KELLY BUCKLEY meets up with V festival regulars The Stereophonics ahead of the big weekend

Lookingback across festivals through the years, it seems the Stereophonics have always been there.

“We’ve played V about eight or nine times now,” Richard Jones, the band’s bass player, tells me, “they call us the veterans of the festivals.”

They’ll be coming back to V in Hylands Park, on Sunday.

“Everything’s kind of kicking off at the moment. Not only have we got V, but there’s the album promotion ten days later,” says Rich.

He is referring to the new tentrack offering Keep the Village Alive.

“Why the title?” I ask. He explains it’s about celebrating the small towns and areas around the UK, which have great scenes going on, but you might not necessarily have heard of them.

Written and produced by front man Kelly Jones, it follows the acclaimed 2013 platinum release, Graffiti On the Train, which sold more than 300,00 0 copies in the UK.

It’s the ninth studio album released by the Stereophonics , who have now had a 20-year career.

I wondered if, after all this time, the whole festival thing has become a bit tiring, a bit too much likeajob and less fun than it once was.

“No way,” says Rich, “we love performing live. We love playing the festivals. They’re the parts where we get to show off, hav e our moment and do what we do best.

“We’ve built up a good reputation as a live band and we want to continue to keep that reputation.

"We really love it and we all get on so well.

“We still have the same attitudes, we’re all a bit Peter Pan... we haven’t really ever grown up."

Rich has been in the band since day one and was school friends with Kelly Jones since they were three years old.

They were born in the same hospital two weeks apart and their mums went to the same school.

Recorded at ICP Studios in Brussels and at their own Stylus Studios in London, the band worked from an initial pool of 35 to 40 songs for the ne w album.

Kelly explains: “This was almost going to be a double album at one point, but double albums went out in the Seventies.”

The Stereophonics have many achievements.

They are the eighth group to achieve five consecutive UK No 1 albums in a list that includes the Beatles , Led Zeppelin, Abba, Genesis , Oasis, Blur and U2.

They’ve enjoyed 11 top 10 singles, including the No 1 Dakota.

Their hits collection, Decade In the Sun, sold 1.2 million copies in the UK, while they sold more than 150,000 tickets on their last 16-date UK arena tour.

I wonder if the band finds their fanbase is mainly made up of those they gathered at the beginning.

“We’ve a wide variety of age s in our fanbase,” Rich says.

“At gigs we see all the teenagers down the front and they tend to get older the further back they go. “It’s great for us to see a younger crowd. Some of our music was written before they were born!"