ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT
Guns N Roses - Live Era 87-93
ADVERTISEMENT
Guns N Roses - Live Era 87-93
ADVERTISEMENT
Guns N Roses - Live Era 87-93

‘Pull The Pin’: Having A Blast With Stereophonics

Stereophonics’ sixth album, ‘Pull The Pin,’ found the Welsh rockers looking at the world around them and trying to make sense of the disarray.

Published on

Stereophonics Pull The Pin album cover web optimised 820
Cover: Courtesy of Vox Populi Records

Ten years after releasing their calling card, 1997’s Word Gets Around, Stereophonics had lost none of their penchant for turning out socially conscious songs that sat somewhere between state-of-the-world address and local news report. Perhaps that would always be the way for Kelly Jones and Co., a band that remains indomitably tied to their roots in Cwmaman, Wales, yet who have tasted global success and filled stadium venues around the world. Like fellow Welsh firebrands Manic Street Preachers, theirs is a unique worldview: one part local boys in the photograph, one part chart-topping heroes that went out and conquered. So when their sixth album, Pull The Pin, came out on October 15, 2007, it was no surprise to see it sitting atop the UK album charts a week later on October 21 – their fifth UK No. 1 in a row.

The Rolling Stones - Black & Blue
The Rolling Stones - Black & Blue
The Rolling Stones - Black & Blue

No doubt the group’s fiercely committed Welsh fans were as engaged as ever, but songs such as lead single “It Means Nothing” also ensnared the broader populace. A mid-tempo ballad, it saw Kelly try to make sense of the London bombings of July 7, 2007 (“If the bomb goes off again/In my brain around the train/And I hope that I’m with you/’Cause I wouldn’t know what to do”), touching a nerve with the public and making it to No. 12 in the UK charts (while also, perhaps understandably, resonating with a Belgian audience that took it to No. 73 in their homeland).

Opener “Soldiers Make Good Targets“ left no confusion over what was on Kelly’s mind, while on “Daisy Street“ he turned his attention to happenings in his own neighborhood: the fatal stabbing of a teenage boy that left the community shocked. Elsewhere, “Bank Holiday Monday“ proved that the group continued to sit comfortably in the post-Oasis world of British indie rock, while, with its introspective lyrics and soaring chorus, “Stone“ confidently pressed the stadium-anthem button.

Stereophonics - It Means Nothing (Official Video)

Click to load video

Having had a hand in producing the group’s previous two albums, 2003’s You Gotta Go There To Come Back and 2005’s Language. Sex. Violence. Other?, Kelly Jones was also by this point comfortable in the studio, fashioning, along with co-producer Jim Lowe, a slick, radio-friendly sound that not only found its way to the top of the UK charts, but comfortably breached the Top 40 in four other countries. Keep Calm And Carry On was the name of Stereophonics’ next album, but as Pull The Pin suggested: with the world in disarray, that was possibly Stereophonics’ motto all along.

Shop for Stereophonics’s music on vinyl or CD now.

Click to comment
Comments are temporarily disabled and will return shortly.
The Beatles
The Beatles
Anthology Collection
12LP Box Set
ORDER NOW
The Smashing Pumpkins - Mellon Collie And The Infinite Sadness Super Deluxe 6LP
The Smashing Pumpkins
Mellon Collie And The Infinite Sadness
Super Deluxe 6LP
ORDER NOW
Various Artists
Various Artists
Classic Holiday Singles Box
14 x 7in Singles
ORDER NOW
The Rolling Stones - Black And Blue 5LP and Blu-ray
The Rolling Stones
Black And Blue
5LP and Blu-ray
ORDER NOW
Guns N' Roses - Live Era
Guns N' Roses
Live Era '87-'93
4LP
ORDER NOW
Carly Rae Jepsen - E•MO•TION 2LP
Carly Rae Jepsen
E•MO•TION
Magenta Swirl Color Vinyl 2LP
ORDER NOW
uDiscover Music - Back To Top
uDiscover Music - Back To Top