One blustery day in Virginia, I got a call from one of my favorite people, John Cooper, frontman and bassist for Skillet. He was gracious, as always, as I fumbled to get my notes arranged while in panic mode! (Yes, dear readers, insert laugh here) It was the eve of the release date of the newest Skillet release, “Dominion”, and they had already started headlining the annual WinterJam tour the previous week. I was pretty excited to talk with him about the new album, family life, and much more!

Dominion especially compared to the previous albums, seems like there’s a great deal of positivity and empowerment. I wondered if you could speak a little bit about that?

John Cooper/Skillet -Sure! People always say that every time they see us live, or we do an interview or a new record, their like ‘This band is so positive’ and that sort of thing. I do agree, I think that this record is even more that way and there’s this sort of like, positive defiance that you hear on the record. It’s like a defiant attitude to not give in to negativity, depression, fear; basically all these things that are kind of holding us down. I think it really was just a natural overflow of how these songs just came out of me. I think from this year, being a year from the time when I started writing it, that is. It was a year from the isolation time, from lock down, to not being able to go to work, and just all the stuff going on. I was like, I am not going to give into this. I see people that are letting their lives be ruled by this fear and it really saddened me and even made me angry. Not angry at them, but angry at the situation. Angry to see my friends suffer in this way, be hurt and suffer. So these songs were coming out of me and it’s like; No! Do not give up, do not give an inch to this behemoth that we are all fighting against, which is this, I just think, this fear to lock us down and immobilize us. So, I think the record is very kind of, positively defiant. I think it’s gonna help people, I hope, inspire them, give them a little bit of drive to wake up in the morning and face whatever life has for them.

I love that term, positively defiant. That says exactly what I was feeling when I was listening to it, just extremely empowering. I’ve been reading in various places, where you’ve been talking about not giving in to the fear, behind the pandemic and everything else society throws at us. I will admit, I’ve been a fan for a long time, I’ve been comparing it to previous albums. As I look at everything and I hear how much your sound has matured over the years. It’s almost, like you’re not just surviving the game you’re on top of the game.

Well thank you, that’s really great to hear. I feel that way too. I feel that the album is sometimes, it’s hard to describe. I do feel like it’s a little bit more mature and I don’t know how to describe that except to say; it just feels like the ideas have been flushed out, maybe a little better than some of the previous albums. We tried some new things, and it’s a more aggressive record. I think it’s a little heavier. It’s probably on par with, maybe “Collide” in terms of the heaviness of it. It’s really in your face and I think that the lyrics are driving. I mean, the music is heavy but I think, like you say, the urgency of the lyrics kind of drive it to make it feel a little bit more in your face. 

Definitely. It was the lyrics that were standing out to me, saying Hey, wake up and get out there! *chuckles* You’re known as one of the busiest bands out there, constantly touring. I got to thinking, how do you balance that with family life, with everything that’s been going on?

Yeah. Skillet’s always been lucky, in that my wife; we play together, we tour together, and so our kids have always been on the road with us. So, even with the pandemic, that changed our lives a little bit ‘cause we were at home. But we were already always with our family, and I think that has made it a unique opportunity for us, to be able to be busy. There’s a cost that comes along with that, in which you’re exhausted and you have kids traipsing around the world on planes, trains and automobiles, you know, but I do think that kind of comes from our passion for what we do. That’s a passion to hopefully make a difference in the world. To get our message out. I’ve seen how music helps people through hard times. Certainly the message of Skillet, is a Christian message. In a lot of my lyrics, I talk about my faith in God, and that sort of thing. I obviously believe that first and foremost, I want people to know God and have a relationship with Him. I think that’s the life changer. But even for people that are not religious, and even for people that maybe are even anti-religious and don’t like that aspect, they like Skillet, because we don’t proselytize a lot. We write music. It means something to me and I’m fine if it means something different to the listener, but there still is this positive message. I think that music helps people; no matter who they vote for, no matter what they believe, rich or poor, no matter the color of their skin, music that brings people together. It helps people and I think that passion is what makes Skillet work. I think the fans see that. They see it at live concerts. You notice it ‘cause when you come to a Skillet show, you see all these different kinds of people that normally, would probably never be in the same room together and I love that. And so I think that passion drives us to keep being busier and not stop. We’re not slowing down.

