Stereophonics enjoying success in Europe, hope to find it in America

by CHRIS MITCHELL
columnist

The success of Wales' new prodigious sons, Stereophonics, cannot be exaggerated.

When the power-rock trio released its sophomore album Performance and Cocktails (V2 Records) in the U.K. in mid-March 1999, the band already was destined for superstardom.

That follow-up to the critically-acclaimed and commercially-triumphant 1997 release "Word Gets Around" already had spawned a No. 3 hit on the U.K. singles charts with "The Bartender and the Thief" nearly four weeks before the album was officially released.

With the beloved Verve nearing extinction, rough boys Oasis in the midst of another identity crisis and Scotland's Travis still bucking at the starting gates, the 'Phonics could not have picked a better time to resurface and storm the U.K. sales charts with their first No. 1 album.

The Stereophonics released "Performance and Cocktails" in America to an anticipatory media crush in September.

Prospects, of course, were high now for guitarist/vocalist Kelly Jones, bassist Richard Jones (no relation) and drummer Stuart Cable with double platinum success at home and sold-out tours throughout Europe, Australia and Japan.

Since then, though, the band's quest for the American success story has been as elusive as the quest for the holy grail, the same as it has been for other U.K. rock acts like the Manic Street Preachers and the Charlatans in the 1990s.

The NME-proclaimed "Princess of Wales" have been able to penetrate American sales charts about as successfully as flies penetrate a windshield.

Yet, why the cold shoulder from American music buyers?

Dressed up with the explosive sonic energy of late 1960s work by The Who and early 1970s distortion by The Kinks, gritty Kelly Jones makes Peter Townshend-like strides through the pummeling "Half the Lies You Tell Ain't True" and the rumbling "Plastic California."

With a wailing, sometimes strained vocal grit reminiscent of the legendary Joe Cocker, Jones delivers home straight-up blue-collar rock. No befuddling electronic gadgetry. No rock star pretense. Just working person's arena rock that drips like sweat from battered Washburns and strained larynxes.

Jones' witty, angst-filled lyricism is the real draw, though. Combining the characteristic sense of small town despair with lager-fueled vitriol, Jones makes trackls like the bouncy "Pick a Part That's New" with its underlying tones of loneliness sound almost happy with his gift for rich melody and catchy choruses.

The string shedding "Roll Up and Shine" takes an introspective look at life as a rock star. While another standout track "Just Looking" attacks the sometimes ridiculous quest for human perfection.

Not surprisingly, the band's praise has come with criticism. Some American cities have written the band off as rock pawns, drawing ugly nicknames like "Nirvana Lite" and "Alice Out of Chains."

Only time and future record sales will tell, though, if the band can differentiate itself from the pack of post-grunge acts that have shot up like weeds through the cracks of the late 1990s modern rock scene.

Maybe by then, Kelly Jones can find a way to get happy.

Yet, for those of us who really love the Stereophonics' music, let's hope he doesn't.

Final verdict: four half-empty glasses out of five.

Mitchell can be contacted at mitche28@marshall.edu