Lostprophets

Lostprophets were an alternative rock band formed in 1997 in Wales. Their first album, The Fake Sound Of Progress, was originally recorded in England by the independent label Visible Noise, and later remastered by the giant Columbia Records in the United States, although they continued with their first label. They released their album Start Something in 2004, achieving great commercial success, they released Liberation Transmission in 2006 and The Betrayed in 2010. Both have achieved great success in Europe and the United States. They also released several demos in their early years, none of them commercially produced. On April 2, 2012 they released their latest album titled Weapons.

In December 2012, its lead singer, Ian Watkins, was indicted and subsequently convicted of multiple counts of child sexual abuse, pedophilia, and bestiality; for which he received a sentence of 35 years in prison. In 2013, the remaining members of the band issued a statement announcing their separation and would give rise to a new band, called No Devotion.

History

Early years (1997–2000)

Lostprophets formed in the Welsh city of Pontypridd, near Cardiff, the capital of Wales, in 1997. Formed with the breakup of the hardcore band Public Disturbance, where Ian Watkins was drummer, and Mike Lewis, his old guitarist. With Watkins taking over on vocals, the band brought in then-guitarist Mike Chiplin, who would later take over on drums, and guitarist Lee Gaze. The band takes its name from the title of an unofficial concert by Duran Duran, from 1988, called "Lost Prophets", held in Italy. In those days, the band called themselves Lost Prophets, before it finally stuck to one word.

Lostprophets started out as part of the South Wales nu metal scene, playing gigs in that city, and later, they began to play gigs all over the UK.

During this time the band released three demos. The first of them was the demo Here Comes The Party in 1997, with a still not very defined sound, it contains samples of hip-hop songs, Ian Watkins rapping and even traces of ska in some tracks. In refining his sound, rapping was dropped, though the hip hop influence remained evident. They then released Here comes the party, in 1998, and The Fake Sound Of Progress in 1999. Several songs from this demo were remastered on their debut album, including the track that gives name to the album and "Moac Supreme," which would become a demo for "A Thousand Apologies".

These demos caught the attention of the British rock magazine Kerrang!, who offered them a gig in London that undoubtedly made them more known. Then Visible Noise offered them the chance to record a single. The band worked through 1999 on their new material with Stuart Richardson, who joined the band as bassist.

The Fake Sound of Progress (2000–2002)

In February 2000 they signed with the Visible Noise label. His first album thefakesoundofprogress is released by the record company in July of that same year. Recorded in less than 2 weeks the album has influences from a wide spectrum. Indisputable is the influence of the album The Shape Of Punk To Come by Refused, which was released a year before the band began working on material for their debut album. Shortly after its conclusion, Jamie Oliver joined the band.

thefakesoundofprogress incorporates many references to 80s pop culture. In addition to the reference to Duran Duran in the group's name, there is an image of Venger (a character from the cartoon series < i>Dungeons & Dragons) in the album liner notes and song titles such as Shinobi Vs. Dragon Ninja and Kobrakai. The former is a mix of the video games Shinobi and Bad Dudes Vs. Dragon Ninja, while the latter is an alternate writing of "Cobra Kai", the karate dojo from the movie The Karate Kid, as well as references to the Japanese animated series Macross.

Q Prime management, which represents artists such as the Red Hot Chili Peppers and Metallica, advised the band in its relationship with the record companies that wanted to take over the group's services. Finally the band signed with Columbia Records, a subsidiary of Sony Records, although in Great Britain their records will continue to be released by Visible Noise.

For the reissue of their debut with Visible Noise, the band worked with producer Michael Barbiero, and the new edition of thefakesoundofprogress was released in October 2002. The album is dedicated to Steve Cookson, a fan who died in a traffic accident while on his way to a Lostprophets concert.

During this period, Lostprophets gained a great reputation live as opening acts for such popular bands as Linkin Park, Deftones and Taproot, as well as performing their own acts. He also took part in the successful Nu-Titans tour with Defenestration and other British metal bands of the time.

Subsequently the band was part of Ozzfest, participated in Glastonbury and the Reading and Leeds festivals. They had numerous appearances on British television on shows such as Top Of The Pops, CD:UK and Never Mind The Buzzcocks. They were also part of the 2002 NME Awards tour.

