Lostprophets: The Valley rockers from a rich seam

WALES has, over the years, produced some notable musicians and bands.

There's the Manic Street Preachers, Super Furry Animals, Stereophonics and, of course, the man who paved the way for them all – Sir Tom Jones.

Another band forged in the lush, verdant valleys of South Wales is Lostprophets.

Since their 2000 debut Fake Sound of Progress won plaudits for its homegrown take on trans-Atlantic nu-metal, the Welsh six-piece have slowly established themselves as one of Britain's leading hard rock bands.

Their 2006 album Liberation Transmission propelled them into the big league and since then they've been among the headliners at the Leeds and Reading festivals.

Now the band are back with their fourth studio album The Betrayed, released this week, and next month they kick-off a new UK tour which takes in both Leeds and Hull.

Frontman Ian Watkins has said the new album is the band's best "by a mile" and it's certainly their most ambitious to date.

From the apocalyptic groove of the opening track If It Wasn't For Hate We'd Be Dead By Now, through the sing-along pop of For He's A Jolly Good Felon, to the rousing The Light That Burns Twice As Bright which brings the album to a close, it is an impressive and diverse record.

The album was a long time in the making, with the band using different producers in Cardiff and LA and scrapping various recordings, before returning home to finally get it finished. But guitarist Mike Lewis reckons fans will enjoy the end result.

"There's definitely some songs which are typical Lostprophets songs, so if you're into the other records, then there's something here for you. But there are a couple of songs that are a bit of a departure for us – lyrically rather than musically," he says.

"They're a bit more introspective and perhaps not quite as positive as previous records. I think Ian, in the past, has written songs encouraging people to do something with their lives, but on this record he's shown a side to his personality that he's not sung about before."

Lewis says he and his bandmates are looking forward to getting back out on the road.

"It's a long tour but it's good to finally be able to play the new songs. It's one thing to play a new song when the crowd hasn't heard it before, but it's even better when they have because it makes the atmosphere something special and it makes you play harder."

They're also planning to play some of the lesser known songs from their growing back catalogue, as well as the crowd pleasers.

"On this tour we're going to play some old songs people haven't heard us play for a few years, which we're looking forward to," he says.

Lewis and his bandmates have known each other since their school days in the South Wales town of Pontypridd, and were friends long before they decided to set up a band.

It's 13 years since Lostprophets was formed and they have grown, almost by stealth, into a band that has gone from playing small rock clubs to taking the stage at Wembley Arena.

In the early days, though, they spent a lot of time as musical outsiders. "There's a big indie scene in Wales and we were like the black sheep because we were more of a metal band.

"But I think when we broke through it showed other young bands that if we could do it, they could, too, it proved you didn't have to be an indie band," he says.

But as well as having to win over the sceptics they've had to contend with the internet revolution, which Lewis acknowledges.

"It has brought pros and cons. In the past you had to get a record deal but now anyone can put a record out, whether it's good or bad, and the Internet has been the catalyst for that," he says.

"Ultimately, though, we've always been about playing live and touring, that's how we started and that's what rock music is all about."

Lostprophets are playing Hull's Ice Arena on February 6 and Leeds 02 Academy on February 14.

MADE IN WALES

The band formed in Pontypridd in 1997 starting out as a side-project to hardcore punk band Public Disturbance.

They have, to date, had two top 10 UK singles, Last Train Home and Rooftops.

Lostprophets is the name of a bootleg Duran Duran recording.

The band have sold two million albums over the past 10 years.