Lostprophets getting favorable reception in U.S.
By KELLY WILSON
Get Out

“We didn’t start the band to be famous at the end of the day,” Lostprophets singer Ian Watkins says in a British accent during a phone call from Canada where his group is performing.

This is an ironic statement coming from a singer whose band, which was formed in 1997 in Pontypridd, Wales, is becoming a household name.

Although the group received some attention for their 2001 independent release “The Fake Sound of Progress,” people really began to take notice when they unleashed “Start Something,” which features the catchy, melodic rockin’ tune “Last Train Home,” earlier this year.

The single reached No. 1 on Billboard’s modern rock chart in mid-April and the single’s video is getting heavy airplay on MTV.

“It was one of the first songs that we wrote for the album and we didn't come up with the lyrics for it until nearly the end of the album,” Watkins admits. “It was kind of like a take on the saying, ‘It is better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all.’ It's about being happy and about feeling emotions whether good or bad and using them in a positive way.”

Watkins says the group was stunned when the single hit No. 1.

“It was funny because we were on the MTV Campus Invasion Tour with Hoobastank and they were No. 1 the week before and then we were No. 1 that week,” he says.

While rock is dominating the music charts in the U.S., Watkins says “the garage band thing” is big in England.

“It's still going strong,” he says. “The whole underground thing is very influenced by the American hardcore/
emo thing now.”

And though some music journalists describe Lostprophets — who will tour Europe with Metallica in June — as everything from punk to rap-metal, Watkins is quick to point out that there is no rap on the band’s album.

“It blows my mind when people say that,” he says. “There's more rap on a Norah Jones album then there is on ours.”