I PREFER to write about the smaller bands that don’t necessarily get the praise they deserve, but this week I am going to resort back to one of the biggest bands to stem from Wales. Lostprophets!
They are undoubtedly one of the most influential bands on our music scene as they bombarded the UK and American charts with numerous hits, which have been splashed out over radio stations and music channels over the years!
I have a loyal and unfaltering admiration for the band, because of their infectiously loveable sound! Lostprophets, who began 1997, created the foundations for what would later become a huge surge of amazing rock bands to emerge from Wales!
They put their home town of Pontypridd on the map, and very quickly became our new Kings of rock!
Their dramatic, energetic and feel good melodies which often hide a deeper darker message is unquestionably what made them into such a huge success. Lostprophets were one of the first bands I grew to love, and really opened my eyes to a lot of other alternative sounding bands.
They were also the first band I ever saw live, on a warm April evening in 2007. I’ll never forget the passion and enthusiasm they had as they strutted the large arena stage! The wild screams of around 16,000 other fans proved that Lostprophets would definitely be one of the few bands that would be making it into the history books! I distinctly remember how the white and red curtain draped the stage, and the excitement I felt when their beats began!
It was an incredible show, and just over two years later when I saw them in a much more intimate venue, it didn’t seem possible, but their live performance had gotten even better!
Lead singer Ian Watkins has gained a reputation of not only being one of the best looking men in music, but one of the most talented front men of the 21st century.
With wild hair styles and a desire to dress fashionably, he helped to lead Lostprophets to the heights they have now reached!
It is almost a year since they released the long awaited The Betrayed album which conveyed a darker and more sinister attitude from the band, an attitude which grew from mass frustration after deals with their record labels and spending huge amounts of money to produce an album they weren’t fully happy with.
In the end, when their album was finally released, five years after their previous Liberation Transmission, it stunned fans with how much deeper their sound had progressed. Before hand, their music was still classed as rock, yet their message was somewhat more hopeful and their music would guarantee a good mood, yet The Betrayed had a much different message.
None the less, it is a great album, and creates a fantastic live set!
Lostprophets have made it big time! With headlined slots on the music festival Download (which usually asks much heavier bands to play) Lostprophets were given the opportunity to perform their rock/alternative sound to almost 70,000 people as the festival headliners!
This summer past they played the incredible “Reading and Leeds” festival! Not only that but in the past they’ve played several other well established festivals, which always draws a huge crowd.
One thing they should definitely be credited for is their help in promoting another favourite band of mine, The Blackout! They really helped to promote them, when they asked them to support them on several shows!
This gave The Blackout a huge audience to play for; an audience that soon grew to love them! Lostprophets have always been incredibly proud of their Welsh heritage, as have The Blackout, and to be completely honest, there aren’t enough words to describe how much I love them! This Christmas, if you’re stuck for gift ideas, a Lostprophet CD could never go wrong! Check them out at www.lostprophets.com