Extended Genealogy and Analalysis of Lostprophets

Laura L. Belanger
Writing About Popular Music
Final Paper
Winter ‘08

Lostprophets were formed in 1997 in Pontypridd, Wales by former Public Disturbance members Ian Watkins, who played drums for the band, and Mike Lewis who played guitar. Their name, which was taken from a bootleg Duran Duran album, is often improperly cited as The Lostprophets, The Lost Prophets, or Lost Prophets; however, the original spelling of their name was actually Lozt Prophetz as they were a part of southern Wales’ hardcore scene.
Their first demo, “The Fake Sound of Progress,” consisted of three tracks which were later re-recorded and re-released through Visible Noise in July 2000. The album was recorded in just two weeks for only £5000. Within a year, the band decided to sign to Columbia, a division of Sony Records, and recruited producer Michael Barbiero to remaster the album, which was then re-released in October of 2001. After the first release, DJ Stepzak, who did turntables, was replaced by Jamie Oliver, who currently plays keyboard and provides backup vocals for the band. At this point, the band lineup consisted of lead vocalist Ian Watkins, lead guitarist Lee Gaze, rhythm guitarist Mike Lewis, bassist Stu Richardson, who joined in 1999 transitioning Mike Lewis from bassist to rhythm guitarist, drummer Mike Chiplin, and of course, keyboardist/backup vocalist/screamer Jamie Oliver.
The band drew from several influences, most notably the band Refused’s album “The Shape of Punk to Come” which was released the a year prior to the writing of material for “The Fake Sound of Progress.”
The track list of “The Fake Sound of Progress” is as follows:
1. Shinobi vs. Dragon Ninja
2. The Fake Sound of Progress
3. Five is a Four Letter Word
4. …And She Told Me to Leave
5. Kobrakai
6. The Handsome Life of Swing
7. A Thousand Apologies
8. Still Laughing
9. For Sure
10. Awkward
11. Ode to Summer
A short turntable tune is found at the end of most songs as a transition, providing an interesting and characteristic flow between tracks. This technique is not evident in Lostprophets’ following albums. “The Fake Sound of Progress” featured several references to 1980’s pop culture, not limited to the Duran Duran reference in their band name. “Kobrakai” was named after Cobra Kai from the movie “Karate Kid.” Two of the three tracks from their demo were “MOAC Supreme,” which became “A Thousand Apologies,” and “Stopquote,” which became “Awkward.” The third track on the demo kept its original name: “Shinobi vs. Dragon Ninja.” The first track on the full version of the album, “Shinobi vs. Dragon Ninja,” corresponds to the first, and only, single from the album. It borrows its name from the arcade games “Shinobi” and “Bad Dudes vs. Dragon Ninja.”

“Shinobi vs. Dragon Ninja,” which was featured on the video game ATV Offroad Fury 2, is a loud upbeat track complete with screaming, crunchy distortion and noticeable punk influences. The track starts off with a four-measure bass riff which becomes a common theme throughout the song. The next eight bars consist of the same melody, though with a fuller sound as drums come in and guitars provide the power chord version of the riff.
Here is the guitar tablature:
|--------------------------|---------------------------|
|--------------------------|---------------------------|
|--------------------------|---------------------------|
|--------------------------|---------------------------|
|--------------------------|---------------------------|
|--0--0-15-14--0-0-0-15-14-|-0-0-0-15-14--0-0-0-15-14--|
|------------------|-------------------| x2
|------------------|-------------------|
|-------0--------0-|-------7--------7--|
|-------5--------5-|-------5--------5--|
|------------------|-5-5-5----5-5-5----|
|-3-3-3----3-3-3---|-5-5-5----5-5-5----|
Vocals then enter as a straightforward, staccato rhythm is played for the eight measures of the first verse. The eight-measure bridge comes next, as the music in the foreground is made up of Lee Gaze playing a more delicate, note-by-note riff on his guitar in contrast to the fat power chords of the verse. Now the chorus is played just as measures five through 12 of the intro with a two measure instrumental part followed by two measures of lines from the chorus with the last word of the line, “friend,” being extended over the next two instrumental measures and blending into the next two lines of the chorus.
CHORUS - HEAVY DISTORTION
|--------------------------|---------------------------|
|--------------------------|---------------------------|
|--------------------------|---------------------------|
|--------------------------|---------------------------|
|--------------------------|---------------------------|
|--0--0-15-14--0-0-0-15-14-|-0-0-0-15-14--0-0-0-15-14--|
p.m-- p.m-- p.m-- p.m—

