Listening in Stereophonics

Reality doesn’t frequently imitate art but in June this year former Stereophonics drummer Stuart Cable became the Local Boy in the Photograph, the band’s first single which was released in 1997, when he died aged 40 after choking on his own vomit while asleep.

Although Cable had left the band in 2003, he was, as vocalist and guitarist Kelly Jones told the Herald “my best friend” and the lyrics aren’t any less poignant to Local Boy: “He’ll always be 23 / yet the train runs on and on / Past the place they found his clothing /And all the friends lay down the flowers / Sit on the banks and drink for hours / Talk of the way they saw him last / Local boy in the photograph.”

To say the past few months have been emotionally easy would be an understatement.

But the circle of life continues and the Stereophonics, who have been putting out flawless rock tracks such as Dakota, Maybe Tomorrow, Handbags and Gladrags (which was the theme song to the UK version of The Office) perfectly matched by Kelly’s gravelly vocals for 13 years, have been on a world tour although it’s taken them those 13 years to play a Buenos Aires gig.

There was a special twist to Saturday’s show at the Hot Festival, and that twist was the Welsh band’s drummer, Javier Weyler. That’s right folks, the man’s an Argentine. A studio assistant working in London with the Stereophonics, he became a permanent band member in 2005, eventually replacing Stuart who had already left two years before.

 

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