Wow. I photographed you guys at Blue Ridge Rock Fest and it was one of the first times I’d seen you guys in a more secular setting and like you said. Seeing all these different people that I probably would not see at a Skillet show; it was very moving.

That was an incredible event, it was so powerful. I mean it was electric that night. Yeah that is the perfect example to send what I mean. You’re like, some of these people are probably religious, some of them probably are not, and we’re all here together having a good time. Everybody’s just thrilled to be back at live music and it shows you, how much people need live music. 

Yes, most definitely! It was so very electric! It was my first live show in over a year and a half. Back to Dominion; “Valley of Death”and “Shout Your Freedom” are the two songs that really stuck out to me.

Interesting, cool.

Especially “Shout Your Freedom.” That is one I really felt spoke about what’s going on in today’s society. Like what you were talking about, not letting the fear get to you. I don’t want to say it was political, or speaking out about today’s society. 

You know, my wife loves that song. Whenever she listens to the record front to back, she’s like, I don’t know why, but “Shout Your Freedom” is the song that I can listen to over and over. She’s like; It’s just so uplifting.  We were talking about it just the other day. I do think that the record in general, and on the physical CD, you know it’s got like the dedication thing. I don’t remember word for word who I dedicated it to, but I basically dedicated this to freedom, to people who have fought for freedom, people who are ready to lose their lives for freedom. As you said, it’s not first and foremost a political song, but there is a political implication. So freedom is definitely something that you will hear about a lot on the record. Some of that is spiritually free, free from fear, as we talked about, it’s inward struggle things. Free from sin, free from death, in a spiritual sense. Then you have these sort of free from the fear of what other people think about you, free from cancel culture or whatever, because your making a decision in your heart to not let someone else rule your lives. There is also, this other aspect, which is we should be thankful to live in a country, where we are free and to where we still have some sort of autonomy over our lives and our decisions; where we have the liberty to say what we believe, to be who we want to be, and we should protect that. That’s definitely something that I believe. I’m not saying I think everyone who listens to the record is going to hear that message, but that certainly is where I come from. So probably that, message is sort of hidden within the lyrics of some of those songs. Probably especially “Shout Your Freedom.”

“Valley of Death” is more like a…. very personal, very intimate song. It’s a little bit dark, but it’s kind of dark and hopeful at the same time. The honesty of the lyric that makes it relatable. It’s like, this is just been such a strange time, it’s two years. It makes you take account of your life, of who you are and the fact that none of us know the future. I mean, we don’t know when this pandemic is going to end, or how it’s going to end; when it’s going to end is there something worse down the pipe? It’s that feeling that no one knows what’s going to happen and it can make you feel all alone. Of course you know, the end message of the song is coming back to a place where I’m speaking truth to myself. I know that I’m not alone, but sometimes you can feel that way.

That’s  exactly how I was feeling listening to that. I’m always glad when I’m kind of on the same page! *chuckles*

I know it’s getting close to time, so real quick, we always do something at the end of our interviews we call “Three for the Road.”  Just three, kind of off the wall questions. So first one. What is the first record you remember buying with your own money? 

First record I ever bought with my own money was Def Leppard’s “Hysteria”

Oh, good choice!

Yeah, and still one of the best rock albums of all time.

Most definitely! Very nice! What’s the last show that you’ve binge watched, that you think might be good for somebody to watch?

Oh man, there’s a TV show, it is mature, but it is called “Cardinal,” like the bird. I believe it’s on Hulu. it’s not made by Hulu but I believe you can stream it on Hulu. I believe it’s Canadian and it’s a sort of a crime noir thriller, you know. Serial killer / thriller drama and it was so good. Not many people know about it. It was a strange find and it is really good but it’s very violent, so people beware. You have to check that one out.

I hadn’t heard of that one. Sounds great! Alright last one. What is the one place that you have played, that is probably one of your favorites?

Well, we have played all around the world now, and I always look forward to going back to Moscow, Russia and Prague. Those are probably my two, I think if I had to choose two favorites that it would be them. I sure hope we get to go back. I mean, nobody knows what’s going to happen, but Lord willing we will get you go back to those countries.

As I wrapped up this interview, I thought back over what we had talked about. Freedom, positivity, dominion. Tips to not only survive the game of life, but to excel at it. I hope everyone who listens to the new album, gets the same message.

I’m Music Magazine Photographer/Writer Michele Hancock