|------------------|-------------------| x2
|------------------|-------------------|
|-------0--------0-|-------7--------7--|
|-------5--------5-|-------5--------5--|
|------------------|-5-5-5----5-5-5----|
|-3-3-3----3-3-3---|-5-5-5----5-5-5----|
As you can see, the chorus is played exactly the same as the intro. The second verse comes in immediately after the chorus structured just the same as the first verse though with different lyrics, followed by the bridge, which is exactly like the first and the chorus which is also exactly like the first. Here is where a bit of a change comes in. It’s like a second bridge which consists of a seven-measure vocal over instrumentation, followed by an eight-bar, instrumental, bass and turntables buildup to the climaxing outro of the song, which is similar to the first five through 12 bars of the song in the intro, only heavier, louder, and with no lead guitar providing the melody which signals chord changes in a progression. The song concludes with a single measure, exactly the same as measure five in the song. So in other words, the song takes on a structure like this: Intro - Verse - Bridge (1) - Chorus - Verse - Bridge (1) - Chorus - Bridge (2) - Outro. One could also interpret it as not having two separate bridges, but rather a coda instead, with this sort of structure: Intro - Verse - Bridge - Chorus - Verse - Bridge - Chorus - Coda - Outro. In both of these cases, the difference between Bridge (2) and Outro and Coda and Outro are a bit ambiguous. Does the Bridge/Coda end right after the lighter instrumental part and the Outro picks up where the rest of the instruments come in? In this case, is that last measure being tagged on as a part of the Outro, making it nine measures instead? Or are both parts--the seven-measure bass and turntables combined with the eight measure part similar to the intro--considered to be the Bridge/Coda, and the last measure would be labeled as the Outro? Or is the entire instrumental end to the song just one long Outro? This almost makes more sense, as the sum of the different instrumental measures adds up to 16 (seven bar drum and turntables plus eight bar full instrumentation plus one bar staccato part) whereas counting each section separately leaves for awkward amounts of measures. Perhaps, then, the structure of the song is actually: Intro - Verse - Bridge - Chorus - Verse - Bridge - Chorus - Outro. The bands’ later work appears to become a bit more straightforward.
Bands are often criticized for their first albums being considered their “best.” An explanation provided for this is that bands have their entire lives to write their first albums, yet only a comparably short and set period of time to write their following ones. Lostprophets released their sophomore album, “Start Something,” in 2004, four years after the first release of their debut. The first single from this album, entitled “Last Train Home,” was released in November 2003 and seems to be their most recognizable hit, despite what’s said about first albums. “Start Something” peaked at number 4 in the UK charts and 33 in the US charts; however, it is their only album to date to go platinum (though this was only in the UK.) The album features a fairly wide dynamic range, from the aggressive tracks “To Hell we Ride” and “Burn Burn” which exhibit loud, distorted guitars and screaming vocals, to the completely instrumental 10 minute and 32 second ending track, “Sway.” The album is also set up so that the first song, “We Still Kill the Old Way,” is very loud and energetic and seems to sort of get listeners pumped for the album, then “Sway” eases them back down again. Lostprophets again released their album through Columbia Records. The United Kingdom and Japan releases of “Start Something,” however, included tracks not available on copies sold in the United States. These were “We are Godzilla, You are Japan” on the UK version, and “Lucky You,” on the Japan version.
This is the track listing for the American copy:
1. We Still Kill the Old Way
2. To Hell We Ride
3. Last Train Home
4. Wake Up (Make a Move)
5. Burn, Burn
6. I Don’t Know
7. Hello Again
8. Goodbye Tonight
9. Start Something
10. A Million Miles
11. Last Summer
12. Sway
In 2005, before the band began creating material for their next album, drummer Mike Chiplin left Lostprophets saying he wanted to spend more time with his family. Lostprophets then began writing and recording “Liberation Transmission,” their first album to reach number one on the album charts in the UK. Their third release on Columbia Records it came out on June 26, 2006 in the UK and June 27 in the US. Josh Freese of The Vandals and A Perfect Circle recorded 10 tracks. Current drummer, Ilan Ruben, also known as “Yankee,” as he is the only member of the band from the States, recorded the remaining two: “Everyday Combat” and “For All These Times Son, For All These Times.” The first single from this album is “Rooftops (A Liberation Broadcast).”

