Lee James Gaze (born 21 May 1975)^[1] is a Welsh musician. He is the lead guitarist, and one of the founding members, of the Welsh/American alternative rock band No Devotion, and a former member of the Welsh rock band Lostprophets.

Early life

Gaze was born in Pontypridd and grew up on a council estate in the Pontypridd village Rhydyfelin. He did not do well at school as he was more interested in playing thrash metal: as he told Kerrang! in 2006, "Before I discovered music, I was a total delinquent, and then Iron Maiden changed my life. I had just been listening to pop before that. A friend of mine got hold of a tape and played to me and we got obsessed."^[2] He was also a huge fan of Megadeth, Metallica and Slayer.^[3]

Career

In 1991, Gaze formed his first band. They recorded one demo, Discontent and in 1994 they joined forces with two other local musicians and formed Fleshbind. The band recorded three demos and saw some success in their three-year career, including playing a show for Metal Hammer at the London Astoria.^[2]

Tired with the lack of direction, Gaze and Watkins disbanded Fleshbind and formed Lostprophets alongside Mike Chiplin on drums, later recruiting Mike Lewis, Stuart Richardson and Jamie Oliver. Gaze was the lead guitarist and one of the band's key songwriters.^[4] Lostprophets disbanded in October 2013 after Watkins was arrested, and then jailed for 29 years. The remaining members later formed a new band, No Devotion, with Geoff Rickly as lead singer.^[5][6] The band have released two albums, Permanence (2015) and No Oblivion (2022).

Personal life

Gaze began dating London-based Malaysian former singer, Syirin Said, who was a former member of now-defunct Malaysian girl group, M'Steen, in 2004 and they were married in 2008.^[7] The couple have two sons.^[8]

Discography