It Saint over for Stereos

KELLY HAS A CHANGE

KELLY Jones paused Stereophonics and started new group Far From Saints to prevent himself from growing tired of the band.

The Welsh rocker says he is aware that after so much success with Stereophonics it could end up being taken for granted.

He told me: “It’s not that I want to end Stereophonics or quit that, it’s just about reinvigorating what that is.

“Because I have done 12 studio albums, like eight No.1 records, 13 or 14 world tours and there is only so much you can do without it becoming like, ‘Well what else will we do with this then?’ You need to do other things in between to make that have a life as well.

“Feeding your soul is a lot more important than feeding the cash cow and you have to be very, very aware of what the difference is because maintaining some sort of recognition and expectancy is one thing but what are you maintaining for yourself?

“So for me, it’s about trying to find what makes me feel moved and what makes me feel like I’m growing. If it doesn’t make me feel like I am growing and learning, then I have to pause it and find something that does.”

Kelly has found that with supergroup Far From Saints, also made up of Patty Lynn and Dwight Baker from The Wind and The Wave.

And he is now excited to be working on other projects away, saying: “I’m going to go away in a couple of weeks to some weird studio at the end of the coast in Norway.

“I don’t know what I am doing but I have about 60% of something written and a backpack. “But I probably wouldn’t have gotten that kind of freedom if I didn’t get to experience that freedom with this as well.”

He did joke it’s tough with four kids, adding: “There is so much responsibility in my life, it is a juggling act.”

● Far From Saints’ self-titled debut album drops June 16 and new track Take It Through The Night is out now.