The DARK TRUTH About Touring With MONSTER Ian Watkins - Josh Friend (Modestep)

·43 min·4 clips

Josh Friend reveals the eerie atmosphere touring with Lostprophets before Ian Watkins' horrific crimes were exposed.

Andrew Gold hosts Josh Friend, an old friend and musician from Modestep, on the Heretics podcast. The episode begins with a discussion of Ian Watkins, the former Lostprophets singer convicted of child sex offences, who was recently killed in prison. Josh shares his experience touring with Lostprophets for six weeks in 2011, describing a tense and weird atmosphere from the start, with Watkins kept separate and behaving erratically due to drugs. He details his only interaction with Watkins, who wore a parka and sunglasses and gave a cryptic reassurance during a equipment failure at Cardiff Arena. Josh reflects on the severity of Watkins' crimes, including grooming fans and manipulating mothers, and notes the band's likely ignorance but complicity in his drug use. The conversation shifts to the music industry's structure, with Josh explaining how two agencies now dominate bookings post-COVID, citing Coachella's 98% agency-controlled lineup and Justin Bieber's independent booking as examples. He discusses the challenges for independent musicians, sharing that he handles all aspects of his career himself after losing most earnings to labels and managers. Josh addresses industry controversies, stating he avoids public stances on issues like Palestine due to nuance and arrogance, and mentions peers affected by false accusations or misconduct. He touches on AI's rapid advancement in music, predicting it could replace human songwriting within years, and shares concerns about job displacement. The episode concludes with Josh naming Prince as a heretic he admires for breaking boundaries and living for music, and he promotes his new album 'Give Up the Ghost'.

As heard by us

A grim tour story that opens into the uglier machinery around it.

Josh Friend's account keeps the attention on what people around a band could sense before the wider story fully caught up: six weeks on the road, a strange atmosphere from the first soundcheck, and the later realization of how severe and gross things were.

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Why you'd press play

If you want the ugly backstory behind a tour that felt off from the start, press play.

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