The Stereophonics started off in a small welsh village called Cwmaman calling themselves 'Tragic Love Company' which was inspired by their favourite bands Tragically Hip, Mother Love Bone and Bad Company. The band members Kelly Jones (lead guitar and vocalist), Richard Jones (bass guitar), Stuart Cable (drums) have known each since they were kids and have been officially together in band since 1992. They had there first major break in 1996 when they were the first signing to the then new label V2 using their new name, 'Stereophonics', which was inspired by Stuart's Gran's Gramophone.
The bands first release came the same year with a limited edition double A-side, 'Looks Like Chaplin' and 'More Life In A Tramps Vest', which was quickly followed by supporting the likes of Manic Street Preachers and Ocean Colour Scene. Their next single 'Local Boy In The Photograph', released in 1997, got to 51 in the UK charts and was followed by 'More Life In A Tramps Vest' which was the bands first top 40 hit. During 1997 they managed to play just over 100 gigs ending up in Cardiff for their 100th and 101st. This massive exposure meant that their debut album 'Word Gets Around' got to 6 in the UK album chart.
All this hard work by the band paid off in February 1998 when they received the Brit for "Best Newcomer" and their first album went gold selling over 100,000 copies. During that year they did successful tours in Europe, Australia and the USA and got their first top 20 hit with a re-release of 'Local Boy In The Photograph'. In November the first single from their next album 'Performance and Cocktails', 'The Bartender and the Thief' was released and got to number 3, the bands most successful single to date.
In February of 1999 the next single from 'Performance and Cocktails', 'Just Looking', was released and reached number 4. The same month the much anticipated new album was finally released, entering at number 1 and within three weeks had gone platinum. The next single 'Pick A Part That's New' was released in May and got also got number 4 in the chart. At roughly the same time it was announced that the Stereophonics would be playing a 50,000 people gig in the Morfa Stadium in Swansea, which sold out before any of the supporting acts had even been announced. The gig was great success and got awarded the title 'Best Music Event of 1999'. Later the same year two further singles from the album were released 'I Wouldn't Believe Your Radio' and 'Hurry Up And Wait', both reaching number 11 in the chart.
The band started off 2000 with a tour of North America, and after June they went back to the studio to work on their new album, breaking only to headline a couple of gigs during the summer. The new album was previewed on Kelly Jones' solo acoustic tour which kicked of in November of 2000.
In March of 2001 the first single from the new album 'Mr Writer' went in a number 5, and was quickly followed by the release of their new album 'Just Enough Education to Perform' which went straight in at number 1, during April of this year.