“Rooftops” begins with a six-measure, clean guitar introduction. Ian Watkins’ vocals actually come in on the third beat of the sixth measure with the lyric “When our…” and “time” comes in on the downbeat--the first beat of the seventh measure. Completing the line, Watkins sings, “When our time is up, when our lives are done, will we say we’ve had our fun?” Following the eight-measure verse, as he begins to sing the next line, beginning the bridge, “Will we make our mark this time?” the band begins to build up with more instrumentation and volume. Watkins’ vocals build up along with the band in the next lyric, with accent on “always,” “Will we always say we tried?” The drums pick up here, during the eight measure of the bridge, leading into the chorus. The chorus actually acts more as a three-times repeated refrain, plus a variation of the refrain for the fourth line. The melody is the same for the first line as it is for the third and second line as it is for the fourth. “Standing on the rooftops, everybody scream your heart out! Standing on the rooftops, everybody scream your heart out. Standing on the rooftops, everybody scream your heart out! This is all we’ve got now, everybody scream your heart out.” The second verse blends in immediately after the chorus, with the first word, “All” overlapping the last bit of “out,” the last word of the chorus. It isn’t until the second half and second note of the word “love” that the lyric “All the love I’ve met,” lines up with the first beat of the measure. After the eight bars of the second verse, the bridge comes in again, this time a bit more fortissimo than the first complete with harmonies and a chorus effect on the vocals. The chorus comes in again, of course stronger than the first. Eight bars of an instrumental break follow, then a coda comes in as a sort of variation of the chorus, complete with what’s known as “gang vocals,” or a shouted or sometimes sang/shouted response by the band to a line sung by the lead singer, building up even more energy until the climax.
Watkins: Standing on the rooftops
Band: Wait until the bomb drops
Watkins: This is all we’ve got now
Band: Scream until your heart stops
Watkins: Never gonna regret
Band: Watching every sunset
Watkins: Listen to your heartbeat
Band: All the love that we felt
This is again repeated with more gusto and crescendos into the four times repeated line, “Scream your heart out,” with the last “heart out” being cut off and replaced with a heavy drum beat to bring the song back into the chorus, which is sung one more time before an instrumental fade out. The lyric, “scream your heart out,” must be a favorite of Lostprophets, as it is also found in “Goodbye Tonight,” from their album “Start Something.”
Here is the track listing of their most current album:
1. Everyday Combat
2. A Town Called Hypocrisy
3. The New Transmission
4. Rooftops (A Liberation Broadcast)
5. Can’t Stop, Gotta Date With Hate
6. Can’t Catch Tomorrow (Good Shoes Won’t Save You This Time)
7. Everybody’s Screaming!!!
8. Broken Hearts, Torn Up Letters and the Story of a Lonely Girl
9. 4:AM Forever
10. For All These Times Son, For All These Times
11. Heaven for the Weather, Hell for the Company
12. Always All Ways (Apologies, Glances and Messed up Chances)
There is a pretty strong dynamic range of songs on this album, as well, as you compare the heavier track, “Everybody’s Screaming,” to the mellow ballad, “Always All Ways,” which follows suit of “Start Something,” where Lostprophets ease the listener back down at the end of the album.
