Biography
In August 2019, lovers of Christian rock will hear the new album of the cult American group Skillet "Victorious". As an announcement on the official website, the musicians published a track list of records and presented the audio and video version of the first single called "Legendary". According to the leader of the team, which became the owner of the Grammy Prize in 2005, John Cooper, a new job will continue the tradition of their creativity, but will be different in sound, character and stylistics.The history of creation and composition
The history of the creation of the Skillet group began in Memphis in 1996. It was then that followers of the Christian teaching John Cooper and Ken Stewart on the Council of Church Pastor decided to create an original project and write down several joint compositions.
After leaving the Seraph and Urgent Cry team, the musicians were united for speaking at warming up from the California team Fold Zandura, and then rented the studio and released Demodisk with joint compositions. A month later, the drummer of Trey Maklarkin joined the Duet, and in this composition, the group fell into the field of view of the major Christian recording label Forefront Records.
The name that in Russian translation sounds like a "frying pan" has become a comic symbol of the group, meaning the membership of the participants to different musical styles, mixed and organically solved each other. At the same time, the participants came up with a signature logo, still present on all advertising products and command disks.
After the release of the debut album, the texts and music for which John and Ken wrote together, the wife of Cooper, measles, playing at the solo guitar and the synthesizer and the remaining at Skillet on a permanent basis, joined the group. Shortly after that, Stewart left the team, and the place of the sole leader took the bassist and vocalist John.
In the early 2000s, the composition was again changed, and the Lori Peters and guitarists Kevin Halald and Ben Kasik were made to the work of the group. Now, along with the permanent participants, John Cooper and his wife Corey, Skillet, includes a young British Jen Ledger and a former member of the 3PO and Everlasting Fire Muson team.
Music
In the fall of 1996, the newly formed Skillet group released a debut album debut. Christian texts accompanied by grunge music were well perceived by the audience and, despite the fact that they did not get into any hit parade, quickly spread among fans.In the clips on the songs "I CAN" and "Gasoline" the group appeared surrounded by the crowd of praying, and in the protrusion "Saturn" the preachers of the musicians captured on the roof against the background of a huge telescope.
On the 2nd plate, called "Hey You, I Love Your Soul", performers worked on sound and from heavy guitar reefs switched to a technique characteristic of alternative rock. Interesting the fact that, starting with this plate, Skillet began to produce only one clip on the brightest composition, and John Cooper was last played by keyboard tools.
On the tour, held in 1998, the synthesizer was settled for measles, and its skill and immediacy added ease and grace with such compositions as "Deeper", "Suspended in You", "Coming Down" and others.
Change of the composition that occurred on the eve of the output of the third studio album, once again changed the stylistic affiliation of Skillet music and led the composer and the author of John's texts towards Post-Industrial, Techno and Electro. The genre of the Invincible plate, published in February 2000, liked listeners and critics and brought the group to a new level of popularity and professional skill.
In 2001, the frontman Skillet decided to try himself in a different capacity and stervised the fourth studio album called "Alien Youth". This work fell on the 141st place in the American hit parade Billboard 200 and took the 16th line in the Australian rating of Christian plates.
The tracks "Alien Youth" and "Vapor" were nominated for the Gospel Music Association Award and, thanks to the soft vocals and the heartfelt spirituality of the content, won the love of the public and recognition of analysts of famous musical publications.
A year later, 4 compositions with audio acquisitions included in the DVD project "Alien Youth: The Unplugged Invasion", shot in the format of an acoustic concert with a minimum of drums and piano synthesizer sound. In subsequent years, Skillet, with the support of the producer of Paul Embersold, moved to the Lava Records label and was very successful reprinted there issued in 2003 album "Collide".
Good sales recorded by American Information Nielsen Soundscan allowed the new project to get to the top heatseekers rating and make one of the few plot video clips to the Savior Single. After a joint tour with the teams of Saliva, Big Dismal, Grits, 12 Stones and Pillar, John Cooper announced the release of the new album "Comatose".
Thanks to the singles "Whispers In The Dark", "The Older I Get", "RebirThing" and another plate became another breakthrough in the creative biography of Skillet and was nominated for the American Music Prize "Grammy", and the COMATOSE title composition was recognized as the best rock -When 2008 at the GMA Dove Award awards ceremony.
Cooling about those associated with the church and religion, Cooper feared that new songs there are no places on the air of Christian radio stations, but nevertheless the track "The Last Night" found his listener and hit the 16th line of the Billboard Hot Christian charts Songs. Tours, held in 30 cities of the United States of America, became one of the brightest shows set by the group, and contributed to the commercial success of the album equipped with a DVD version with a special cover and photobussy.
The vertex of Creative Career Cooper and Skillet became the seventh studio plate called "Awake". Starting from the 2nd position in the list of the best compositions, the new project was easily distributed 68 thousand copies for the first week of sales. Capital singles "Hero" and "Monster" became so popular that they began to be used as a soundtrack to sports events, TV shows and video games, and the famous composition "Awake and Alive" sounded in a blockbuster "Transformers-3: the dark side of the moon."
As a result, the album received the Golden Certificate of RIAA and 6 nominations at the GMA Dove Awards Popular American Awards Ceremony, as well as the Billboard Music Awards Award in 2011. At the same time, on Twitter, Instagram and other social networks, Cooper announced the preparation of material for the new record, which was planned to be released at the end of Winter Jam in April-May 2013.
When describing the musical style of a disk with the phrase "American slides", the frontman Skillet noted that this work would be a combination of aggressive and lyrical compositions with a symphony classic alternative rock. True, the fans had to wait for the next replenishment of the discography of the favorite team, since the release of the records called "Rise" instead of the promised spring took place in the summer of 2013.
The plate received high professional ratings, for some time held on the 1st place of the US Christian Albums and US Top Alternative Albums (Billboard). In 2014, the musicians released a number of additional singles, the greatest popularity of which acquired the "Fire and Fury" and "Not Gonna DIE" composition.
After that, almost without a break, the group began to work on the 9th disk and placed some tracks and video on the song "Feel Invincible" on social networks.
And when the musical world heard the complete version of the project "Unleashed", it became clear that this is another masterpiece of the group, consisting of high-quality songs, played and recorded by professionals recorded. The most vivid compositions from the album "Feel Invincible and" The Resistance "in 2017 included in the" Unleashed Beyond "gift edition, which, together with EP, consisting of several remixes, could be purchased on the official website of the Skillet team.
Skillet now
2019 began for the Christian team from Memphis with the presentation of the audio and video version of the "Legendary" composition, which will enter the tenth studio album called "Victorious".
The official release of the record took place on August 2. Also, Skillet is now performing solo concerts and participates in musical festivals.
Discography
- 1996 - "Skillet"
- 1998 - "Hey You, I Love Your Soul"
- 2000 - "Invincible"
- 2001 - "Alien Youth"
- 2003 - "Collide"
- 2006 - "Comatose"
- 2009 - "Awake"
- 2013 - "RISE"
- 2016 - "Unleashed"
- 2019 - "Victorious"
Clips
- "I CAN"
- "Gasoline"
- "Saturn"
- "More Faithful"
- "BEST KEPT SECRET"
- "ALIEN YOUTH"
- Savior
- "RebirThing"
- "Monster"
- Sick of IT
- "AMERICAN NOISE"
- "Legendary"