The Deadbolt Exclusive - Wide 'Awake' with Skillet Lead Singer John Cooper

Wide 'Awake' with Skillet Lead Singer John Cooper
by Troy Rogers

Skillet After releasing their breakout album, "Comatose", in 2006, Grammy nominated alt-rockers Skillet are back with their latest full-length studio effort, "Awake", produced by Howard Benson who oversaw production on releases by Daughtry, My Chemical Romance, and All-American Rejects. Now out on tour until December 6 to promote "Awake", Skillet is riding high on their own maturity and growth as a band after a two year road trip for "Comatose" that took John Cooper (singer/bassist), Korey Cooper (keyboardist/vocalist), Ben Kasica (guitarist), and Jen Ledger (drummer/vocalist) to even bigger heights.

With "Awake" available to fans everywhere, we caught up with Skillet lead singer, John Cooper to find out how "Awake" came together, how they approached their sound for the new record, the reason behind the album title and inspiration for the track "One Day Too Late", and how Skillet handles various misconceptions about the band.

THE DEADBOLT: What would you say is the biggest difference between "Comatose" and "Awake"?

JOHN COOPER: You know, I think the biggest difference is that, in my opinion, Awake is a bit of a harder record. I think it's a little edgier. I would say about six months after we did "Comatose", I was very pleased. I was very happy with the record. I still am happy, it's not like I have regrets, but six months after I listened to it, like take a couple of months off and listen to it fresh, I thought, "You know what? The one thing I think this record needed was to be a little more aggressive, just a little nastier." And that's where I think we took it up a notch. That's also part of why I wanted to have Howard Benson produce the record, because his records have that nice aggressive, exciting thing to it. I think songs like "Monster" and "Hero", they feel a little more grittier.

THE DEADBOLT: How has the band evolved in the three years between the two albums?

COOPER: I think the biggest thing that has evolved is probably my writing. I learned a lot doing the "Comatose" project. I wrote with a guy called Brian Howes that produced the Hinder records and he helped write "Lips of an Angel" and all of those big songs, and Daughtry and some of his stuff, and he's an amazing writer. I learned a lot from him on how to get my thoughts down on paper. He'd ask me questions like, "Well, what do you want to say?" I'm like, "Well, this is what I want to say." And he'd be like, "Well, then say it." [laughs] And because I learned so much from that, I really started writing.

I think that's another reason "Awake" is a step up from the last record and I'm just becoming a little more crafted in what I want to say and it's a little simpler. Yeah, I think that's probably the biggest way we evolved. And because of that, the music doesn't seem so difficult. I'm learning that with our sound, with the orchestra or the electronics and the heavy guitars, you can pretty much put it all in there as long you have a song that has something worth saying [laughs]. And that's the advice to myself, "Say something worth saying."

THE DEADBOLT: Wasn't the album originally supposed to be called "Awake and Alive"?

COOPER: [laughs] Yeah, that's right.

THE DEADBOLT: Why did you guys decide to shorten it down?

COOPER: Well, that's where it's funny. There's a song on the record called "Awake and Alive".

THE DEADBOLT: And isn't that what your tour is called?

COOPER: That's right, it is. I thought, "That's what I want to name the record." To me, that's the title track. Then I called the label, I'm all excited, "Awake and Alive, what a great name for a record." And they're like, "It sounds like a live album. People are going to think this is a live record," because we did a live DVD last year called "Comatose Comes Alive". I'm like, "Daggonit! I hadn't though of that." I was kind of ticked off. So somebody said, "Well, just call it Awake." And I thought, "All right." But then I was like, "But the last record was called Comatose and this one is called Awake. Is that cheesy?" [laughs] You know, it's very Spinal Tap. It's just a long story and I ended up saying, "Who cares, I'll call it Awake."

THE DEADBOLT: From the label's perspective, that makes sense. I can see how people would think it was a live album.

COOPER: You know what? I think they made the right move. I really think that would've been a problem. But it was still annoying [laughs].

THE DEADBOLT: So it wasn't a conscious decision with the theme between album titles?

COOPER: [laughs] No, it really wasn't. You know, the song "Awake and Alive," I wrote a long time ago after "Comatose" came out. So in some ways I was kind of still in that train of thought about what the lyrics were. In some ways it has a similar metaphor as the last record. But it wasn't an intentional, "Let's call that one this and let's call that one ..." It wasn't really like that. I wish I was that smart and it was like that and I planned the whole thing. That's a better answer [laughs].

THE DEADBOLT: After the success of "Comatose", what was your mind set going into "Awake"?

COOPER: I was stressed beyond belief, because it wasn't like we sold two million records or anything. But these days - In fact, the last record just went gold about three weeks ago, which is one of the most exciting things that I ever had in my life. It's gold and these days that's kind of like having a platinum record. And for a band like us, especially to come from the Christian market, you don't really see that. It's not happened much and everybody is kind of looking for the next thing.

It's really funny, because I've been calling my manager for like ten years saying, "Can you believe these bands have these amazing records and then they release the next one and it sucks?" [laughs] You know what? It happens all of the time doesn't it? It's like when you see a great movie like The Matrix, or the best movie you've ever seen, and then they come out with the second one and you're like, "I have no idea what they were thinking making this movie. It makes no sense to me."

