#MindTheBand 2022: round-up

Continuing the tradition of rounding things up in a belated fashion… I’m finally drawing a line under this year’s #MindTheBand! I’m still keeping everything crossed that they might decide to mark the 25th anniversary of Word Gets Around in concert fashion, but I’m well aware that this is quite unlikely; Stereophonics are well booked up over […]

#MindTheBand: “I Wouldn’t Believe Your Radio” – Scream Above the Sounds

Performance (& Cocktails)Release date: 27 October 2017UK chart peak: #2Running time: 46:29Singles: All In One Night, Caught by the Wind Scream Above the Sounds had a mixed response from critics, but was still a hit with fans. It had a varied international performance, reaching the top ten in three other countries: Ireland (#9), New Zealand […]

#MindTheBand: “I Wouldn’t Believe Your Radio” – Pull The Pin

Performance (& Cocktails)Release date: 12 October 2007UK chart peak: #1Running time: 46:25Singles: It Means Nothing (#12), My Friends (#32) Pull The Pin may not have been a hit with the critics, but it was no less popular with fans in the UK, giving the band their fifth consecutive number one album. It performed less well […]

#MindTheBand: “I Wouldn’t Believe Your Radio” – Word Gets Around

Performance (& Cocktails)Release date: 25 August 1997UK chart peak: #6Running time: 42:02Singles: Looks Like Chaplin, Local Boy in the Photograph (original release – #51, re-issue – #14), More Life in a Tramp’s Vest (#33), A Thousand Trees (#22), Traffic (#20) Though Word Gets Around ended up performing incredibly well in the UK, eventually going 3x […]

Stereophonics: Oochya! (The Brighton Centre)

Saturday 26 March 2022 is a date that will live long in the memories of music fans across the world, being the date (for most) that heralded the news of Foo Fighters drummer Taylor Hawkins’ death at the age of just 50. A desperately sad day, though made incredibly special & poignant as the tributes […]

Challenge Week 2022: Mind The Band (Keeping Up With The Joneses)

For once, an idea that I’ve had up my sleeve for a little while – though that doesn’t mean it’s fully formed, by any means. As 2022 marks the 25th anniversary of the Stereophonics’ first ever album release, Word Gets Around, I decided that the only possible theme for this particular challenge week was the Phonics […]

Stereophonics: Just Enough Education to Perform – 20th anniversary (Shepherd’s Bush Empire)

Stereophonics’ third album, Just Enough Education to Perform, was released on 11 April 2001 – and in August of the same year it found its way into my beginner’s CD collection. Therefore, when the announcement came that the band would be doing some relatively intimate shows in which they’d play the full album (an increasingly popular […]

2020: A few of my favourite things

I’m not going to have a go at anyone who has posted a list of their favourite things from 2020, or what they consider to be the best; we’re all dealing with the current situation in our own way, and for some people it’s easiest to carry on with as many ‘normal’ things as possible […]

#MindTheBand: Memorable gigs through time

As this week has ended up focusing mostly around albums (understandably, given the situation in which we find ourselves), I thought today was an opportune day to mix things up a bit. It’s #ThrowbackThursday – or #TBT – so what better moment to think back over my live gig experiences? Much of this dates […]

The Wind + The Wave: livestream 1

I’ve been lucky enough to see The Wind + The Wave (Patty Lynn & Dwight Baker) in concert three times in just under a year: twice supporting Kelly Jones on his 2019 tour and once a few weeks ago, backed by a full band, supporting Stereophonics. They run their own podcast (The Dwight & Patty […]