New at Cynon Valley Museum – Stuart Cable and The Stereophonics’ drum kit on display in our main history gallery
This drum kit belonged to local star, the late Stuart Cable of Cwmaman. He was the talented drummer and co-founder of the Welsh rock band, Stereophonics.
Stuart was born on 19th May 1970 and grew up in the Cwmaman, in the same street as future bandmate Kelly Jones.
The band, originally consisting of Stuart Cable, Kelly Jones and Richard Jones, formed in Cwmaman in 1992. This Pearl Export Kit is the drum kit that Stuart spent his formative years playing, back as far as when the Cwmaman band were known as Tragic Love Company and played locally around the Cynon Valley.
After the band signed a record deal with Richard Branson’s record label V2 Records in 1996, Stuart continued to use this kit and recorded the album ‘Word Gets Around’ with it, the album went on to sell nearly a million copies, charting at number six in the UK music charts. The drum kit was also used in the Stereophonics video ‘Local Boy in the Photograph’.
The image on the wall panels behind is the photograph from the iconic Performance and Cocktails (1999) album cover.
Cable played a significant part in the rise and success of the band in the late 1990s and early 2000s.
Stereophonics have been successful worldwide, producing seven UK number one albums and over 10 million worldwide album sales. They have toured the world and given headline performances for several UK festivals such as Glastonbury and Reading.
Sadly, Stuart died on 7th June 2010. He will always be commemorated as an individual instrumental in shaping the sound and popularity of Stereophonics and the Welsh music scene.
This drum kit is on loan from Cian Cable, son of the late Stuart Cable.
