Within the early 2000s, one rock band from Pontypridd, Wales, achieved dizzying heights of worldwide success: The Lostprophets.
Now, the band is thought extra as a stain on the business after frontman Ian Watkins was jailed over horrific crimes on December 18, 2013.
The disgraced singer, 48, was killed final week whereas serving his 35-year sentence after being convicted of 13 little one sexual offences, together with conspiring to rape an 11-month-old child and three counts of sexual assault involving kids.
‘It ought to go with out saying that the first victims of Watkins’ atrocities are the kids he violated,’ pal of the band, Ian Winwood, informed Metro.
‘[But] it’s necessary to say that additionally caught within the bomb blast, although, have been harmless folks.’
Left within the wake because the harrowing fact of Watkins’ crimes was unveiled have been his 4 shellshocked bandmates.
Lee Gaze, Mike Lewis, Stuart Richardson, and Jamie Oliver have been tarnished with suspicion because the Lostprophets have been relegated to a disturbing footnote in music historical past.
‘He poisoned the effectively of shared achievements,’ Winwood stated. ‘He stole their previous. Actually, up till the second he died, he stole their future, and they’re fully with no voice to bemoan this publicly, as a result of how will you?
‘How are you going to complain about that within the shadow of what Ian did to the younger kids? What do your complaints sound like in comparison with that? They’ve develop into unvoiced.’
The Lostprophets, who had secured two high 10s and a primary within the US, disbanded instantly, however the true folks have been left to come back to phrases with the predator of their ranks.
Whereas issues had been rocky between Watkins and Gaze, Lewis, Richardson and Oliver for a number of years, this was nonetheless a person that they had identified — albeit not fully — for twenty years.
‘I imply, think about listening to that and the worst, absolutely the worst, that you just thought was that your singer was bizarre and closely hooked on medicine,’ Winwood shared.
Bassist Richardson has two little ladies, telling Winwood he’s haunted by considerations that he might have left them within the room alone with Watkins sooner or later.
Watkins admitted to utilizing his superstar standing to abuse kids belonging to 2 followers, showing in a 17-minute video abusing one little one within the presence of the child’s mom.
Journalist Winwood first met the Lostprophets within the early 00s, interviewing them often for Kerrang Journal and sticking shut by all through their rise and fall.
His distinctive friendship with the band was documented in his guide Our bodies: Life and Demise in Music, which revealed an uncomfortable early glimpse into the rock and roll way of life on provide.
Earlier than the band was even signed, Winwood claimed he witnessed an business insider present the group with pornographic movies and provided that they might choose a performer to spend the night time with.
The Lostprophets declined.
Ultimately, fame corrupted the singer and Watkins dove headfirst into heavy and blatant abuse of medication and alcohol.
His wild partying and erratic behaviour enabled him to disguise the true monster beneath — however nonetheless wore skinny on his bandmates.
‘I used to be conscious of tensions between the musical core and Ian lengthy, lengthy earlier than the tip,’ Winwood shared. ‘I can solely think about the kind of drain of being in a band with him more and more, as these years handed by, actually within the ultimate 5 – 6 years.’
Watkins failed to show up for interviews and even exhibits, which resulted in a flash of rage and a beating from Richardson, who later apologised.
‘The following day he got here up and he was crying his eyes out,’ he informed Winwood for the guide. ‘He simply stored saying it: “No, I’m sorry. I’m simply so sorry.”
‘On the time I assumed, “What’s that every one about?” Now I believe it was the closest he got here with us to an request for forgiveness.’
Winwood described the person he as soon as thought of a pal as ‘unattainable to interview’, ‘unmanageable’, and ‘unlikable.’
The rift between Watkins and his former pals continued to develop, with the band itself hanging on by a thread within the face of a declining profession effectively previous its heyday.
That is partly why Winwood believes, wholeheartedly, that the remaining 4 didn’t know concerning the vile crimes dedicated by their bandmate.
He argued: ‘Think about this; that the opposite members knew of what he was doing, and with a purpose to hold the present on the highway, they conspired to maintain it quiet. From their very own wives as effectively, with whom a few of them had kids.
‘That’s 5 folks which can be required to do this, they usually’re all united in saying, “we’re going to hold this horrible secret quiet for the sake of a music profession that’s inflicting us distress”. It might poison somebody and it will leak.’
Ultimately, it was repeated drug smuggling and possession accusations which resulted in South Wales Police looking out his residence.
There, they recovered a complete of 27 terabytes of knowledge storage from computer systems, which had a reference to abusing kids because the password.
On common, one terabyte drive is able to holding 472 hours of broadcast-quality video or 150 hours of high-definition recording.
Instantly, the band grew to become an elephant within the room, decimating their legacy over the grotesque crimes of 1 man.
‘Considered one of their songs isn’t going to be revived,’ Winwood stated. ‘Like, they’re not going to look on a Guardians of the Galaxy soundtrack, or a future equal of these sorts of movies. It’s now poisonous.’
Winwood’s emotions about Watkins’ loss of life are difficult however he stated that at the least the ticking clock counting right down to his launch is gone, the band and his victims now not must dwell ready for this to be dragged up once more.
‘I discover it very troublesome to not hint that trajectory in my thoughts,’ Winwood shared of listening to Lostprophets’ music now. ‘I in all probability gained’t, as a result of I can simply hear him.
‘I knew him for 12 years earlier than he was arrested, and for the primary six years of these, I’d have thought of him my pal.’
He expressed hope that the surviving bandmates may discover a approach to reclaim and ‘salvage’ their music from Watkins’ ‘poisonous dump’.
‘It’s a supply of horrible and bonafide unhappiness for all of the younger survivors for whom Ian was imprisoned within the first occasion,’ Winwood stated. ‘However the band are additionally survivors of that tragedy.’
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