Yahoo News Stereophonics EXCLUSIVE: ‘X Factor Is Like A Glamorised Working Men’s Club!’
Outspoken as usual, the Welsh rockers didn’t mince their words when quizzed about reality singing shows.
Back in their day such a thing didn’t exist and musicians had to earn their stripes the old fashioned way.
Yahoo Celeb caught up with the boys at Gibraltar Music Festivalto chat about their upcoming 20th anniversary plans, performing with the Boss, getting boozed with the All Saints girls and er…taxis.
Lead singer Kelly Jones also recently turned down the opportunity to be a mentor on The Voice. His peers Ricky Wilson, Boy George even fellow countryman Tom Jones have all had a dabble in the reality TV world but Kelly, 42, insists it’s more about ratings rather than nurturing real talent.
He said: ‘In the long run I’m not so sure how shows like The X Factor and The Voice really helps artists.
‘It’s entertaining TV but I think it’s a lot more about what celebrity judges they’ll have on.
‘I think kids get a good opportunity and a good platform to do something but it’s very rarely about making their own music.’
‘The contestants are always being coaxed or convinced to do something different but with other people’s material. Reality music shows are like a glamorised working men’s club!
‘Music needs to be about authenticity.’
Jones, along with band members Adam Zindani, Richard Jones and Jamie Morrison are releasing a new album next year to make 20 years together – which is ‘about 70 per cent finished’, they said.
Kelly added: ‘We would like to celebrate our 20th year by bringing out our 10th album rather than celebrating one album that was released 20 years ago.
‘We’re all about looking forward, not to the past. We’re hoping to do some shows around the anniversary and mix the two ideas together of something current and look what we’ve done in the past.’
The Stereophonics also recently toured with Bruce Springsteen – who at 66 still had ‘incredible stamina’ and showed the lads how it’s done.
Kelly said: ‘It was amazing hanging out with Bruce, we learnt a lot watching him every night.
‘It’s amazing to work with people like Springsteen because it gives you foresight on what people do further down the line and how they change things up and make it work. We’re not as big as those acts but we can learn from what they do.’
The band then confessed that instead of getting an early night before their headline set in Gibraltar, they spent it partying with some other badly behaved musicians…
Kelly said: ‘I know it’s naughty but we spent last night getting drunk with the All Saints Girls.
‘But luckily in Gibraltar everything is on your doorstep, the airport, the stage and the hotel so there’s minimal chance of anything going wrong.’
And lastly when asked what his number one pet hate it, he answered – rather bizarrely: ‘Taxis.’
‘I hate taxi drivers because they’re a pain in the arse and they always go in the wrong way and their useless at their job. If it was any other profession then they wouldn’t have a job.’
Quite. Nice to see rock and roll is still alive and well, boys!