Start Something (2003–2004)

After the lengthy thefakesoundofprogress tour ended, the band took a break before starting to write new material at Frontline Studios in Caerphilly, Wales. The recording period lasted from March to September 2003 at the Bigfoot Studio in Los Angeles, for which they had the producer Eric Valentine. Valentine had previously produced albums for groups like Queens Of The Stone Age and Good Charlotte.

The first song to play was "Burn Burn", as the video clip was frequently broadcast on satellite channels such as MTV2, Kerrang! TV and Scuzz in Great Britain. A resemblance to the songs "Mother Mary" by Far, and the vocal line of the song "Killer" by Adamski.

The single was released on November 3, 2003. Although the album was scheduled to follow shortly thereafter, it suffered several delays, forcing a UK tour to be postponed. The group rescheduled all canceled shows except for their scheduled appearance at the Reading and Leeds festivals, as meeting these commitments would have meant leaving the recording studio half-finished.

The album was finally released in Great Britain on February 2, 2004 and was a commercial success, reaching number 4 on the British charts. Critics from music magazines were good, although it received a lukewarm reception from specialized rock publications such as Kerrang!, Metal Hammer and Rock Sound.

To promote the album they began a tour of North America, Europe and also Australia as part of the Big Day Out festival.

"Last Train Home" was chosen as the second single and was placed at number one on the US Modern Rock Tracks chart for one week, also reaching number eight on the UK charts.

The post-album tour culminated in a sold-out concert on 21 November 2004 at the Cardiff International Arena.

Three songs from this album have been chosen to compose video game music, such as "To Hell We Ride" for the game Need for Speed: Underground, "Last Train Home" for the NFL Street game and "Burn, Burn" for the game Fifa 2004, both from EA Games.

The album's title track "Start Something" It was used in promotion of the 2006 film Annapolis.

Liberation Transmission (2006–2007)

On June 19, 2005 founding member Mike Chiplin left the band to pursue other purposes and joined a band called "The Unsung", and opened his own recording studio for fledgling bands. The remaining members started working on the next album. Due to the time elapsed between thefakesoundofprogress and Start Something they have decided to try to get the next album out as quickly as possible, although in the end the time taken to produce it was similar to that of Start Something.

With Start Something, the band wrote and recorded demo tracks for the album (with Ian Watkins playing drums) in a recording studio in England before completing it in America.

Liberation Transmission was recorded in Hawaii, and produced by Bob Rock. Drummer was Josh Freese (of The Vandals and A Perfect Circle), who recorded 10 of the 12 tracks for this album (Ilan Rubin recorded Everybody's Screaming and For All These Times Son, For All These Times).

The album was released on June 26, 2006 in England, and a day later in the US, and was their first album to reach the top of the UK chart. The Lostprophets have said that for this album they have taken bands like The Cure as inspiration, where they have acquired a more contemporary sound. Although they have said that with this album they have become more commercial, it cannot be denied that they have never (especially Ian) denied their attraction to the great pop bands of the 80's, such as Duran Duran and INXS, to whom They have covered their songs. They've also said that you have to have real talent to make good pop music, and make songs that people like and don't find disposable. This sound evolution has been noted on the band's MySpace, coming to be defined as "Rock, Alternative and New Wave".

British magazine Kerrang!, at its Kerrang! Awards, in 2006, have awarded Lostprophets the "Best Album" and "Best British Band", the latter in 2007 for the second year in a row.

Also, his single Rooftops was used by WWE in a promotional video for wrestler Jeff Hardy during his feud with Randy Orton in early 2008.

The Betrayed (2007-2011)

The album was being written and recorded in Los Angeles, USA, under the hand of producer John Feldmann (Goldfinger, The Used, Story of the Year), however, some problems and delays ended for changing their minds, and producing it by themselves and Bob Rock (successful producer of Metallica among others), with whom they already produced Liberation Transmission. The Betrayed finished recording in July 2009. Ian has said that this album will be different from the previous one, as they have shed their more 'pop' side, and that it will be more 'darker'.;.

In their live performances, they have performed some new songs, which are destined to be included on the album. Initially, the album should have come to light in 2007, but some problems with their production company, and their disagreement with the material that the album would offer, decided to postpone its release until January 2010, as confirmed by the English band. The final song names will be 'It's Not The End Of The World But I Can See It From Here'; (first single announced), "Where We Belong" (Second Single Announced), "Dstryr / Dstryr", "Next Stop Atro City", "A Better Nothing", "Streets Of Nowhere", "Dirty Little Heart", "Darkest Blue", "If It Wasn't For Hate We'd Be Dead By Now", &# 34;For He's A Jolly Good Felon" (third single), and "The Light That Burns Twice as Bright..." as confirmed by the band itself. In addition, two additional songs will be included on the Japanese version of the album, "Sunshine" and "AC Ricochet".

