HOWZAT

He also likes the fact that no one in Fulham seems to have the first idea who he is. Tabloid exposés have not been a feature of his career, the juiciest recent red-top titbits amounting to a reported police fine for public urination in Camden and a dancefloor snog with Martine McCutcheon (an act "vehemently denied" by a spokeswoman). The impression is of something far from a live-fast, die-young lifestyle, but it's one he's perfectly happy to cultivate.

More important is the question of music. As befits a man with a reputation for work rate, he's got an album out. In a few snatched hours of Stereophonics studio time, Jones has pieced together Only The Names Have Been Changed, a solo side project featuring just Jones on acoustic guitar with a string quartet backing. It isn't designed to knock listeners' heads off so much as soothe Jones's own. "In any band, you work your bollocks off," he starts. "You get into a routine of writing rock songs, but it's hard to write stories that mean something in a three-and-a-half-minute single. I wanted to do something like Nick Cave's Murder Ballads; something selfish for me."

The result is a series of ten stark narratives, each documenting the life of a separate female protagonist. It's a work awash with a kind of cinematic quality, which is no coincidence, given that Jones' other creative outlet has, since he was a teen, been writing scripts and screenplays. Is it something he'd consider developing further?

"I think the music and film industries are probably both as bent as each other, but last year I wrote a script called Gas Panic. I took it to a company in LA who represent directors and writers and they thought it was great," he shrugs in a hey-it's-no-big-deal sort of way. "So that's something I'd like to do one day."

For the time being, Jones is as content as he's ever been to play the part of pop star. This evening he's due to meet up with some friends, known collectively as Oasis. Later this week, he'll be putting the finishing touches to the band's album, which already has the ring of a fifth consecutive No 1. It's a funny twist then that, before we part, Jones reveals the best career advice he's received came from someone whose own music career never really took off, namely, his dad, Oscar. Managed by the landlord of his local in Cwmaman, Oscar would tour the pubs and clubs of the valleys in an old ambulance, do the gigs and return in time for his day job at the factory.

"My old man never really talked about it," Jones recalls. "But then one night we were having a few cans, and he was telling me how much fun he used to have. ŒIf you start out trying to make a career out of music, you're in it for the wrong reasons. You do it to see girls, get drunk and play in bars. You don't come out the door trying to sell out Wembley.'" But you have sold out Wembley haven't you? Jones flashes his gap-toothed grin, drains his cocktail, and nods. n

Only The Names Have Been Changed is out now on V2

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