Name Kelly Jones of Stereophonics / Far From Saints
Best known for Depends who you speak to…to the public, being the frontman of Stereophonics. To my four kids ranging from 18 to two years old, I’m best known as the man who makes them dinner and asks them lots of questions and tries to makes them laugh and steer them along and takes them to school in the morning. To my mates I’m best known for enjoying a few pints, telling anecdotes and eating a curry. To my wife? Who knows…I’m Gemini. As Dylan says, I contain multitudes.
Current city London
Really want to be in I am where I’m at. Be where you are and make that the dream.
Excited about People hearing the new Far From Saints record. It’s a beautiful album – playing live this summer is gonna be exciting.
My current music collection has a lot of I have all [of] the AC/DC collection on every format from Australian to UK labels on vinyl. Collected as a kid.
And a little bit of I have a lot of blues albums and soul albums, like Otis Redding, Aretha Franklin, Muddy Waters. Also, Tom Waits, Nick Cave vinyls alongside my Zeppelin and Sabbath vinyl amongst many others of all genres.
Preferred format CD is best, but these days it’s streaming or vinyl I use most.
5 Albums I Can’t Live Without:
1
Nighthawks at the Diner, Tom Waits
I love how it makes me feel hungry and thirsty and want to be in the room it’s recorded [in]. It’s jazzy and it’s spoken word and it’s funny and it has amazing storytelling. There’s few better than Tom Waits. Not many can make you feel this way listening to an album. “Eggs and Sausage (In A Cadillac With Susan Michelson)” is a standout track! I’m already starving writing this.
2
Damn the Torpedoes, Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers
The songs. The voice. I love how the record sounds. Tom Petty is the king of [those] feel-good Americana summer nights with a ghetto-blaster and a mix-tape of classic songs music – except all the classics are his!
3
Back in Black, AC/DC
It means everything to me. A cassette of this album at around age eight changed everything. Its black cover. The bell. The guitars. The songs. The lyrics. For a band I now know had their backs to the wall after losing Bon Scott to come out with a record of this caliber… It’s now one of the biggest-selling albums of all time. It never fails. It never dates. Probably the best Mutt Lange record without it sounding over-produced. Brian Johnson’s first album with the band, and him writing lyrics in Compass Point Studios after Malcom Young handing him song titles to riffs and songs he and Angus had ready to record. Amazing story – amazing album.
4
A Deeper Understanding, The War on Drugs
It became my go-to album during lockdown. It kinda sounds like one long song in some ways. I don’t know any song titles. I just love how the record makes me feel. It’s on a lot! Feeling is everything.
5
Oh Mercy, Bob Dylan
It’s a Daniel Lanois-produced record from 1989. His vocal is incredible. So up front. Songs like “Most of the time”, “Man in the Long Black Coat”, “What Good Am I?” It really is one of my all-time favorite albums of not just Dylan, but of anyone. I play the record a lot. It’s got an incredible atmosphere. Lanois is a clever guy who gets musicians to use natural dynamics in the room to create these types of records. IT’S SPIRITUAL.
