LostProphets biography
Liberation Transmission (2005-2007)
On 19 June 2005, founding member Mike Chiplin left the group to pursue other musical opportunities. Since then, Chiplin has joined another band called The Unsung, and is currently in a band called Accident Music, which also features Chris Morgan of Midasuno and Darran Smith formerly of Funeral for a Friend. 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 USA), and became the first Lostprophets album to reach number one on the UK Albums Chart. The album has seen the band adopt a more contemporary sound with far less emphasis on screaming than previous releases (exceptions being songs "Everyday Combat" and "For All These Times Son, for All These Times").
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. Consequently the album was not released until 13 January 2010, where it reached a peak of 3 on the UK Albums Chart.
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 amount of performances around the UK. They also headlined the NME/Radio 1 tent at 2009's Reading and Leeds Festival.
The band have 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! magazine 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."
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