With new album 'Revolution' just around the corner, Skillet main man John Cooper has much to be excited about. Coming on the back of of an exceptionally busy 2024 which has seen the band tour Australia, Japan and other far flung places, as they prepare for their twelfth release, it's all about positivity. "It is very empowering, but empowering in a positive way", he tells us as we sit down for a chat at Aftershock Festival in Sacramento, California. Talking all of the above, and how religious beliefs are nothing new in rock and roll, we joined the band leader. Alien youth; Eamon O'Neill.
Hi, John, how are you today?
Good, good. It's good to see you.
You're here at Aftershock Festival today; how does it feel to be appearing at this amazing event?
Oh, it's awesome. I mean, I get to text on my friends and say; "playing with Mötley Crüe tonight", and it's like, ultimate bragging rights for everybody I grew up with.
Do you get to hang around and see the bands today?
Yeah, I wish I got to hang out with the bands, you know what I mean? We'll go knock on their their door and see how fast security comes and smacks me! No, but absolutely, you get to see legendary bands, and I like it because it's also a great mix of iconic bands, and then newer bands as well. So you kind of get that mix. I really like that. You know, Europe was doing that a lot longer than America, and you end up bringing generations together. I love it. It's great.
Skillet have been on the road 2024, and it has been exceptionally busy year for you, hasn't it? You started off in Australia, then Japan, didn't you?
Really, it's been a lot and then, in two weeks, we go to the Middle East, and then we go to UK to finish the year. It's been a busy year, but it's been an exciting year because we're releasing new music, getting to play new songs, and getting into new territories. We've never been to the Middle East. We have been Australia, but because of the pandemic, it pushed everything back, and so it ended up being, gosh, five years, six years, since we were there last, so you've got to go back and make those fans happy.
It's kind of a lifetime isn't it, in a band.
Yeah, imagine you're like a 15 year old kid, and it's your favourite band, and then yeah, the next time they come, your're 21?! Yeah, you change a lot in those times.
You just mentioned it there, and the new album 'Revolution' is coming out next month; you must be really excited.
Yeah, very excited about it. It's such a positive album. You can't listen to the record and feel down and feel angry and aggressive and frustrated, like you want to go on social media and yell at people; it's the opposite. It is very empowering, but empowering in a positive way; it's not empowering you to go yell at someone else; it's empowering you to say; "I don't care if they yell at me; they don't know me, they don't know my family, they don't know my kids, they don't own me, and I'm not going to listen to the lies about me. I'm going to do me, and I'm going to treat you good, whether you treat me bad or not". I think that will come across, and it's important to me because I know so many people struggling with depression, suicidal thoughts. I meet these people every night, and I love them. I have a soft place in my heart for that, because to me, rock music was always therapeutic in my dark times. So to me, that goes together. I don't know if it's that way for everybody, but it is for me. I think for most people, it is.
You poked fun at the haters with the single and video for 'Unpopular'; was it good to kind of take that back and own it?
It was, and it was kind of tongue in cheek, and kind of in a funny way because the point we were trying to make is that most everybody, especially young people that have grown up with social media - they're not necessarily all young - but they know what it's like just to get people not just disagreeing with you, but hating you; that's intense, yeah? And so they live with it, and so I thought it'll be funny to put up some of these things like; 'girls shouldn't be in rock and roll'; and then the video shows our girls, like, just crushing it, so I thought it was kind of funny, and I thought I'd poke fun about it.
Good, good. It's good to see you.
You're here at Aftershock Festival today; how does it feel to be appearing at this amazing event?
Oh, it's awesome. I mean, I get to text on my friends and say; "playing with Mötley Crüe tonight", and it's like, ultimate bragging rights for everybody I grew up with.
Do you get to hang around and see the bands today?
Yeah, I wish I got to hang out with the bands, you know what I mean? We'll go knock on their their door and see how fast security comes and smacks me! No, but absolutely, you get to see legendary bands, and I like it because it's also a great mix of iconic bands, and then newer bands as well. So you kind of get that mix. I really like that. You know, Europe was doing that a lot longer than America, and you end up bringing generations together. I love it. It's great.
