{"id":36126,"date":"2018-11-05T07:00:51","date_gmt":"2018-11-04T20:00:51","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/maytherockbewithyou.com\/mtrbwy\/?p=36126"},"modified":"2018-11-04T11:50:25","modified_gmt":"2018-11-04T00:50:25","slug":"john-cooper-of-skillet-interview","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/maytherockbewithyou.com\/mtrbwy\/2018\/11\/john-cooper-of-skillet-interview\/","title":{"rendered":"John Cooper of Skillet"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>\u201c\u2026we always have some surprises like a song people didn\u2019t expect us to play and we do something differently live, I don\u2019t know, I like the live experience to be different from just listening to the record if possible.\u201d<\/p>\n

From Release: SKILLET lets their music speak the loudest. That\u2019s how the quartet has cemented its place as one of the 21st century\u2019s most successful rock bands. Selling over 11 million units worldwide, the Wisconsin quartet have received two GRAMMY\u00ae Award nominations and won a Billboard Music Award for the platinum-certified Awake. Their double-platinum single \u201cMonster\u201d was \u201cthe 8th most streamed rock song of 2015\u201d with a total of 57 million plays (and counting) on Spotify and would earn the distinction of becoming \u201cthe best-selling digital single in the history of Christian Music.\u201d 2013\u2019s Rise landed at #4 on the Billboard Top 200 upon release and received resounding and eclectic acclaim from the likes of USA Today, New York Times, Revolver Loudwire, and more. It\u2019s been a long wait, they were last in Australia back in 2011, but finally they return!<\/p>\n

At home in Wisconsin, John gave us a call while on a break to talk about Skillet\u2019s upcoming Australian tour, new music, changes, evolution, and which 80\u2019s rock band they relate most to\u2026<\/p>\n

It\u2019s crazy to think it\u2019s been five years since we last chatted, so let\u2019s catch up, how have the last five years been for you?<\/strong>
\n*laughs* Very good, thank you, I\u2019m excited about coming back down and seeing you guys it\u2019s been kind of a long time. We\u2019ve been touring like crazy all around the world so I\u2019m just really glad we\u2019re finally able to come back.<\/p>\n

Now it\u2019s been seven years since you\u2019ve been to Australia and thankfully now you\u2019re heading back in November, so after so long away how will you be shaping these shows up?<\/strong>
\nIt\u2019s gonna be really fun, we\u2019ve had two records since we came down last time so I guess just naturally speaking there\u2019s two new records to play music from so a lot of songs we\u2019ve never played in the country before, so we\u2019re looking forward to playing new music, obviously we\u2019re gonna play the radio tunes, the ones that people would be really mad if we don\u2019t play like \u2018Monster\u2019 and stuff *laughs*, people will get mad and never come again. So we\u2019re doing quite a good mix from four of five different albums I believe it is, but we always have some surprises like a song people didn\u2019t expect us to play and we do something differently live, I don\u2019t know, I like the live experience to be different from just listening to the record if possible.<\/p>\n

Now for someone like me who hasn\u2019t seen you before, can you give us three words that you feel sum up a Skillet live show?<\/strong>
\nSkillet show\u2026 energy, community and I would say empowerment.<\/p>\n

Sold, I\u2019m there!<\/strong>
\n*laughs*<\/p>\n

We last spoke when ‘Rise’ was being released, since then you\u2019ve had \u2018Unleashed\u2019 but even that was two years ago, are there current plans for a new release in the works?<\/strong>
\nYeah we\u2019ve been in the process of recording, we\u2019re maybe seventy percent done with the record and it\u2019s slated to be coming out next year and very excited about the new album, we\u2019re not playing any new music yet , but very anthemic, fist in the air kinds of songs.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s what I love, the fact that people still make that kind of music, I\u2019ve always loved the Bon Jovi kind of style, anthemic songs that just make you feel good\u2026<\/strong>
\nYeah I love Bon Jovi, it\u2019s a good example of something I think that especially during the 80\u2019s era, more like late \u2018Slippery When Wet\u2019 in the mid eighties, then \u2018New Jersey\u2019 both of those records were so anthemic and you know Bon Jovi in a certain way had so many fans that weren\u2019t even necessarily rock fans but they liked Bon Jovi, they liked pop music but maybe Bon Jovi was on their list of rock bands that they liked because he was just broad and had a touch of metal to the music even though he was just a rock pop artist So in a certain way if people say what band does Skillet most kind of represent if it was the eighties I usually say Bon Jovi, because Skillet has a touch of metal, a touch of hard rock and we always have a bunch of fans that aren\u2019t necessarily hard rockers but they love Skillet\u2019s music. So that\u2019s a good mix.<\/p>\n

What for you has been the most notable evolution in the way you write music over the years?<\/strong>
\nWell let\u2019s see, I don\u2019t know, I think a turning point for Skillet was certainly our record called \u2018Comatose\u2019 that was in 2006, that was kind of a real turn, before then we\u2019ve always kind of always experimented with a lot of different sounds and each record has had kind of its own twist you could say, and \u2018Comatose\u2019 was a real turning point when we found a way to make Skillet really commercial, that\u2019s what I\u2019m getting at, that was the beginning of lots of fans that wouldn\u2019t say they liked metal, wouldn\u2019t say they liked hard rock, wouldn\u2019t say they like Gothic music but they were into Skillet. That was a real turning point and I think we really honed in on our sound and not just identity as far as the sound but I think identity as far as lyrics and how to reach multitudes of different people and that was just a realty special record.<\/p>\n

