DragonNinjaDotCom

These faqs compiled by cat.
Please do not reproduce without prior consent, this took a lot of time y’know!
last updated: 13th September 2009
Feel free to suggest more and correct any errors.

The Band

Who are Lostprophets?
Ian Watkins – vocals
Lee Gaze – lead guitar
Mike Lewis – rhythm guitar
Stuart Richardson – bass/occasional live backing vocals
Jamie Oliver – decks/samples/backing vocals & screaming
Luke Johnson – drummer

Where are Lostprophets from?
From Pontypridd, South Wales. Just north of Cardiff.

Do they still live there?
Stu and Mike now live in California, Lee lives in central London, the others come and go between the two. Their families are still in South Wales but the band are not.

How did they meet?
They all come from the same town, and went to the same schools. Even the same playschools. They go way way back. The two previous drummers, Ilan Rubin and Luke Johnson, were found on the rest of the band’s travels through the industry.

Where did the name “Lostprophets” come from?
Its the name of a live Duran Duran bootleg album.

Who are Lostprophets signed with? And when did they get signed?
They were signed to Visible Noise in late 1999/early 2000 in the UK only. Then in 2001, Columbia (Sony) in the US caught wind of the band and signed them. They are signed to Columbia/Sony Worldwide, they remain signed to Visible Noise in the UK.

Has anyone else ever been in the band?
Yes. Jamie was the last to join the band. Before him there were two others (that I know of). One being Stepzak who is thanked in the first release of the album under “additional musicians”. In 2005 Mike Chiplin, the main Lps drummer since 1997, decided to quit also, to concentrate on being with his family and opening his own recording studio in Pontypridd.

Ilan Rubin joined the band in 2005 after Chiplin’s departure. He left the band in 2009 to drum for Nine Inch Nails.

“Lost prophets”, “lostprophets”, “Lostprophets” why all the spelling and grammatical changes?
The official, correct spelling in text is: Lostprophets. In logos it can be all one case, but under no circumstance should there be a space inbetween lost and prophets! All one word!

What bands were the guys in before Lostprophets?
Public Disturbance is the main one, a welsh hardcore band, got quite big in the underground scene, Mike L played guitar, and Ian played drums. Other bands were Fleshbind, Lunch, Aftermath and Desecrated.

If I go to a gig will I be able to meet the band?
It’s becoming increasingly more difficult to get to them because they’re getting so popular. But the band love meeting fans, and will do their best to sign stuff if they’re able to.

Lostprophets.org, hahaha, you seen that?
Yes, yes we have. Old joke. But our lostprophets have the rights to the name, so nyah!

So who’ve they toured with?
Click Here

I downloaded this song called “New Noise”…is it prophets?
NO. Its by Refused and on their album called “The Shape of Punk to Come”.

I downloaded this song called “Faithless”…is it prophets?
No. Yet another mis-titled song. It is infact by a band called Injected.

The Members

What is Straight Edge? How many of the prophets are straight edge?
Straight edge means that the individual does not smoke, drink alcohol, take recreational drugs or divulge in promiscuous sex. It can also mean the individual is vegetarian or vegan, but in the prophets case, they all eat meat. Ian, Mike L and Lee are the straight-edgers. All three used to wear X’s on the backs of their hands, Mike used to have a straight edge sticker on one of his guitars. Stu and Jamie still drink alcohol though.

How old are the band?
Over 30, under 40.

Is Jamie’s real name Richard? I heard a rumour…
Yes its true. Jamie’s name, as in birth certificate name is Richard, but call him Jamie, don’t try n be clever. It’s not funny and won’t get you any “hardcore fan” respect either.

Do any of the band skateboard?
Yes, they do. They have also been known to BMX and Rollerblade.

Are any of them gay?
No

Do they all have girlfriends?
Wives now. All but Ian are married. And several baby prophets have also joined the throng!

Is *insert celeb name here* Ian’s girlfriend?
None of your beeswax.

Where do they get their clothes? I want their clothes.
All over. Silly question. Expensive places you can’t afford. They are partial to designer wear. Ian has a diamond-encrusted watch, you don’t want to know how much that cost!!

Where did they get those “Will Rise” hoodies?
They are by a company called “Seventh Letter” based in LA. The hoodies have been discontinued now, but you might get lucky and find one on Route One or Ebay.

Why did Mike Chiplin leave the band?
Family commitments. And to pursue new things. All amicable, the guys are still friends.

