Project Description
Interview with
JOHN COOPER
from
SKILLET
by Amy Smith
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Skillet are an American rock band with nine, well-received, albums under their belt since forming in 1996. Epic, expansive and anthemic, Skillet create the type of rock that simply explodes in a live setting. Skillet are set to return to Australian shores for the first time since 2011!
AMNplify’s Amy Smith caught up with Skillet’s lead vocalist and bassist, John Cooper, ahead of their upcoming Australian tour to discuss what you can look forward to at their upcoming live shows, the ups and downs of living life on the road and what it is like being in an openly Christian band in the Metal/Rock industry in 2018.
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Australia is very excited to see you back in our country in just a couple of short months!
That’s right! It’s about time!
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It really is! We’ve been waiting since 2011, John!
I know it’s ridiculous. Every year and record release, we’re like “Hey! We’ve got to go to Australia! When are we doing it?” When the records come out, we say we’ll do it on the next cycle and it just keeps getting pushed back and back. We were planning a Canada run at the beginning of this year and the band that we were gonna tour with got sick. So we were like “OK we HAVE to go to Australia!” It was kinda a last minute thing. I’m just thrilled that we’re coming back.
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We are too! What are you most looking forward to for the upcoming tour?
Well, we just have the most awesome fans! Whenever we do group interviews and somebody says “So hey guys! What’s your favourite place you’ve ever toured?” For six years, my wife Korey has always said “Australia had the best club shows that we’ve ever had!” It was just really fun. Some of it might be nostalgia as well, because it was 2011, we were riding on a really successful record at the time; The Awake album with Monsters. It was all just happening so fast! I think we didn’t realise how big it was getting until we hit Australia. We don’t really know why it was, but it just felt really big. It was just a really exciting time and the food was amazing. I dunno, I just loved it.
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You are also heading to New Zealand for the first time ever! How exciting!
Actually, we’ve been to New Zealand a few times but we’ve never played a club date over there. We’ve done a few music festivals but we’ve never done our own show there.
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Right! So it might be a bit different this time around being your own headline tour?
I think so. It’s always got a bit of a different flavour when it’s your crowd. They come to see you, they sing your songs. It a little bit of a different vibe. I hope it goes good!
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Do you prefer to play those smaller, intimate venues? Or are you more into the bigger, festival type shows?
To tell you the truth, I just love performing. That’s kind of a cop out answer… The truth is, I don’t know which one I like better. I mean, there’s nothing like playing your own dates, whether they’re in a club or whether they’re in an arena, depending on how big your act is. I just love playing my own shows, it’s really fun. But having said that, playing in front of 20, 000 or 30, 000 people opening up for… we just played to 40, 000 people in Bulgaria opening up for Iron Maiden. I wouldn’t trade that for the world! So, I don’t know, they’re both really good. There’s nothing like playing a small venue that’s packed out and everyone is there to see you, singing your songs, it doesn’t get much better than that.
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What are some of the things that you think about when putting together a live show?
For me it’s all about making an experience. Skillet is kinda known for their energy on stage. People go “Man! You put so much into your shows and energy! What keeps you going?”. I love performing and I love music. I love what I sing about. I believe in what I’m singing. I have a good time. I love the fans. And when the fans start singing, it’s just like electric currents flowing over me. It’s just this moment where it’s very… I guess ‘Spiritual’ is the best way to describe it. If you’ve ever gone to a concert and felt that moment you just can’t explain? I like that about concerts. I’m a concert goer myself! When I go see U2 or somebody and I’m just totally in the moment with the band. So, I always look for ways that I can communicate to the crowd what it is that I’m feeling. That could be a new section that they’ve never heard before on the album, it could be made up on the spot or just for that tour. It could be something that you say in explaining the song. They’re the kinda things I look into so that everybody can experience the intent behind the song and the artistry. And more times than not, the crowd feel at one with you, you get that community kind of feeling.
