Ian Watkins

Ian David Karslake Watkins (born July 30, 1977 in Merthyr Tydfil, Wales) is the lead singer, baby fondler, and also one of the founding members, of the Welsh alternative rock band Lostprophets.

Watkins grew up in the Welsh town of Pontypridd near Cardiff. With his attendance at Hawthorn High School, along with most other members of the band, he learnt how to play drums. His musical interest was in bands such as, Faith No More, Red Hot Chili Peppers and Megadeth.

He became good friends with Mike Lewis, “We were in the same year at school and we hung out all the way through”. Their mutual enjoyment of rock and metal music strengthened their friendship, leading teenage Watkins and Lewis, in 1991, to form a group called Aftermath; a thrash metal band that played in a shed in Watkins’s garden.

Whilst spending time in the local Ynysangharad Park - where 17 years later Lostprophets would headline the Full Ponty Festival - Watkins was introduced to future band mate Lee Gaze through a mutual friend. Having abandoned Aftermath, which made two live appearances in the band’s lifespan of two years, Watkins and Gaze decided to form a new band called Fleshbind, based on their American hardcore punk influences. The band played several shows, including one supporting Feeder in London, but the group was short-lived.