The Releases

How many albums have Lostprophets released?
Four.
Their debut was “Thefakesoundofprogress”. There are, however, 4 versions, the original copy released in 2000 on Visible Noise, it was then remixed in 2001, and released on Columbia in the States and Visible Noise in the UK, and of course a Japanese version which includes some b-sides from the singles and japanese print in the sleeve.
Their second album is named “Start Something”. Again there are regional variations, the US copy lacks the track “We Are Godzilla, You Are Japan”. It was released by Visible Noise in the UK and Columbia worldwide.
The third album is “Liberation Transmission”, again with a few regional variants, the Japanese one is different from the general release one, but not as many varients as the previous album.
The third album, Liberation Transmission, was released in 2006.
The fourth, The Betrayed, after many delays is due for release end of 2009/beginning of 2010.

Where can I get the demos/hear the demos?
For a long while the band were very protective over the demos (of which there are 3), mainly because they were recorded in 1997/1998 when the band were still experimenting with their sound and there were a lot of line up changes going on. They do not represent the Lostprophets you hear today. They simply show where the band have come from. You will not be able to get hold of original copies, the band only have one or two of each. They have however been mp3′d and you can find them on file sharing or bit torrent if you look hard enough.

How many singles have the Lostprophets released?
In the UK they have released twelve singles with videos, “ShinobiVSDragonninja”, “TheFakeSoundofProgress”, “Burn Burn”, “Last Train Home”, “Wake Up (Make A Move)”, “Last Summer”, “Goodbye Tonight”, “Rooftops”, “A Town Called Hypocrisy”, “Can’t Catch Tomorrow”, “4am Forever” and “It’s Not The End Of The World But I Can See It From Here”.

Who does the artwork for all the releases?
Ian & Jamie do it. They both have strong artistic backgrounds.

Why was there all that uproar over the Saves The Day cover on the b-side of thefakesoundofprogress single?
There was a fuss when they came out, because the printers had made an error on the sleeve, saying the cover (“Shoulder To The Wheel”) was a demo song. The song however, had gone through all the right channels before it was released, if they made any money off of it, it would have gone to Saves The Day. Saves The Day, and their lawyers, were fully aware of it. Lostprophets hadn’t gone behind any backs. It was all above board, just a major printing error. Blame the printers not the band.

What other covers have the band done?
The covers that have been released are:
“Shoulder to the Wheel” – Saves The Day
“View To Kill” – Duran Duran
“Need You Tonight” – INXS
“Cry Me A River” – Justin Timberlake
“Boys Don’t Cry” – The Cure
“Going Underground” – The Jam
“On a Rope” – Rocket from the Crypt
They have also been known to do random covers live, including Faith No More’s “We Care A Lot”, Outkast’s “Ms.Jackson” and Destiny’s Child “Bootylicious”.

What acoustic versions of songs exist?
Lots!! While on the MTV tour, Ian & Lee paid a visit to several US radio stations and performed “ShinobiVSDragonNinja” live. So there are several versions of that floating around on the net. At the UK Ozzfest, they performed “Shinobi” and “Still Laughing” live and acoustic for Radio 1. Another acoustic “Shinobi” was recorded at Pop Factory in Wales in 2002. There are now also acoustic versions of “Burn Burn” and “Last Train Home” lurking on the web. And on the Radio 1 Live Lounge in Feb 2004 they did an acoustic cover of “Boys Don’t Cry” by The Cure. MP3s can be found in “audio” and on file-sharing programs.

Which Hoobastank song did the Ian & Jamie guest on?
“Out of Control”. On Hoobastank’s “The Reason” album.

Which Amazing Device song did Ian guest on?
“The Secret”, download it. From Amazing Device’s debut album, “The Quiet Room”. Hunt it down. The band have now sadly broken up.

TheFakeSoundofProgress

Why did they remix and re-release the album?
It wasn’t originally the bands idea, it was Columbia. The original album was made for only �4000 out of the bands own pockets at a tiny studio in Birmingham, and the remix is how it would have sounded had they had more time, money and better production. What you hear on the new version is how the band originally envisioned the sound anyway. The new album still has the interludes, they are just on the end of the tracks instead of tracks of their own. The obscure intro was taken off though.

What’s the difference between the original & re-release of TheFakeSoundofProgress?
Visually, theres a little robot top right on the re-release, none on the original. Audio wise, the original has 16 tracks, the re-release has 11.

What does “Kobrakai” mean?
“Kobrakai” is another spelling of “Cobra Kai” from “Karate Kid”, one of the bands favourite films.

What does “ShinobiVSDragonninja” mean?
It comes from when the boys were hanging out in a local caf�, playing on “Shinobi”, an arcade game, and arguing over which was better, “Shinobi” or “DragonNinja”. The song itself is about their past.

What are the lyrics to the screaming part in Kobrakai?
This part of the song is ad-libbed, there are no official lyrics.

Jamie does all the screaming live, who does it on the album?
Ian does all the vocals on the album, including the screaming.

