Showbiz

Interview: Adam Zindani on GTFM

Written by Gavin on 24th February 2023

Stereophonics guitarist Adam Zindani will release his stunning second solo single “Should Have Known Better” on February 10th ahead of the release of his debut solo album Black Eyes Blue, out March 24th on Voice Of Vega Records via Absolute

The follow up to his solo debut single “What About Love”, “Should Have Known Better” is a melodic, propulsive rocker with an 80s sheen and a wonderfully soulful vocal from Zindani. “Should Have Known Better literally wrote itself,” he says of the track. “I was messing around with a different tuning on the guitar and then bang there it was. It felt like all I had to do was hang on while the track took my on a ride. This is the song that you turn up in your car, home, anywhere!”

Hugely respected by his peers, rock fans and guitar aficionados, Zindani has spent his adult life making music in a range of guises – including major label stints with Northstar and Casino – but he is best known, of course, for his 15-year tenure as guitarist and songwriter with Welsh rock heroes Stereophonics. In 2022 the incredibly durable quartet released their 8th UK chart-topping album Oochya!, which features three co-writes by Zindani, including the single “Do Ya Feel My Love.”

Throughout this time Adam had never stopped writing songs for himself but he’d struggled to find time to record them. Then came lockdown, which closed many doors for all of us but opened up the possibility of taking things further. “The original premise was nothing more than being creative,” he says. “I left it for a bit, then suddenly there was all this time, and I just thought ‘I’m going to make a record.’

I made it with a friend of mine, Dean Deavall, and the guys that played the drums [Jack Taylor] and the bass [Antonio Angotti], I’d never worked with before, I just took a chance. I very purposely just said yes to stuff I would never normally have said yes to.”

Black Eyes Blue might surprise those expecting a flat-out rock record from the acclaimed guitarist. Naturally there are elements of his rock background, but more from the spheres of soul, pop, singer-songwriters and more. Zindani’s playing world was initially informed by rock, but that’s expanded with the passing years.

“It was rock music that got me into first playing the guitar,” he explains. “But then the older I got, the more I found myself realising I like lots of different types of music, and that leads us to the record I have today. What’s also really influenced me is my kids and listening to the stuff in lockdown that they were listening to, like The xx.”

All of Adam Zindani’s decades of musical experience have given us Black Eyes Blue, putting him centre stage for the first time on an album that will connect with his existing rock fraternity and reach far beyond to a whole new crowd.

Listen to Adam speaking with GTFM’s Gavin Powell here:-