FaceCulture conducted an interview with Skillet frontman John Cooper on May 31 at Fortarock festival in Nijmegen, The Netherlands . You can now watch the chat in two parts below.
Skillet will join Godsmack and Seether, along with Buckcherry, for the fifth Rockstar Energy Uproar Festival, which kicks off August 15.
Skillet‘s run with the Uproar Festival will follow their current tour in Europe, where the band was invited to play multiple festivals throughout the continent, performing for thousands of fans. The tour began May 30 in Jelling, Denmark and will end July 6 in Sofia, Bulgaria with stops in Italy, Germany, Russia, United Kingdom and more. On their second European tour in support of the “Rise” album, Skillet is making big waves across the continent. After completing a massive fall tour last year supporting Nickelback, with six back-to-back sold-out headline shows in Russia and encore-demanding crowds, the band is rapidly gaining a solid European following.
Skillet recently played the Download festival in the United Kingdom, where Jen Ledger captured the attention of audiences and critics with her drumming skills. Out of 100-plus bands that performed at Download, MusicRadar.com named Jen among the 8 greatest drumming performances at the festival alongside Rob Bourdon of Linkin Park and Joey Kramer of Aerosmith.
Skillet‘s new album, “Rise”, debuted at No. 4 on the Billboard album chart, selling 60,000 copies in its first week of release. The band’s ninth studio offering also debuted at No. 1 on both the Rock Albums and Christian Albums charts. The disc follows up 2009’s “Awake”, which premiered at a career-high No. 2 for the group and moved 68,000 copies in its first week.
Keyboard and guitar player Korey Cooper told The Pulse Of Radio that the band was perhaps more prepared to make this record than any of its others. “We kind of went in the studio knowing the arrangements we wanted, the sounds we wanted,” she said. “Most of my programming was done prior to the studio. Guitar tones we wanted…everything was pretty much set, so it was a matter of just choosing what songs we were gonna do.”
Album Review Quote:
‘Some of the ballad songs simply scream arena rock and the older listeners will be transported back to the 80’s and will have to find their cigarette lighters to wave around.’
Click here to read the entire review for “Rise”.
Upcoming Shows:
Jun 22 Arena Hall Krasnodar, Russia
Jun 23 KSK Express Rostov Na Donu, Russia
Jun 24 Event Hall Voronezh, Russian Federation
Jun 27 Park Live Moscow, Russian Federation
Jun 28 Graspop Metal Festival Dessel, Belgium
Jun 29 Stereo Plaza Kiev, Ukraine
Jul 02 Volt Fest Sopron, Hungary
Jul 04 MOST Festival Minsk, Belarus
Jul 06 Akademik Stadium Sofia, Bulgaria
Jul 10 Sunny View Expo Center Oshkosh, WI
Jul 12 Pulse Fest – Compton Family Arena South Bend, IN
Jul 18 Moondance Jam Walker, MN
Jul 19 Inn of the Mountain Gods Resort and Casino Mescalero, NM
Jul 26 Timberwood Amphitheatre at Magic Springs Hot Springs, AR
Jul 31 Wisconsin Valley Fair Wausau, WI
Aug 01 Easy Riders Saloon Sturgis, SD
Aug 04 Kingdom Bound Darien Center, NY
Aug 07 Rock the Desert Midland, TX
Aug 09 Wild Adventures theme Park Valdosta, GA
8/15 -Clarkston, MI- DTE Energy Music Theatre
8/16 -Peru, IL- Illinois Valley Regional Airport
8/17 -Cincinnati, OH- PNC Pavilion at Riverbend
8/19 TBA
8/20 TBA
8/22 -Syracuse, NY- New York State Fairgrounds
8/23 TBA
8/24 -Noblesville, IN- Klipsch Music Center
8/26 -Camden, NJ- Susquehanna Bank Center
8/27 -Gilford, NH- Meadowbrook Pavilion
8/29 -Simpsonville, SC- Charter Amphitheater
8/30 -Tampa, FL- MidFlorida Credit Union
Amphitheatre
8/31 TBA
9/2 -Grand Prairie, TX- Verizon Theatre at
Grand Prairie
9/3 -Corpus Christi, TX- Concrete Street
Amphitheater
9/5 -Bonner Springs, KS- Cricket Wireless
Amphitheater
9/6 TBA
9/7 -Oklahoma City, OK- Zoo Amphitheatre
9/9 -Denver, CO- 1STBANK Center
9/11 -Post Falls, ID- Greyhound Park
(KHTQ’s presents Rock Hard At The Park Powered By Rockstar Energy Drink
9/12 -Auburn, WA- White River
Amphitheatre
(KISW’s Pain In The Grass)
Tuesday 9/16 TBA
Wednesday 9/17 TBA
Thursday 9/18 TBA
Saturday 9/20 TBA
Sunday 9/21 TBA
More dates, cities and venues will be announced soon!
Weblinks: Website / Facebook / Twitter
Related Articles:
‘Skillet’ Previews New Song ‘Sick Of It’ Urging Fans to Post Photos, New Tour Dates [March 2013]
‘Skillet’ Releases Teaser Video For New Single ‘Sick Of It’, New Tour Dates [April 2013]
‘Skillet’ Releases Lyric Video For ‘American Noise’ [April 2013]
‘Skillet’ To Support ‘Nickelback’ On ‘The Hits’ European Tour [July 2013]
‘Skillet’s’ ‘Rise’ Cracks U.S. Top 5, European Tour With ‘Nickelback’ [July 2013]
Skillet – Rise [Album Review]
‘Skillet’ Rocks Over 35,000 Fans at Russia’s ‘Black Sea Kubana Festival’, European Tour With ‘Nickelback’ [Aug. 2013]
New Video Interview With ‘Skillet’ Mainman ‘John Cooper’, European Tour With ‘Nickelback’ [Aug. 2013]
New Video Interview With ‘Skillet’ Frontman ‘John Cooper’ [Nov. 2013]
‘Skillet’ Announce Co-Headlining Spring Tour With ‘Third Day’ [Dec. 2013]
‘Skillet’ To Play “FortaRock” 2014, Nijmegen, the Netherlands [Feb. 2014]