Press: Stereophonics @ WelshBands
On the Couch with Kelly Jones (N.M.E.)
Which one song describes you best? "'Problem Child' by AC/DC."
What is heaven? "The opposite of hell."
What is hell? "Hell is probably the place where everybody goes to a party, while heaven is the quiet place where everybody is very sensible and does gardening and things like that. The only time you believe in anything like hell is when you're about to go down in a plane or something."
What is your earliest memory? "I was three years old, and I remember watching my mother leave me in the school yard at nursery. I was crying on the doorstep."
What's your greatest fear? "Dying before I finish doing everything that I want to do." Who is your all-time hero? "Celebrity-wise, I've always loved watching Jack Nicholson films because he's such a character."
What's the worst trouble you've been in? "We pinched a Pentecostal bus once. We started it with a lollipop stick! But we never got caught, so we didn't get into trouble."
Who was the first love of your life? "A girl called Joanna Griffiths. I went out with her for two years in junior school, but never actually kissed her. I was a slow mover."
What's your greatest talent? "At the moment I guess it's songwriting, because that's what I'm getting most success for."
Upon whom would you most like to exact revenge? "All the A&R people who sent back the tapes I sent them. They never even opened the packages. But I think I've gained my revenge, because we're doing quite well without them."
What's your most treasured possession? "The book that I keep all my notes in and write my lyrics in - I'd be really pissed off if I lost that, because there'd be no second album."
What have you most regretted doing while drunk? "When I was 17 or 18, we all went out one night and got completely drunk on wine and lemonade - but the guy behind the bar, who was my friend, wasn't putting any lemonade in my glass, so I was drinking halfpints of wine. I ended up singing '(Sittin' On) The Dock Of The Bay' on the Karaoke, and going home and being sick in my sleep. Luckily my mum turned me over. If she hadn't, I probably would have died."
What can you cook? "Pasta and Dolmio sauce."
What's the best piece of advice you've received? "My father once told me, `You can learn what to do and also what not to do from other people'."
Can you read music? "I started to learn when I was young, but the bloke who was teaching me moved to London."
If you were invisible for a day, what would you do? "Richard (Jones, bassist) would go in the girls' changing rooms. Stuart (Cable, drummer) would toss himself silly, then go into Oasis' changing rooms and nick all their Red Stripe. I'd go and see what Jack Nicholson gets up to on a night out."
What are your final three wishes? "I'd wish my parents would win the lottery, so they wouldn't have to get up at Gam. I'd wish to stay healthy. And I'd wish for three more wishes."
April Long