Stereophonics will be back later in 2015 with their latest album, Keep The Village Alive, racking up their ninth studio record in the process and setting them up for what could turn out to be a Rolling Stones-like career longevity. The Welsh alt-rock fourpiece, headed up by frontman Kelly Jones, have been making music together since 1992 and with an average of one new album every two years over the last ten it doesn’t look like they’ll be hanging up their handbags and glad rags any time soon.
The new album is scheduled for a release date of the 11th September 2015, available on CD, vinyl LP and digital download with the standard ten tracks. They’re also putting out a deluxe version of the album with an extra six bonus tracks on the two disk CD and digital download. A limited run of these will be available signed from the band’s online store.
Ahead of the album’s release, Stereophonics has put out opening track, C’est La Vie, as the lead single to provide a window into the potential direction for the rest of the ten song tracklist (details below). It’s an upbeat, uncomplicated rock and roll track with an over-driven electric guitar rythm that sounds like the simple, more direct cousin of Dakota.
It’s a grower if you give it time and while there’s nothing particularly experimental or innovative about it in any way, it isn’t without its positives. The reverb thrumming, effects pedal glistening riff that plays the song out is a nice touch that we’ve come to expect from the band and the lyrics tell a decent enough story, in spite of the slightly cliched elements.
The music video is as much about mindless fun as the song has set out to be, with brash mouth, but well meaning kids from the Valley’s seeming to represent the breakout spirit of the band and their wild former drummer, Stuart Cable, who died in 2010. It’s all shaping up to be a love it or hate combination, but there’s probably enough to keep die hard fans happy overall, so it’ll be interesting to hear more of the tracks from Keep The Village Alive when they land.
It’s pretty early doors in terms of the upcoming release, so there will probably be at least one more single before September 11th. C’est La Vie might take a little while to warm to, but it’s bound to seep in a little over the summer with the radio play it’s bound to get, which could set the new record up well to be another high charting effort from the Jones boys of Cwmaman and their current recruits, guitarist Adam Zindani of Casino and Jamie Morrison of Noisettes.
To support the release of Keep The Village Alive, the Phonics will also be performing at a number of big festivals over the summer to give fans an opportunity to listen to some of the new material live. They’ll be playing T In The Park first up on Sunday the 12th July 2015, before moving on to Belsonic on Friday the 21st August, V Festival on the 22nd and 23rd August, Rock En Seine Festival in Paris on the 29th August and Lollapalooza Berlin Festival on the 13th September. We’re also expecting details about a more comprehensive series of tour dates to follow after the release of the album.
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C’est La Vie music video:
Keep The Village Alive track list:
1. C’est La Vie 3:41
2. White Lies 3:57
3. Sing Little Sister 3:27
4. I Wanna Get Lost With You 3:50
5. Song For The Summer 2:56
6. Fight Or Flight 3:42
7. My Hero 3:48
8. Sunny 4:20
9. Into The World 4:04
10. Mr And Mrs Smith 6:50
Bonus tracks:
1. Ancient Rome (Bonus Track) 4:41
2. Let Me In (Bonus Track) 4:28
3. Blame (You Never Give Me Your Money) (Bonus Track) 4:34
4. You Are My Energy (Bonus Track) 3:58
5. You’re My Star (Acoustic 2015) (Bonus Track) 5:24
6. I Wanna Get Lost With You (Acoustic 2015) (Bonus Track) 4:15