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I love that answer because that’s exactly how I feel at live shows! I love how the band and the crowd seem to feed off each others energy!
Yeah! I love that!
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With such an extensive back catalogue, how do you select what material to include in the set list? Especially considering the seven year gap between shows for us!
Typically, for us, it’s kinda easy to choose what songs to include in the set because you know what songs people really like. Sometimes I’ll play a song that I wanna play and I’ll find ‘Oh! That’s not one that anybody else likes! It’s just me I guess…’ (Laughs).
I recently saw Sting. If he doesn’t play Every Breath You Take somebody is gonna get hurt right? There’s that feeling of knowing what songs you MUST play! Other than that, sometimes you choose something you wanna play, or there are some songs that aren’t necessarily amazing songs, but they’re great live tracks, they’re something that you really experience live. I look for those moments and really try to pack ‘em into a set if I can.
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What are some of those songs that get that type of reaction?
Oh gosh! Let’s see… we have a song called Sick Of It. It wasn’t a radio song or one that Skillet fans would necessarily say that they liked. It’s certainly not one of our bigger songs, but in my view, it’s a really great live song. It’s one that’s easy to jump to, it’s got a cool, angsty message that people wanna rally behind. It’s just a fun live track. So, that’s kind of a good example.
You know what!? I’ll give you another example because I think it’s super interesting. On our Comatose record, which was in 2006, we released the album, there were a few songs on the album that were kinda crowd favourites and there were ones that were the best radio songs that we had. But, for about eight years straight, we opened with a song called Whispers in the Dark. It was not one of the bigger songs from the record, but after 14 years of touring that album, all of a sudden Whispers in the Dark became one of our… years later it outsold some of the other songs. Probably because it was a great live song and we’ve been opening with it for a decade. So, that’s kind of interesting.
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It is! The fans obviously developed a connection with that song and it took on a life of it’s own!
Yeah!
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Skillet is well known for being a band that tours extensively, to the point where Billboard labelled you among the top hardest working bands! How has this impacted on your family life?
Well, it is hard! Being in the road is hard work! I’m kinda lucky. Some people reading might not know that my wife Korey is also in Skillet. She plays guitar and keyboards. So, we’ve been on the road ever since we were married. We had two kids and have been on the road ever since they were babies. So, our family has kinda grown together on the road. We don’t really know any other way! It is hard work. There are times when we go “Alright, we need to have a break”, if things aren’t going good. It’s been hard on our marriage at certain times. It’s been hard on business. But I think it’s just a passion for the music. It’s what we’ve needed to do to keep the business going. We believe in what we’re doing. We’ve been given a really great opportunity to do music. I never dreamt that it would go this far! So it’s little bit like “Well, I’m glad that people still like it! It’s been fun let’s just do another few years of touring, it’ll be cool!”
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That’s awesome! For the kids, that must be a really interesting way to grow up!
Yeah! I mean, they’ve grown up in the car on the road. They’ve played concerts with everybody! Alice Cooper, Metallica, Iron Maiden… pretty much any hard rock band in the world; They’ve toured with. We’ve done shows with Breaking Benjamin, Godsmack… It’s been a cool way for them to meet all kinds of different people. There are certain shows that we won’t let them see of course! (Laughs). We want them to understand that although they can’t see the show for some of the bands that we’re touring with, that there might be certain things that we don’t approve of, we want them to be friends with them; We’re friends with them. We don’t judge them. They let us live our lives and we let them live their lives. We’re friends, no matter what we each believe or how we act or how we talk. It’s a great life lesson. I think it’s something that the world needs more of right now, not to get too preachy but my gosh! There’s just no stability, no understanding in the world right now.
Absolutely.
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Your music has been influenced by an eclectic range of styles and genres to create something unique and new. What are your current influences and where are you heading next?