Skillet have been on the road 2024, and it has been exceptionally busy year for you, hasn't it? You started off in Australia, then Japan, didn't you?
Really, it's been a lot and then, in two weeks, we go to the Middle East, and then we go to UK to finish the year. It's been a busy year, but it's been an exciting year because we're releasing new music, getting to play new songs, and getting into new territories. We've never been to the Middle East. We have been Australia, but because of the pandemic, it pushed everything back, and so it ended up being, gosh, five years, six years, since we were there last, so you've got to go back and make those fans happy.
It's kind of a lifetime isn't it, in a band.
Yeah, imagine you're like a 15 year old kid, and it's your favourite band, and then yeah, the next time they come, your're 21?! Yeah, you change a lot in those times.
You just mentioned it there, and the new album 'Revolution' is coming out next month; you must be really excited.
Yeah, very excited about it. It's such a positive album. You can't listen to the record and feel down and feel angry and aggressive and frustrated, like you want to go on social media and yell at people; it's the opposite. It is very empowering, but empowering in a positive way; it's not empowering you to go yell at someone else; it's empowering you to say; "I don't care if they yell at me; they don't know me, they don't know my family, they don't know my kids, they don't own me, and I'm not going to listen to the lies about me. I'm going to do me, and I'm going to treat you good, whether you treat me bad or not". I think that will come across, and it's important to me because I know so many people struggling with depression, suicidal thoughts. I meet these people every night, and I love them. I have a soft place in my heart for that, because to me, rock music was always therapeutic in my dark times. So to me, that goes together. I don't know if it's that way for everybody, but it is for me. I think for most people, it is.
You poked fun at the haters with the single and video for 'Unpopular'; was it good to kind of take that back and own it?
It was, and it was kind of tongue in cheek, and kind of in a funny way because the point we were trying to make is that most everybody, especially young people that have grown up with social media - they're not necessarily all young - but they know what it's like just to get people not just disagreeing with you, but hating you; that's intense, yeah? And so they live with it, and so I thought it'll be funny to put up some of these things like; 'girls shouldn't be in rock and roll'; and then the video shows our girls, like, just crushing it, so I thought it was kind of funny, and I thought I'd poke fun about it.
Obviously, you're a Christian band, and you're proud of that fact, but it has been divisive during your career, hasn't it?
Yeah, I mean, I won't lie, there are times it's hard, because to me, rock and roll was always about just being real. It was about being authentic. I mean, I feel as soon as I explain, I feel like I'm crazy because I'm the only one, but I'm not crazy; that's what Johnny Cash was, you know? That's what Elvis was, and then going into the '70s and the '80s, it was like; "hey, this is my chance to write a song about something I believe", and so for me, I'm like, well, yeah, I'm religious, so I write songs about that, but so did Johnny Cash, so did Elvis, and you could keep going down the line of so many people that have, and for me, it was never about saying; "I don't like you for what you believe"; I'm just saying what I believe. So to me it kind of just goes with rock and roll, but I do understand that not everybody feels that way, and hey, that's what it is. No problem.
You've had twelve albums so far, so you're doing something right? Did you think when you started in '96, did you imagine you'd still be doing this?
Yeah, in '96 I thought; "in 30 years, I'm going to be opening for Mötley Crüe at Aftershock!" No, never in a million years, I ever thought that. I think Skilllet's longevity is due to our authenticity. Here's the ironic thing, most of our fans don't believe the same way I believe. I meet them every show. They're like, they'll say; "I didn't even know you guys were a religious band, but your music make me feel good", and I give them a fist bump. You don't have to agree with me. I think it's the authenticity that people relate to, and I will say that I'm a big fan of say, Rob Zombie, for instance, I'm a big Zombie fan, and I have a feeling that I don't agree with a lot of his lyrics, too. I don't think me and Trent Reznor agree on maybe a lot of stuff; I have no idea, I don't know it, but when I hear the music, I go; "man, that's good. I believe that you believe it", and it makes good art, and I appreciate it. I think that's what it is. We treat our fans good, and I think it's because Skillet is so positive. I think that's a little bit of that empowerment that people need to say; "it's okay that I'm me", and "I don't have to please anybody else". That can be a positive; that's not a negative, that's a positive thing. You're not telling somebody to screw off; you're just like; "you do you".
