Kelly Jones turned down the chance to see a Stereophonics tribute band with a leader singer called “Belly Jones”.
The frontman of the chart-topping rock band insisted it’s an “honour and privilege” whenever people cover their music, but he didn’t fancy going down to the local working men’s club in his native Wales to catch a Stereophonics tribute act over Easter.
Speaking on ‘The Dave Berry Breakfast Show’ on Absolute Radio on Wednesday (29.04.25), he said: “I wake up on Sunday mornings, and people send me clips of people at weddings and bars and pubs singing my stuff a lot.
“And when I went home for Easter this weekend to see my family in Wales, my cousin said, ‘Do you want to come up to the working man’s club? I said, ‘Why? What’s happening? And she said, ‘There’s a Stereophonics tribute band playing.”
He continued: “I think the singer, he’s a big guy, he’s called Belly Jones. So I said, ‘No’. My missus was like, ‘No, let’s go.’ Take the kids, have a good night.”
The ‘Maybe Tomorrow’ hitmaker, 50, used to play in covers bands long before he hit the big time with Stereophonics.
He added: “Jokes aside, it’s always like an honour and privilege to see anybody taking any music and doing something with it. I mean, if it means something to people, they want to cover it. We started playing covers in bands from teenagers, you know what I mean?”
Stereophonics have just released their 13th studio album, ‘Make ‘Em Laugh, Make ‘Em Cry, Make ‘Em Wait’.
August 2027 will mark the 30th anniversary of the group’s debut album ‘Word Gets Around’ but they aren’t planning anything to mark the milestone.
He told The Sun newspaper’s Bizarre column:: “I’m not sure if we will make a big deal of it.
“It seems like every two years there is an anniversary for one record or another.
“I’ve always tried to move forward rather than move back.
“I’m proud of what ‘Word Gets Around’ is.
“I’m really grateful that I continue to write songs and have made 13 albums and have 180 songs to pick and choose from every night.”