Speaking of dynamic ranges, though, there is quite a contrast between Lostprophets’ first single, “Shinobi vs. Dragon Ninja,” and “Rooftops,” their first single off of “Liberation Transmission.” “Shinobi vs. Dragon Ninja,” in both the vocals and most especially in the instrumentation, made evident the band’s punk, hardcore, and metal influences. This was harder to find in “Rooftops.” “Rooftops” was very much more melodic, and the distortion effects, when there were any at all, weren’t as crunchy and raw as they were on “Shinobi.” There are, of course, some similarities, with the most evident being in song structure: “Shinobi vs. Dragon Ninja” -- Intro - Verse - Bridge - Chorus - Verse - Bridge - Chorus - Coda/Outro and “Rooftops” -- Intro - Verse - Bridge - Chorus - Verse - Bridge -Chorus - Coda/Outro.
In reference to change, the band has been criticized by fans, as they were accused of “selling out” on “Liberation Transmission.” Song titles such as “Can’t Stop Tomorrow (Good Shoes Won’t Save You This Time)” and the overall sound of most tracks on this album gave it a more “scene” feel and made the band appear to be following trends, rather than staying true to their “original” (“The Fake Sound of Progress”) sound. The band denies allegations. In response to this, Watkins had one time stated something to the effect of the fact that bands grow and change--responding to what’s current in music is not necessarily selling out--the band is allowed be interested in more than one genre or sub-genre of music. However; Lostprophets recently stated that their next album will have more of the same feel of their first album. Band members also stated that it will be darker and have more energy than any other song they’ve put out before. They had been playing a few of their new, unreleased songs on tours across the UK in 2007, and have so far proved their depictions to be right. Ian Watkins, in the January 5, 2008 issue of Kerrang!, listed the following tracks to be included in the new album: "It's Not The End Of The World But I Can See It From Here," "Credible vs. Incredible," "Next Stop Atro City," "The Mourning Reign," "What Seems To Be The Problem Officer?" "She's With The Banned," "Save Yourself," "If It Wasn't For Hate We'd Be Dead By Now," and "For He's A Jolly Good Felon."
Other than their main three albums, Lostprophets have released several singles containing demos, covers, and other songs that simply did not make it onto the commercial albums. Some of these include “Every Song,” from the single “4:AM Forever,” “Dead to Me” and “No Way Out” from the “Rooftops (A Liberation Broadcast)” single, “Distances” and “What You Do” from the single “A Town Called Hypocrisy, Pt. 2,” the demo versions of “Love” and “Still Falling” from the single “Can’t Catch Tomorrow (Good Shoes Won’t Save You This Time),” and “Push out the Jive, Bring in the Love” from the “Burn, Burn” single. Covers include, not surprisingly, “A View to a Kill” by Duran Duran and “Boys Don’t Cry” by The Cure , surprisingly “Cry Me a River” by Justin Timberlake and “In the Air Tonight” by Phil Collins, and also “Reptilia” by The Strokes, “Davidian” by Machine Head, and “Shoulder to the Wheel” by Saves the Day.

Works Cited

Lostprophets - Wikipedia. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lostprophets. Accessed March 18, 2008.

Lostprophets’s Biography - Last.fm. http://www.last.fm/music/Lostprophets/+wiki. Accessed March 18, 2008.

Saves the Day Lyrics. http://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/savestheday/shouldertothewheel.html. Accessed March 19, 2008.

Shinobi vs. Dragon Ninja Tab by Lostprophets @ Ultimate-Guitar.com. http://ultimate- guitar.com/tabs/l/lostprophets/shinobi_vs_dragon_ninja_tab.htm. Accessed March 19, 2008.