I mainly go back and listen to the stuff that I grew up with, probably because I can turn my brain off! When you hear something new, you immediately start, not criticising, but critiquing it. You go “Oh! that’s cool”or “I don’t like that/I do like that” or “That’s better than my song/That’s not as good as my song”. You know? You jump into business mode and I find that really hard. That’s not to say that I don’t like any new music! But, I typically just listen to what I know. Which is stuff that I grew up on because it’s nostalgic and it’s easy. Bands like Metallica, Motely Crue and ACDC. All that kinda stuff. But I do like new music too. I’m a fan of Breaking Benjamin, Korn, Shinedown, Papa Roach, Slipknot… the bands that we tour with. I like that kinda music. But, If I want to relax, I put on something that I grew up with.
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It has been two years since your last album. Is new album underway?
Yes! There’s actually quite a lot happening in the Skillet world right now! It’s a lot to keep up with! Skillet is about 70% done with the recording of our next record, which will hopefully be released next year. We are very excited about the project! We mainly wrote and recorded it all on the road! It’s been really cool being inspired by the fans and the stories that we hear. It’s just been a really fun process recording the record, we’ve been really inspired.
Simultaneously, some may or may not know, our drummer Jen released her own solo project. If you don’t have it, it is called Ledger, it came out a few months ago. We got behind her a couple of years ago and sort of helped her write and produce the record. My wife, Korey, produced most of the record herself. We did some co-writing; I sang on a song with her. We’ve been trying to kinda help her spread her wings, develop her own career and release her own music. So, that’s been a really cool thing as well!
And lastly, if you can believe it, there’s more! I just announced last week that I started a side project. The band is called Fight the Fury. That project is going to be coming out this year as well, before Christmas. So, there is just a lot going on. We’ve been writing three records and touring at the same time! It’s been a really cool and fun time. People who love Skillet are going to have a lot of new music to listen to.
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Wow! That is absolutely insane!
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I’m curious to know what it is like being an openly Christian Metal/Rock band in 2018? I know in the 80’s, bands like Stryper copped criticism from both sides. From highly religious denominations they were accused of “Playing the devil’s music” and from the secular community they copped criticism for their faith. What the climate is like for a band such as yourself in 2018? What challenges do you face?
It’s certainly not as bad as it was for those acts at that time. I think Christian music was still early on in it’s inception, people didn’t really know what it meant. I will say that Christian music has also changed and is very much changing very rapidly right now. There are some people that will kinda pre-judge the band; They go “Oh… it’s a Christian band, it probably sucks!”. There’s some of that. But, I think that Skillet has been around long enough that people get us. They know that Skillet is not, what I would call, ‘Preachy’. I think that we just sing a lot about spirituality. I’m very open about my faith. I talk about my faith in interviews and on stage. I’m not in any way quiet about it, but it’s more of a story telling. I’m telling my story, it’s my life. At every show, I meet people that say “Hey! I just want you to know that I’m an Atheist, I don’t get this Jesus stuff at all, but your music makes me feel better. It’s so positive and it got me out of a hard time” or what have you. I love those stories because I never wanted to be a person who only sings religion to people; That’s the opposite of what I want to do! I like that music should bring people together; I think that’s a really cool thing! So yeah, that prejudice still does kinda exist. Some of it rightly so, because there was a time when Christian music was very much ‘Preachy’ and very much only singing to Christian people. Whether that was the intent or not, that’s what was happening. That’s not what Skillet wants to do.
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Having been a band for over two decades, what are some of the biggest changes that you have seen over that time?
Oh my gosh! I’m going to make myself seem super, super old to the people reading! But, you asked! You have to remember this, Skillet came out in 1996 and there really wasn’t an internet! I mean, the internet was technically around in 1996, I had never heard of it. And it certainly wasn’t something that people found music on. It was a couple of years later that the internet really exploded. So, when we first started, we sold cassette tapes, mainly CD’s, but we had cassette tapes of our first records, first two records actually! I think that the internet has changed the entire landscape of music. There are goods and bads with that. One of the great things is that Skillet, well… not just Skillet, can be heard all they way around the world now. You don’t have to have a massive radio hit. It used to be that if you didn’t have a radio hit in Australia, then there’s no reason to go to Australia because nobody knows who you are! There have been some wonderful things that have happened. So, that’s probably the most life changing thing that has changed since the inception of Skillet.
