For most bands the release of a greatest hits collection signals a change in direction, or sometimes even the death knell of the group itself.

This isn’t true of Stereophonics, according to frontman Kelly Jones, following the recent release of Decade In The Sun.

“We have been asked to do a best-of collection for the past five or six years, but we never felt it was the right time,” he says. “We had just come off an 18-month world tour playing those songs live and realised people knew a lot more songs than we thought they did.”

This wasn’t just a case of shovelling all their singles on to one package though.

“We had so many singles we couldn’t fit them on one disc,” says Jones. “It isn’t like one of those Christmas bargain bin albums. It is something we are very proud of.”

To mark its release, the band has embarked on a three-week greatest hits tour, which takes in Brighton tonight.

“We are doing 25 singles back-to-back,” says Jones. “It will probably be the only time we get to do this kind of thing. We always put our big songs in the shows, but there are certain songs we have not played for five or six years.”

This isn’t a creative stop-gap for the band either. The new greatest hits album features two new tracks, and there is another album in the can, due for release in March 2009.

The Cwmaman-based band began in 1992, based around childhood friends Jones, unrelated bassist Richard Jones and drummer Stuart Cable.

Their 1997 debut album, Word Gets Around, not only showcased Jones’s smalltown storytelling skills but also his heart-searing vocal style in A Million Trees and the minor hit Local Boy In The Photograph.

“It was exciting getting signed and doing our first album, but it was hard work,” remembers Jones.

“We did about 120 gigs a year and played festivals where we could steal everybody else’s fans.”

It was 1998’s single The Bartender And The Thief, and its follow-up album Performance And Cocktails which changed everything.

“We’ve been doing arenas since then,” says Jones. “It is an amazing run and I’m quite proud of it. I don’t think we ever wanted to be a flash-in-the-pan band.”

The reported sacking of drummer Stuart Cable in 2003, due to commitment issues, looked like it might stop the band’s rise though.

“It was a very difficult time,” admits Jones. “Myself and Stuart grew up together, we were born seven days apart. I was in my first band with him when I was 12. For us to part ways, we were all devastated.

“The media was writing us off, writing me off, and trying to get me and Stuart at each other’s throats.

“Then our next record was Dakota and they all shut up.”

The band’s 2005 comeback single, with new drummer Javier Weyler, became Stereophonics’ first number one single.

“We had 14 year olds in the front row of the concerts who thought Dakota was our first single,” says Jones. “They didn’t realise we had four albums behind us.”

Now with extra guitarist Adam Zindani, the future is looking bright for the band, with the new album pretty much complete.

“The songs are very optimistic and uplifting,” says Jones. “We are finding new ways of producing them to make them sound a bit different, but I’m really happy with them. It’s an exciting time.”

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