Editing Ian Watkins (section)

==Biography==
Ian David Karslake Watkins was born in Merthyr Tydfil on 30 July 1977. He later moved to Pontypridd, where he attended Hawthorn High School with future Lostprophets bandmate Mike Lewis. He gained a first-class honours degree in graphic design from the University of Wales, Newport.

Lewis' and Watkins's mutual enjoyment of rock and metal music strengthened their friendship, leading them to form a group as teenagers in 1991 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 bandmate Lee Gaze through a mutual friend. Having abandoned Aftermath, which made two live appearances in its 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.

Watkins reunited with Mike Lewis as a drummer in a hardcore band called Public Disturbance, formed in 1995. By this time, Watkins and Gaze had left Fleshbind to create their own band, Lost Prophets, who made their live debut in May 1997 alongside Public Disturbance, with Watkins as the lead vocalist. In 1998, Watkins left Public Disturbance to concentrate on the newly named lostprophets (all lower-case letters).