Early years (1997–2000) Lostprophets was formed by Ian Watkins and
Lee Gaze in 1997 in Pontypridd, Wales, after their previous band Fleshbind disbanded. They could not find a singer, so Watkins decided he would switch from drums to be the frontman and they recruited Mike Chiplin on drums. Mike Lewis joined a few months later as bassist. Both Lewis and Watkins were also in the
metalcore band Public Disturbance, until 1998 and 2000 respectively. Lostprophets started out as part of the fledgling
South Wales scene—playing gigs at venues across Wales including
T.J.'s in
Newport. who joined the band as bassist for the latter recording. The band caught the attention of the two
music publishers
Kerrang! and
Metal Hammer magazines, receiving glancing reviews from both. In 1999 they signed in with Independent label
Visible Noise. The band worked with producer
Michael Barbiero to remaster the album in preparation for its release to American markets, and this new remastered version of the album was released in late 2001. Lostprophets featured on a bill consisting of more traditionally
punk oriented acts. This provoked hostility from certain members of the audience, who were upset at Lostprophets inclusion on such a bill. The band subsequently toured with
Ozzfest, played at
Glastonbury and the
Reading and Leeds Festival. They also appeared on a number of TV shows, including
Top of the Pops,
CD:UK and
Never Mind the Buzzcocks. They also performed as part of the 2002
NME Carling Awards tour.
The Fake Sound of Progress has achieved Platinum status in the UK.
Start Something (2003–2004) After the extensive touring cycle for
The Fake Sound of Progress finally ended, the band took a brief break before beginning the process of writing new material for
Start Something at Frontline Studios in
Caerphilly, Wales. They then entered Los Angeles's Barefoot Studio for a recording process that lasted from March until September 2003, with producer Eric Valentine. The first single released from the album was the song "
Burn Burn", the music video for which began receiving heavy rotation on satellite and cable channels like
MTV2,
Kerrang! TV and
Scuzz in the UK. The song attracted some criticism, however, as the opening bore a striking resemblance to "Mother Mary", a song from the band
Far's
Water and Solutions album. The band themselves even conceded in interviews that the singing pattern bore an undeniable similarity to the
Adamski song "
Killer". "Burn Burn" was released on 3 November 2003, and was originally scheduled to be closely followed by the release of the album. The song further gained much popularity in the United States through radio airplay and the music video saw regular rotation on
MTV, generating much anticipation for the album in America. The album was released in the UK on 2 February 2004, and was commercially successful, achieving number four in the
UK Albums Chart and selling over 415,000 copies. The album has sold over 687,000 copies in the US alone according to
Nielsen Soundscan although in a 2012 interview with Gigwise Lee Gaze stated it had sold 890,000 copies in the US. Worldwide the album has sold 2.5 million copies according to
BBC Wales. The critical response from mainstream magazines was mostly positive, though the response from rock publications such as
Kerrang!,
Metal Hammer and
Rock Sound was sometimes tepid.
Liberation Transmission (2005–2007) On 19 June 2005, founding member Mike Chiplin left the group to pursue other musical opportunities. Since then, he joined another band called The Unsung, and played with Accident Music until their split in 2011, which also featured Chris Morgan of Midasuno and former
Funeral for a Friend guitarist Darran Smith. He has also opened up his own practice-studio for young people to start bands. The remaining members began working on material for the next album. As with
Start Something, the band wrote and recorded demo tracks for the album (with Ian Watkins playing the drums) in a UK recording studio before completing the album in America. The band returned to their roots, playing a series of small venues across South Wales. These shows featured the first live appearance of then-17-year-old
Ilan Rubin on drums and the live premiere of songs "
Rooftops (A Liberation Broadcast)", "
A Town Called Hypocrisy" and "The New Transmission". The album itself was released on 26 June 2006 (27 June in the US), and became the first Lostprophets album to reach number one on the
UK Albums Chart. Lostprophets began a full-fledged UK tour on 3 July 2006. As with their warm-up gigs prior to the album's release, the band selected
South Wales-based support bands for this tour. The band followed this with another UK tour in November, The main support for this was
the Blackout. They returned to the UK for an Arena tour in April 2007, from 18 April to 22nd. The scheduled venues were:
Glasgow (
SECC);
Manchester (
MEN Arena);
Birmingham (
NIA) & London (
Wembley Arena). The support acts included
Paramore and the Blackout.