In early 2009, drummer Ilan Rubin left the band to join Nine Inch Nails. His position was replaced by Luke Johnson, who, quite possibly, is said to be the group's permanent battery.

The album was released on January 18, 2010 in Europe and America.

Weapons (2012–2013)

On January 5, the group announces that their fifth album, "Weapons", would be released on April 2, 2012. Likewise, on January 6, after being heard for the first time on the Zane Lowe's radio, the first song on the album, "Better Off Dead" for free.

On March 9, the first single, Bring 'Em Down, was released on YouTube.

On April 2nd, Weapons was released in Europe, with a style that harkens back to the sound of Liberation Transmission, especially the 8 songs out of 10 on the album that had yet to be discovered: We Bring An Arsenal, Another Shot, Jesus Walks, A Song For Where I'm From, A Little Reminder That I'll Never Forget, Heart On Loan, Somedays, and Can't Get Enough.

In the Deluxe Edition of Weapons, three songs from the "garage session" are included, The Dead, Save Yourself, and If You Don't Stand For Something You'll Fall For Anything; the Another Shot demo; and a Bring 'Em Down remix done by Bloc Party guitarist Russell Lissack.

On December 19, 2012, Ian Watkins was charged with various sexual offenses against minors. Watkins denies the charges. The other members of the group posted a message on their official page, stating that they were "in a state of shock" and learning the details of the investigation as well as the public, concluding "this is a difficult time for us and our families, and we want to thank our fans for their support in seeking answers".

Separation (2013)

On October 1 they make their separation official after a 15-year career. Apparently the decision was made a long time ago, but they decided to make it public after Lostprophets frontman Ian Watkins was arrested and charged with multiple counts of pedophilia and child abuse.

In November 2013, the trial against Ian Watkins began, for thirteen counts of child abuse, including two attempted rapes of babies, where the singer pleaded "guilty" to the charges and accepted that he is a pedophile, as well as They did the two women who were also part of the defendants in the trial, held in Wales.

On Wednesday, December 18, 2013, the harsh sentence against Watkins for these charges was announced, which amounts to 35 years in prison, 29 in effective prison, and six on license, and must have 2/3 of the sentence served in order to proceed to request measures on their behalf. in a sentence that was read by the judge and that indicates that "he and his accomplices are dangerous to society" and that "they reached new levels of depravity". His accomplices were sentenced to 14 and 17 years in prison, respectively.

Part of the arguments for conviction were also based on Watkins' “complete lack of remorse” and that during the trial he was “astonished at what was mentioned in the testimony”.

Other projects (2014–present)

On April 25, 2014, it was confirmed by former Thursday vocalist Geoff Rickly that he would be working with the remaining band members on his new project, from the perspective of a record label through his own label, Suma Records, as a producer and also joining them as a vocalist. Rickly considered his new material to have influences from Joy Division, New Order and The Cure. It was announced the new band would be called No Devotion and they released their first single, 'Stay', on July 1, 2014.

Their debut No Devotion album titled Permanence was released on September 25, 2015.

Members

Last Lineup

• Ian Watkins - voices (1997 - 2013), tornamesa at least one of the demos
• Lee Gaze - main guitar, choirs (1997 - 2013)
• Mike Lewis - rhythmic guitar, choirs (1998 - 2013) / bass, choirs (1997 - 1998)
• Stuart Richardson - bass, choirs (1998 - 2013)
• Jamie Oliver - second voice, keyboards, synthesizer, samplers, DJ, programming, choirs (2000 - 2013)
• Luke Johnson - drummer, percussion (2009 - 2013)

Past Members

• DJ Stepzak – keyboards, synthesizer, samplers, DJ, programming, choirs (1999 - 2000)
• Mike Chiplin – drums, percussion (1997 - 2005)
• Ilan Rubin – drummer, percussion (2005 - 2009)

Timeline

Discography

• Thefakesoundofprogress (2000 / 2001)
• Start (2004)
• Liberation (2006)
• The Betrayed (2010)
• Weapons (2012)

Awards