582. I Toured With Monster Ian Watkins - Josh Friend (Modestep)

heretics.

Andrew Gold

Personal Journals, Documentary, Society & Culture

4.4 • 968 Ratings

🗓️ 20 October 2025

⏱️ 41 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Andrew Gold sits down with Josh Friend, frontman of Modestep, to discuss his disturbing experiences touring with Ian Watkins of Lostprophets — the disgraced rock star who was recently killed in prison. SPONSORS: Go to https://TryFum.com/HERETICS and use code HERETICS to get your free FÜM Topper when you order your Journey Pack today! Use Code ANDREW FOR 25% OFF Plaud Note: https://bit.ly/4nJWt7j Plaud Note Pro: https://bit.ly/423JiWv Grab your free seat to the 2-Day AI Mastermind: https://link.outskill.com/ANDREWS2 Cut your wireless bill to 15 bucks a month at https://mintmobile.com/heretics Start your MyHeritage journey now with a 14-day free trial using my link: https://bit.ly/AndrewGoldMyHeritage 🎧 Listen to Modestep: https://modestep.com Josh opens up about the bizarre atmosphere on tour, the red flags he noticed long before the truth came out, and the dark side of fame that allows predators to thrive in the music industry. From manipulative stans and industry cover-ups to cancel culture to revealing conversation explores how power, money, and image can warp entire industries. Andrew and Josh also discuss the collapse of Lostprophets’ label, whether the band knew anything, and why so many musicians today have become afraid to speak their minds. Josh shares his thoughts on Bob Vylan, Diddy, Jimmy Savile, and other notorious figures, plus his hopes for the future of music — and the heretics who still dare to rebel. Watch now for a candid look behind the curtain of fame, friendship, and moral failure in the modern music scene. 🎙️ Subscribe to Heretics for more honest, controversial conversations. #HereticsPodcast #IanWatkins #Modestep Join the 30k heretics on my mailing list: https://andrewgoldheretics.com Check out my new documentary channel: https://youtube.com/@andrewgoldinvestigates Andrew on X: https://twitter.com/andrewgold_ok Insta: https://www.instagram.com/andrewgold_ok Heretics YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@andrewgoldheretics Chapters: 0:00 Josh Friend Highlights 0:40 Josh Friend Intro 2:25 Who is Ian Watkins & The Lostprophets 4:15 What Ian Watkins Actually Did 6:10 How Did Ian Watkins Convince FANS 7:40 What Led to Modestep Touring with Lostprophets? 9:40 Ian Watkins WEIRD Behaviour 11:00 The Band Kept Him Away From Everyone 11:55 Did The Band Know? 13:40 The Label Had To Shut Down - Guilty Move? 14:25 Jimmy Savile Levels - Did Someone Know? 15:25 Their Music Does BETTER Since! 16:25 Diddy, Bieber & The Music Industry 17:30 Bob Vylan: Horrible Man 19:40 Are People Fed Up With Political Musicians? 20:40 The Problem With Creepy Musicians 21:40 False Accusations About Josh’s Friend! 23:10 When Ian Watkins Died In Prison 25:00 A Heretic Josh Admires Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	Okay, everyone, so look at the numbers from Q1, and you'll see that there's a sharp...
0:04.0	Alex? Oh, I think you're frozen.
0:06.8	And that's why it's crucial that we mean...
0:09.0	E, that sounded important.
0:11.0	Because if we don't act now...
0:13.0	We've lost him.
0:14.5	Bring an end to work-call interruptions with EE Wi-Fi Enhancer.
0:18.7	More work from homers are choosing EE broadband broadband, the UK's fastest-growing
0:23.4	broadband provider. And he's back. So I hope that was all clear. To verify I see EE.com.
0:29.0	Atk.U.K.S. Wherever there's power and money, there's people who have messed up minds who do weird
0:33.6	stuff. Singer Ian Watkins, who was jailed for child's offences, has been killed in an
0:39.1	attack in prison. We toured with them for about six weeks and it was abundantly clear that
0:43.9	something was up. And even from the first sound check, things were just a little bit off. Weird
0:48.6	atmosphere from the get-go, now knowing what was going on at the time, how severe it was, how gross it was.
0:55.0	That's what took everyone by like, what, what the hell?
0:59.0	And he just walked over to me with his parker on and sunglasses, looked at me, I was like, oh, waved his hand over it and went.
1:06.0	Hi guys, if you're on Spotify or Apple, please make sure to follow.
1:12.6	And if you can share this podcast with just one friend, it will help enormously, maybe even two friends.
1:17.7	Or three, that's a free and easy way to grow one of your favorite podcasts.
1:22.2	This is a really interesting one because Josh is probably the first, we're definitely the first person, I think, on Heretics, who's an old friend of mine, who I've known since we were, what, 12? Very young, yeah. Yeah. And now you're a superstar. I won't go that far. You're the superstar. We're superstars. We're superstars together. One thing I don't want to give the impression of is that we grew up in some kind of everybody went and did some sort of showbiz thing because as far as you're literally the only person I know yeah so get that
1:49.0	clear everyone it's not some sort of like no not some Disney thing yeah exactly Timberlake and all
1:53.6	of that no I mean it's cool obviously I've seen your career kind of go crazy over the last what like
	...

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