The Betrayed (2007–2010) Writing and recording the band's fourth studio album began in early 2007. Originally the band stated that they wanted the album released in 2007; however, due to both touring and being unhappy with the results of their work in the studio, the band did not keep to their original release plan. Despite recording an entire album's worth of material with producer
John Feldmann, this work was shelved in favour of material they later recorded and produced themselves, with recording sessions for what would later be known as
The Betrayed beginning in November 2008. Throughout the earlier part of 2008, the band performed several dates, including
Download Festival which they headlined on the Sunday night,
V Festival and
Rock am Ring and Rock im Park, as well as a small number of performances around the UK. They also headlined the NME/Radio 1 tent at 2009's
Reading and Leeds Festival. The band claimed that
The Betrayed is "by far the finest, darkest and most real album" of their career. Originally, Ian Watkins stated he wanted the new album to be "nastier" and "darker" than previous efforts, with more energy and vibe than before. In a blog post, guitarist Mike Lewis suggested that Ilan Rubin (who subsequently left the band to join
Nine Inch Nails) was very much a large part of the writing/recording process. Following Rubin's departure,
Luke Johnson of
Beat Union was officially announced as the band's new drummer in August 2009. During this time,
Kerrang! published a "world exclusive" article on Lostprophets, revealing the album's title, and its release date of January 2010. In a later interview with Kerrang in early 2009, Watkins stated that the record was "the most honest album" the band has ever done, and that overall the record was "a lot grittier and sleazier", while also stating that did not mean "it won't be catchy", but that it would not be done "in such a twee way". When speaking about what the record would sound like, Jamie Oliver stated that he felt it had "the bite that
Start Something had, with the song-ability of
Liberation Transmission but personality of
The Fake Sound of Progress". The band commenced their UK tour with support from
Kids in Glass Houses, Hexes,
We are the Ocean, and
Sharks, in February 2010. The Doncaster date to the UK tour was cancelled and refunded, but no reason was given for the cancellation. The Port Talbot date of the tour was postponed and moved to a different venue due to a fire at the
Afan Lido leisure centre. The show took place on 1 May at the
Cardiff International Arena. Lostprophets confirmed that they would tour Australia. The tour took place on 27 March 2010 at The Roundhouse,
NSW, Sydney. The band also played at the 2010 Reading and Leeds Festival. Stuart Richardson commented in 2019 that "towards the end of 2009–2011 we realised Ian had a depressingly sad drug addiction. It just snuck up on us".
Weapons (2011–2012) In early 2011, the band rented a house in Norfolk that served as their studio while composing a demo and pre-producing for a new album. The band was also featured on British rapper/producer
Labrinth's album in late 2011. In August 2011, the band went on a short UK tour, with dates in
Cardiff,
Bournemouth,
Oxford and
Norwich, as well as the two
V Festival dates, and an additional appearance at the
Sziget Festival in
Budapest, Hungary. During this short tour, the band debuted live a new song from the upcoming album, tentatively titled "
Bring 'Em Down". The band's fifth studio album,
Weapons, was released through
Epic Records on 2 April 2012, leaving their long-time record label
Visible Noise. Supported by a subsequent tour in the UK,
Weapons was produced by
Ken Andrews at
NRG Recording Studios in
Hollywood, California. The band released a teaser track in anticipation of their new album entitled "Better Off Dead" in January 2012, though it was confirmed the song is not an official single. On 9 April, Lostprophets announced that they had signed to Fearless Records and would release
Weapons in the United States on 19 June 2012. Lostprophets played in the Cardiff Motorpoint Arena on 28 April to promote their new album
Weapons, and played their second studio album
Start Something in its entirety. This show turned out to be a complete disaster for the band; Stuart Richardson commented in 2019 that Watkins "didn't move for the whole set" and that he "sung the wrong words". Watkins relapsed into drug use during this tour and missed a show, leading to the band having to perform a set with Jamie Oliver on lead vocals. Watkins's temporary absence from the tour led to Stuart Richardson having a violent altercation with him.
Watkins's arrest and breakup (2012–2013) On 19 December 2012, Watkins was charged with thirteen sexual offences against children, including the attempted rape of a one-year-old female toddler. Watkins originally denied the charges. The other band members posted a message on their website stating that they were "learning about the details of the investigation along with you" and concluding: "It is a difficult time for us and our families, and we want to thank our fans for their support as we seek answers." They subsequently cancelled all tour dates. On 1 October 2013, Lostprophets announced that they were disbanding "after nearly a year of coming to terms with our heartache". The post was signed by all members of the band except Watkins. On 30 November, the members released a lengthy statement in response to Watkins pleading guilty to attempted rape and sexual assault of a child under 13, stating that they were "heartbroken, angry, and disgusted". They stated that they had been unaware of his crimes, and that though working with him had become "a constant, miserable challenge", they had "never imagined him capable of behaviour of the type he has now admitted". They urged any other victims to contact the authorities. On 18 December 2013, Watkins was sentenced to 29 years in prison, plus six years on extended licence, with a possibility of parole after serving two-thirds of his sentence. On 25 April 2014, it was confirmed by the
Thursday frontman
Geoff Rickly that he would be working with the remaining band-members on their new project, from a record label perspective through his own label, Collect Records, as a producer and also joining them as a vocalist. Rickly said the material was influenced by
Joy Division,
New Order and
the Cure. The new band was named
No Devotion and they released their first two singles, "Stay" and "Eyeshadow", on 1 July 2014. On 11 October 2025, Watkins was killed in prison. ==Musical style and lyrical themes==