much for your time, see you in Manchester in March!!

And then he was off to do the school run, what an absolute legend.

Stereophonics will be playing the Manchester Arena on Friday 9^th March, for tickets and more gig dates goto: www.stereophonics.com