Being in this band now for over twenty years, what\u2019s left on your list of things you want to do that you haven\u2019t yet had the chance to do?<\/strong>
\nWell, man I\u2019m having such a great time honestly, I just love playing music and I\u2019m so grateful that I\u2019m still doing it, I\u2019m honestly quite shocked that we are, I think Skillet is quite an enigma to most people and it\u2019s an enigma to me *laughs*, I don\u2019t know how it\u2019s managed to go on this long but tell you the truth if I can just keep doing what I\u2019m doing now I don\u2019t need to reach any more plateaus, I\u2019m just having a great time even if it\u2019s playing clubs just around the world you know. I guess what\u2019s left to do, even though we\u2019ve had some real success at radio we\u2019re still not really a household name as far as radio bands go and that would be a really cool thing for me if we were more of a staple at the rock format, but we\u2019re still always a little on the fringes because we don\u2019t always 100% fit in with the format, like as a mentioned earlier we are hard rock but we\u2019re also very pop and very modern compared to most of the new rock that comes out, there\u2019s a lot of other facets to Skillet. So we do get played and we have been real fortunate to have some hits at the format but we\u2019re still a little bit on the outside and if I could have one wish it would be you know, get even more play and become even more of a staple at the format that would be great.<\/p>\n

So over your time together it can be easy to say what\u2019s changed but what would you say is the one thing that\u2019s stayed the same in your time together?<\/strong>
\nI mean I think the thing that\u2019s stayed the same has probably been us as people, as individuals but also as a band, there\u2019s always like kind of an identity or a personality of the band I guess you could say and that can just change naturally as you get older and things, and I think Skillet has just held on to, and not just by happenstance, we made a decision to hold on to who we were and our identity, everybody knows that Skillet is a faith based band and there comes a certain kind of pressure once you start having real success in the rock world there becomes a pressure from the industry to try to cover up where you came from, don\u2019t tell people about your faith, don\u2019t tell them that you used to do this kind of music or X, Y and Z and we\u2019ve never been embarrassed about that, never shyed away from that and that was a conscious decision that we made that we wanted to say who we were as people but also as a band identity. That\u2019s the thing that stayed the same and that\u2019s the reason I think that fans have stuck with us for so long I think that they believe that we are being real and authentic and I think that kind of to me I think that makes great art when you\u2019re authentic and I think that\u2019s why we have so many fans that are not religious, we have a lot of fans that are almost anti-religious but they like the way that our music makes them feel and I love that and they kind of gravitate to the authenticity of the band and I think that serves us really well.<\/p>\n

Quickly, outside of Skillet you\u2019ve just released an EP with your new project Fight The Fury, man it\u2019s heavy! What does this band and this music allow you to do that you feel you can\u2019t do with Skillet?<\/strong>
\nYou know, Fight The Fury is just really fun, I think what it is for me is it\u2019s like a pet project I can do what I want on it, I wrote all of it and I produced all of it and recorded almost all of it myself, I even did the art direction for the cover, photography direction, video direction *laughs* it was just kind of like I was able to do whatever I wanted to do and I think where that really comes out is that it is really heavy, a lot of screaming and some angst to the music and the format of the songs just isn\u2019t as conventional, like if you notice not every song is three minutes and five seconds, like everybody these days and all the labels they want songs to be play played on radio and put on playlists and trimmed down to three minutes to get on all those playlists. When I was growing up Metallica were making four, five, six minute songs, \u2018Ride The Lightning\u2019 and \u2018Master of Puppets\u2019 those records and I always really loved that but the thing with Fight The Fury is its heavy and it\u2019s almost like I can do whatever I want to, Skillet I feel has its own identity and I felt I wanted to start to start something so they can both be very independent in their identities.<\/p>\n

I follow your Instagram and am a huge fan of your Marvel tattoo leg sleeve you have going on, so let\u2019s play predictions, what do you think will happen in Infinity War 2?<\/strong>
\nOh my gosh *laughs* I don\u2019t know what\u2019s gonna happen but they better fix it that\u2019s all I\u2019m gonna say *laughs* fix whatever they broke, I mean I was upset for days, three or four days something just wasn\u2019t right and it\u2019s all from this stupid movie *laughs* but I really don\u2019t know what they\u2019re gonna do I just hope they fix it that\u2019s for sure. The first hour and a half of the movie I was like this is the best film I\u2019ve ever seen and then it all happened and I was like what is going on? *laughs*<\/p>\n

Lastly let\u2019s look ahead to the future, finish this sentence for me, in 2019 Skillet will\u2026<\/strong>
\nRelease a new album!<\/p>\n

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SKILLET November 2018 Australian Tour Dates<\/strong>
\nThursday 15th<\/sup>\u00a0\u2013 Sydney – Big Top
\nSaturday 17th<\/sup>\u00a0\u2013 Brisbane \u2013 Eatons Hill Hotel
\nSunday 18th<\/sup>\u00a0\u2013 Melbourne \u2013 Forum
\nMonday 19th<\/sup>\u00a0\u2013 Adelaide \u2013 HQ<\/strong><\/p>\n

Tickets From:\u00a0<\/strong>https:\/\/metropolistouring.com\/skillet-2018\/<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Essential Information<\/u><\/strong><\/h2>\n

From:<\/strong> Nashville, USA<\/p>\n

Band members: <\/strong>John Cooper \u2013 Lead vocals, bass, Korey Cooper \u2013 vocals, keyboards, guitar, Seth Morrison \u2013 lead guitar, Jen Ledger – drums<\/p>\n

Website:<\/strong> http:\/\/www.skillet.com<\/a><\/p>\n

Latest release:<\/strong> Unleashed (Out Now)<\/p>\n

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