That’s so cool!
Unfortunately, we are out of time! Is there anything that I’ve missed that you would like to add to the interview?
I would love to say a big thank you to all of our fans for supporting us for so long, for listening to our music and loving the band! We can’t wait to come down and have a great time with you!
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SKILLET
November 2018 Australian Tour Dates
Thursday 15th – Sydney – Big Top
Saturday 17th – Brisbane – Eatons Hill Hotel
Sunday 18th – Melbourne – Forum
Monday 19th – Adelaide – HQ
Tickets: https://metropolistouring.com/skillet-2018/
Connect with SKILLET
Facebook Twitter Website
AMNPLIFY_DT
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It is! The fans obviously developed a connection with that song and it took on a life of it’s own!
Yeah!
.
Skillet is well known for being a band that tours extensively, to the point where Billboard labelled you among the top hardest working bands! How has this impacted on your family life?
Well, it is hard! Being in the road is hard work! I’m kinda lucky. Some people reading might not know that my wife Korey is also in Skillet. She plays guitar and keyboards. So, we’ve been on the road ever since we were married. We had two kids and have been on the road ever since they were babies. So, our family has kinda grown together on the road. We don’t really know any other way! It is hard work. There are times when we go “Alright, we need to have a break”, if things aren’t going good. It’s been hard on our marriage at certain times. It’s been hard on business. But I think it’s just a passion for the music. It’s what we’ve needed to do to keep the business going. We believe in what we’re doing. We’ve been given a really great opportunity to do music. I never dreamt that it would go this far! So it’s little bit like “Well, I’m glad that people still like it! It’s been fun let’s just do another few years of touring, it’ll be cool!”
.
That’s awesome! For the kids, that must be a really interesting way to grow up!
Yeah! I mean, they’ve grown up in the car on the road. They’ve played concerts with everybody! Alice Cooper, Metallica, Iron Maiden… pretty much any hard rock band in the world; They’ve toured with. We’ve done shows with Breaking Benjamin, Godsmack… It’s been a cool way for them to meet all kinds of different people. There are certain shows that we won’t let them see of course! (Laughs). We want them to understand that although they can’t see the show for some of the bands that we’re touring with, that there might be certain things that we don’t approve of, we want them to be friends with them; We’re friends with them. We don’t judge them. They let us live our lives and we let them live their lives. We’re friends, no matter what we each believe or how we act or how we talk. It’s a great life lesson. I think it’s something that the world needs more of right now, not to get too preachy but my gosh! There’s just no stability, no understanding in the world right now.
Absolutely.
.
Your music has been influenced by an eclectic range of styles and genres to create something unique and new. What are your current influences and where are you heading next?
I mainly go back and listen to the stuff that I grew up with, probably because I can turn my brain off! When you hear something new, you immediately start, not criticising, but critiquing it. You go “Oh! that’s cool”or “I don’t like that/I do like that” or “That’s better than my song/That’s not as good as my song”. You know? You jump into business mode and I find that really hard. That’s not to say that I don’t like any new music! But, I typically just listen to what I know. Which is stuff that I grew up on because it’s nostalgic and it’s easy. Bands like Metallica, Motely Crue and ACDC. All that kinda stuff. But I do like new music too. I’m a fan of Breaking Benjamin, Korn, Shinedown, Papa Roach, Slipknot… the bands that we tour with. I like that kinda music. But, If I want to relax, I put on something that I grew up with.
.
It has been two years since your last album. Is new album underway?
Yes! There’s actually quite a lot happening in the Skillet world right now! It’s a lot to keep up with! Skillet is about 70% done with the recording of our next record, which will hopefully be released next year. We are very excited about the project! We mainly wrote and recorded it all on the road! It’s been really cool being inspired by the fans and the stories that we hear. It’s just been a really fun process recording the record, we’ve been really inspired.
