Adam Zindani has an enviable wealth of respect among his peers, rock fans and guitar aficionados, but when he embarked on his first album in his own name, he really only had one listener in mind: himself.

As happens with some of the best records, an artist who thinks they’re creating music at an essentially personal level, turns out to be making a record for everyone. That’s the deal with Black Eyes Blue, a new album that will connect with Zindani’s existing rock fraternity and reach far beyond to a whole new crowd.

The Birmingham-born musician and songwriter has a lifetime of experience to his name in a range of guises. That included major label tenures with Head, aka Northstar, and as frontman with Casino, who were also known for an intermediate spell as Spider Simpson. But his highest profile, of course, is via his 15-year, ongoing tenure — and a friendship that goes back much further — as guitarist, singer and songwriter with Welsh rock heroes Stereophonics.

That has continued apace in 2022 with the multi-million-selling band’s wildly-acclaimed arena tour, hot on the heels of their latest UK No.1 album Oochya! This most recent reminder of the South Wales megaband’s incredible durability is their eighth UK chart-topper, and includes no fewer than three co-writes by Zindani, among them the single ‘Do Ya Feel My Love.’

But now the spotlight falls on the infectious Black Eyes Blue, a project with an aura about it that makes you wonder why Adam waited so long. That said, it came together at the right time and for all the right reasons. “I never really set out to make any type of record apart from something that I would want to listen to myself,” he says cheerfully, adding that he’s never been so happy with the way he’s sounded.