Obviously, 2025's going to be a very big year for you with the album coming out in November. What's your plans get into next year?
We are going to be touring a lot. We're still working on it. It looks like there's a big possibility that a lot of overseas dates will be in 2025, probably back to Europe again. That just makes sense, but also going back some other places we haven't been; South America, which we haven't done. So right now, we're just waiting to see how things are going to come together, but certainly we will be touring a lot because of the new record, and I'm excited about that. I think people are looking for hope. Man, when I get on stage, and I can see somebody singing the song? Every single show I meet somebody that says; "your song, 'so and so' is my recovery song". I met a girl, this woman this week, and she said; "you remember me from last year?" I said; "I do remember you, yeah", and she's like; "Awake and Alive' Is my recovery song". I said; "I remember", and she goes; "all right, seven years now!", and I say, "good, we're rooting for you. Let's go for another seven, and then another seven, more baby!"
Yeah, I mean, I won't lie, there are times it's hard, because to me, rock and roll was always about just being real. It was about being authentic. I mean, I feel as soon as I explain, I feel like I'm crazy because I'm the only one, but I'm not crazy; that's what Johnny Cash was, you know? That's what Elvis was, and then going into the '70s and the '80s, it was like; "hey, this is my chance to write a song about something I believe", and so for me, I'm like, well, yeah, I'm religious, so I write songs about that, but so did Johnny Cash, so did Elvis, and you could keep going down the line of so many people that have, and for me, it was never about saying; "I don't like you for what you believe"; I'm just saying what I believe. So to me it kind of just goes with rock and roll, but I do understand that not everybody feels that way, and hey, that's what it is. No problem.
You've had twelve albums so far, so you're doing something right? Did you think when you started in '96, did you imagine you'd still be doing this?
Yeah, in '96 I thought; "in 30 years, I'm going to be opening for Mötley Crüe at Aftershock!" No, never in a million years, I ever thought that. I think Skilllet's longevity is due to our authenticity. Here's the ironic thing, most of our fans don't believe the same way I believe. I meet them every show. They're like, they'll say; "I didn't even know you guys were a religious band, but your music make me feel good", and I give them a fist bump. You don't have to agree with me. I think it's the authenticity that people relate to, and I will say that I'm a big fan of say, Rob Zombie, for instance, I'm a big Zombie fan, and I have a feeling that I don't agree with a lot of his lyrics, too. I don't think me and Trent Reznor agree on maybe a lot of stuff; I have no idea, I don't know it, but when I hear the music, I go; "man, that's good. I believe that you believe it", and it makes good art, and I appreciate it. I think that's what it is. We treat our fans good, and I think it's because Skillet is so positive. I think that's a little bit of that empowerment that people need to say; "it's okay that I'm me", and "I don't have to please anybody else". That can be a positive; that's not a negative, that's a positive thing. You're not telling somebody to screw off; you're just like; "you do you".
Obviously, 2025's going to be a very big year for you with the album coming out in November. What's your plans get into next year?
We are going to be touring a lot. We're still working on it. It looks like there's a big possibility that a lot of overseas dates will be in 2025, probably back to Europe again. That just makes sense, but also going back some other places we haven't been; South America, which we haven't done. So right now, we're just waiting to see how things are going to come together, but certainly we will be touring a lot because of the new record, and I'm excited about that. I think people are looking for hope. Man, when I get on stage, and I can see somebody singing the song? Every single show I meet somebody that says; "your song, 'so and so' is my recovery song". I met a girl, this woman this week, and she said; "you remember me from last year?" I said; "I do remember you, yeah", and she's like; "Awake and Alive' Is my recovery song". I said; "I remember", and she goes; "all right, seven years now!", and I say, "good, we're rooting for you. Let's go for another seven, and then another seven, more baby!"