I've been complaining about that for like ten years. I've been saying, "Man, if we ever have a hit record, we're not going to do that." Now I'm foreseeing myself judging myself on how bad my new record will be. So the pressure was on as well as how it's easy to think that you'd write a great record if you had a huge hit. But all of a sudden you're there and you realize the fans all have expectancies of what the new record will sound like. They all want to hear you sing a song about this or they want to hear you do a follow up to one of the songs they really loved. It's really hard. It's a lot of stress.

So I basically went into the record thinking, "Okay, I want the record to be enough like the last record that people know it's us, and we keep what is real about us, but I want to change it up enough that it's not the same album. I don't want to just put the same record out. I want it to be fresh. But I don't want to change it so much where people are like, 'Oh, my gosh. They just lost themselves.'" So that's what I was thinking [laughs]. I hope the stress in my voice is coming across.

THE DEADBOLT: How has Jen Ledger changed the dynamic of the band?

COOPER: I don't know if I would say she's changed it or not. I mean, the last record my wife sang. We had the kind of girl vocal thing. We had the duets like we do on this record and my wife Korey sang those parts and I was really looking forward to her singing on this record again. But as it came around, I think she was ready to take a break from the singing thing and Jen came in, and I was like, "Wow, she sings really good." I had no idea she could sing when she joined the band.

Again, that was not intentional. I was like, "Well, Korey is looking to take a break and Jen's voice works great." So I think the obvious thing to say is that she has an interesting voice that is definitely recognizable and when we sing together it's really working good. So it's all kind of working out for the best. I'm very thankful for that. I think one of the things I really love about her being in the band is she's just a great person, great fun to be around, and she's a loving person, a good friend. A lot of times that's more important than somebody's playing skill when you're looking for a new member. Now she has chops as well. Not to say she doesn't have chops, but you know what I'm saying.

THE DEADBOLT: Where did the inspiration for "One Day Too Late" come from?

COOPER: It's really funny. That is one of my favorite songs on the record and nobody ever asks me about it. I don't know why. It's really funny. But it's just such a moving song. I think you get a new record and there are thirteen tracks to listen to and people don't remember all of them. But you know, that song, the reason I like it so much is it's kind of personal to me because I was coming out of touring, we toured the record for over two years - two and a half years for the last record - and I've been writing for a year and a half and stressed out.

I got to the end of the writing process and just realized I hadn't really spent the time with my kids that I wanted to spend, because they're on the road with me but I'm stressed out. I haven't paid any attention to my wife. All I've been caring about is just the day to day, getting this crap done, and I just decided, "You know what? I need to write a song about that. I want to make a change. I don't want to be at the end of my life and be like, "Oh yeah, best case scenario: You spend your life doing that and you make an amazing record and you make a ton of money and you sell ten million records and you've lost your kids and you lost your relationship." That's a bunch of crap and that's why I wrote the song.

THE DEADBOLT: How did the WWE "Monster" tie-in happen?

COOPER: [laughs] You know what? Again, I have no idea.

THE DEADBOLT: [laughs] You really are lucky.

COOPER: Yeah, I guess. We never had anything like that before. Of course I've been hitting my management and label, like, "Our music is so cinematic and fun. I just can't imagine why we never have any movie ads. We never have any commercials. We never have anything." And when we went to launch, I'm like, "This song needs to be the UFC song for the year or something. This is the song that makes you want to lift weights." And we had not even gone out and tried to get any placement when somehow WWE heard it, called, and wanted to use it for their video game.

I was ecstatic about it. Then they used it for the video game and somebody just loved it and said, "We want to use this for the whole year. We want to make it the theme song. Would that be all right?" I was like, "Yes, that would be all right!" So it's been a really cool partnership. I'm really glad they did that. It's really been cool.

THE DEADBOLT: What is the biggest misconception people have of Christian rock?

COOPER: That it sucks [laughs].

THE DEADBOLT: [laughs] Really?

COOPER: Well, they just think that Christian rock is lame. And they think it's not rock, for one thing. They think it's contemporary. The second biggest misconception is that it's Christian rock and it's only for Christian people. That we're writing songs only for Christians, that we only want Christians coming to concerts, and if you're not a Christian you would never understand the songs. Now I understand where these misconceptions come from.

There was a time when in some ways that was true. It was for Christian people. But that's changed a lot and you've got bands like P.O.D. and Flyleaf and Red and Chevelle and Switchfoot. I mean these bands have kind of changed that and I think we are more along those lines. I think we're a band that is also kind of at the moment at the forefront of helping to change people's ideas. That's why when people meet me, they're like, "Oh, this guy is fun and not ..." I think they think I'm going to be something I'm not. I'm really like kind of crazy and hyper and I love to rock out and watch horror films and, you know ...

THE DEADBOLT: And they probably think you're some kind of Bible thumper?

COOPER: Yeah, that's right, and that's the third misconception. You're going to come to a Christian rock show and you're just going to be preached at the whole time and the whole thing is going to be a ploy to convert you to Christianity. Again, there are times when that's true with other bands and in different areas. But Skillet is not doing that. That's not what we feel our mission is, if you will. You come to our show, I'll tell you what we're about. But it's songs for people, not songs for Christian people.

-- Troy Rogers