Recording some of the most intense yet therapeutic music to ever come out of Wales, alternative metal rock quintet Lostprophets have put their hometown of Pontypridd on the map over the last decade, mixing a catchy ska/pop style of music with hard rock to create a compelling post-grunge sound that has illuminated the charts with numbers of hit albums and singles all throughout the 2000s.Lostprophets is the brainchild of frontman Ian Watkins and guitarist Mike Lewis, who grew up bleeding music through their veins in Wales. Watkins and Lewis started experimenting with rock music in the band Public Disturbance, but the two quickly dropped the band to form Lozt Prophetz, a ska-infused hip-hop type of music that changed to a more aggressive form of rock when the band changed the spelling of its name to Lostprophets. The U.K. indie label Visible Noise picked up the lost musical act in 2000 after seeing them in an issue of Kerrang! magazine, and their debut album The Fake Sound of Progress was released to great acclaim. The album graced the Billboard charts, spawning a series of tour dates opening for Linea 77, Taproot, Pitchshifter, Linkin Park and the Deftones. Furthermore, Lostprophets performed at the popular 2001 Reading Festival, putting their name out in the open.Eventually signing with major label Sony, Lostprophets re-released their 2000 album in 2002, touring North America in the meantime while also working on their next album, 2004's Start Something. The album marked the peak of Lostprophets' success, debuting at number five on the U.K. charts and landing at number 33 on the Billboard Top 200. After headlining in the 2004 Reading Festival, Lostprophets recruited producer Bob Rock, who previously worked with Metallica, to help their image. The result, Liberation Transmission, was released in 2006 and fared well on the Billboard 200.