Simultaneously, some may or may not know, our drummer Jen released her own solo project. If you don’t have it, it is called Ledger, it came out a few months ago. We got behind her a couple of years ago and sort of helped her write and produce the record. My wife, Korey, produced most of the record herself. We did some co-writing; I sang on a song with her. We’ve been trying to kinda help her spread her wings, develop her own career and release her own music. So, that’s been a really cool thing as well!
And lastly, if you can believe it, there’s more! I just announced last week that I started a side project. The band is called Fight the Fury. That project is going to be coming out this year as well, before Christmas. So, there is just a lot going on. We’ve been writing three records and touring at the same time! It’s been a really cool and fun time. People who love Skillet are going to have a lot of new music to listen to.
.
Wow! That is absolutely insane!
.
.
I’m curious to know what it is like being an openly Christian Metal/Rock band in 2018? I know in the 80’s, bands like Stryper copped criticism from both sides. From highly religious denominations they were accused of “Playing the devil’s music” and from the secular community they copped criticism for their faith. What the climate is like for a band such as yourself in 2018? What challenges do you face?
It’s certainly not as bad as it was for those acts at that time. I think Christian music was still early on in it’s inception, people didn’t really know what it meant. I will say that Christian music has also changed and is very much changing very rapidly right now. There are some people that will kinda pre-judge the band; They go “Oh… it’s a Christian band, it probably sucks!”. There’s some of that. But, I think that Skillet has been around long enough that people get us. They know that Skillet is not, what I would call, ‘Preachy’. I think that we just sing a lot about spirituality. I’m very open about my faith. I talk about my faith in interviews and on stage. I’m not in any way quiet about it, but it’s more of a story telling. I’m telling my story, it’s my life. At every show, I meet people that say “Hey! I just want you to know that I’m an Atheist, I don’t get this Jesus stuff at all, but your music makes me feel better. It’s so positive and it got me out of a hard time” or what have you. I love those stories because I never wanted to be a person who only sings religion to people; That’s the opposite of what I want to do! I like that music should bring people together; I think that’s a really cool thing! So yeah, that prejudice still does kinda exist. Some of it rightly so, because there was a time when Christian music was very much ‘Preachy’ and very much only singing to Christian people. Whether that was the intent or not, that’s what was happening. That’s not what Skillet wants to do.
.
Having been a band for over two decades, what are some of the biggest changes that you have seen over that time?
Oh my gosh! I’m going to make myself seem super, super old to the people reading! But, you asked! You have to remember this, Skillet came out in 1996 and there really wasn’t an internet! I mean, the internet was technically around in 1996, I had never heard of it. And it certainly wasn’t something that people found music on. It was a couple of years later that the internet really exploded. So, when we first started, we sold cassette tapes, mainly CD’s, but we had cassette tapes of our first records, first two records actually! I think that the internet has changed the entire landscape of music. There are goods and bads with that. One of the great things is that Skillet, well… not just Skillet, can be heard all they way around the world now. You don’t have to have a massive radio hit. It used to be that if you didn’t have a radio hit in Australia, then there’s no reason to go to Australia because nobody knows who you are! There have been some wonderful things that have happened. So, that’s probably the most life changing thing that has changed since the inception of Skillet.
That’s so cool!
Unfortunately, we are out of time! Is there anything that I’ve missed that you would like to add to the interview?
I would love to say a big thank you to all of our fans for supporting us for so long, for listening to our music and loving the band! We can’t wait to come down and have a great time with you!
.
SKILLET
November 2018 Australian Tour Dates
Thursday 15th – Sydney – Big Top
Saturday 17th – Brisbane – Eatons Hill Hotel
Sunday 18th – Melbourne – Forum
Monday 19th – Adelaide – HQ
Tickets: https://metropolistouring.com/skillet-2018/
Connect with SKILLET
Facebook Twitter Website
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