Did Jamie do the DJ work on the first release of the album?
No not all of it, most was done by Stepzak, but some of the songs that were recorded later have some Jamie in them.

Who is Steve Cookson? The kid that the re-release is in memory of?
Steve Cookson was a very dedicated Lostprophets fan who tragically died when he was hit by a car, so the lads dedicated the album to him.

Start Something

When was “Start Something” released?
Was released in February 2004, and January 12th in Australia to coincide with the Big Day Out tour.

Where was it recorded and by whom?
The album was demoed and written in Frontline Studios in South Wales, but the actual recording, mixing and mastering went on in Los Angeles between March and August 2003. The producer was Eric Valentine, also responsible for the last Queens of the Stoneage & Good Charlotte albums.

I heard a rumour Good Charlotte are guesting on the album, is it true?
It is indeed. Last Train Home. They only do backing singing, purely because they needed some people to group singing, and voila some handy band-types were in the studio at the time visiting Eric Valentine.

Is Justin Timberlake on the album too?
Nope. False rumour. And the guy on the cover is Ian.

How many different versions of the album are there?
Four. Japanese, Australian, USA and UK.

What are the differences?
There may be some subtle artwork differences. The tracklistings also differ slightly. The Japanese & Australian ones contain extra tracks. They are available on import. The extra tracks are b-sides from the previous singles that were only released in the UK/USA.

Why did they change the name of the song “Make A Move” to “Wake Up (Make A Move)” when it was released as a single?
Because the main line in the song is “Wake Up”, and thats what people were calling it. “The Wake Up song”. It made perfect sense at the time.

Who is that talking on the answerphone interlude?
It’s the band’s friend from Cali, a guy named Tal.

Liberation Transmission

Who did the drumming on the album?
An american session drummer named Josh Freese, having previously worked with the likes of The Vandals, Guns N Roses and A Perfect Circle.

Who produced the album?
Bob Rock at his studio in Hawaii. He previously worked with the likes of Metallica, Bon Jovi and Motley Crue.

What do the words on the front cover mean, “Nobis, Pro Lemma, Vobis”?
This is latin for “For Us, For Them, For You”, like in the Burn Burn lyrics.

What does DMZ mean? From Everyday Combat?
We believe it’s referring to “de-militarized zone”.

The Betrayed

Who did the drumming on the album?
On this album, Ilan did the drumming before he left the band.

The Videos

How many official videos are there?
Twelve. “ShinobiVSDragonNinja”, “TheFakeSoundofProgress”, “Burn Burn”, “Last Train Home” & “Wake Up (Make A Move)”, “Last Summer”, “Goodbye Tonight”, “Rooftops”, “A Town Called Hypocrisy”, “Can’t Catch Tomorrow”, “4am Forever” and “It’s Not The End Of The World But I Can See It From Here”.

What happened to the first video of “ShinobiVSDragonNinja? The one filmed in February 2001?
It was filmed at Camden Underworld, London. And then scrapped. The band were not happy with the end result. So it got binned. Maybe some of the footage will appear later on, but who knows.

Where were the videos filmed?
“Shinobi” was filmed on top of a car park in Edmonton Green, North London UK.
“Fakesound” was filmed in Las Vegas NV USA.
“Burn Burn” was filmed at The Roundhouse in Camden, North West London UK.
“Last Train Home” was filmed in an alley in downtown Los Angeles, CA USA.
“Wake Up (Make A Move)” was filmed in Toronto, Canada.
“Last Summer” was filmed in California USA.
“Goodbye Tonight” was filmed in Chicago USA.
“Rooftops” was filmed in Los Angeles USA.
“A Town Called Hypocrisy” was filmed in London UK.
“Can’t Catch Tomorrow” was filmed in Los Angeles USA
“4am Forever” was filmed in Los Angeles USA
“It’s Not The End Of The World But I Can See It From Here” was filmed in Los Angeles USA

Who directed the videos?
Mike Piscitelli directed both ShinobiVSDragonninja & TheFakeSoundofProgress, Burn Burn was directed by Patrick Keiley, Brian Scott Weber directed Last Train Home, Steve Murashige directed Wake Up (Make A Move), Last Summer was done by The Malloys, Rooftops and Can’t Catch Tomorrow and 4am Forever were by Ryan Smith and A Town Called Hypocrisy by Brett Simon. “It’s Not The End Of The World But I Can See It From Here” was directed by Marc Klasfeld.

The Future

What will the next single be and when is it released?
“It’s Not The End Of The World But I Can See It From Here” is due for release on 12th October 2009.

Is there going to be a Lostprophets Official DVD?
It was in the works, but nothing further has been mentioned on this.

When will they tour next?
Check the tour page.

When is the next album out?
To be released end of 2009/beginning of 2010. Exact date is not yet known.