Skillet (band)

Skillet is a Christian rock band formed in Memphis, Tennessee in the mid-90s. They span the musical genres from grunge to electro-industrial, nu metal to alternative rock, and even hints of goth metal influence in later albums.^{[citation needed]}

First recording a self-titled album in 1996, Skillet originally had three members: John Cooper (vocals, bass), Trey McClurkin (drums), and Ken Steorts (guitar). These original members also recorded their second CD, Hey You, I Love Your Soul, together. With their third CD, Invincible, John's wife Korey joined the band on the keyboards, Ken Steorts left the band and Kevin Haaland joined. Soon after the release of Invincible, Trey McClurkin also left, and Lori Peters became Skillet's new drummer. Kevin Haaland left the band before Alien Youth, and Ben Kasica took over on guitar. The current lineup is John Cooper on lead vocals and bass guitar; Korey Cooper on background vocals, keyboards, and backup guitar; Ben Kasica on lead guitar; and Lori Peters as drummer.

Skillet started as a Christian band in 1996 through the encouragement of John and Ken's pastor. Ken was playing in a band called Urgent Cry, and John was in a band called Seraph. They were friends because their bands had toured together, and even put out a split EP together with both bands contributing 4 songs each. When their bands broke up their pastor suggested that they start a new one. Ken was an older rocker, and John was into newer music, so their pastor suggested that they name the new band Skillet, since they were going to "throw it all in and see what you come up with".^{[citation needed]} They did and Skillet was born. A little later they added Trey as a temporary drummer; he said from the beginning he wasn't going to stick around very long, he would just cover until they found someone else.^{[citation needed]}

Skillet had only been together a month before they got interest from Forefront, a major Christian label.^{[citation needed]} They accepted and recorded their self-titled album that year.

The album did well and Skillet continued to tour and write new material. Their second CD, Hey You, I Love Your Soul released in 1998, was a change in style from the band. From a straight-up rock sound, Skillet morphed into a lighter rock that was more dependent on John's keyboarding. This was a problem when they performed live, since all of the members already had an instrument to play. So to fix this problem, Korey started playing the live shows, even though she wasn't credited on the CD and wasn't officially part of the band until the next CD, Invincible.

Skillet continued to hone their sound and expand their fanbase for the next couple of years before they released Invincible in 2000. Shortly before they started recording Invincible, Ken left the band to be with his family. Because of this, Invincible completely changed from Skillet's trademark electric rock to full blown industrial rock remniscent of Marylin Manson or Nine Inch Nails. The record became their best-selling so far, so the band continued to use the industrial sounds on their next CD.

With barely enough time to breathe between touring and recording, Skillet released Alien Youth in 2001, which, to add to the already crazy schedule, was the first release that was produced by John. Alien Youth took the industrial sounds of Invincible to a new intensity tempered by slow, moving songs sprinkled in between. The first single Alien Youth made a big splash in the Christian market and drove Skillet into their first headlining shows.

In 2003, Collide was released on Ardent Records, but in 2004 the rights were bought by Lava Records, a division of Atlantic Records. Collide was the bands third shift musically, from their now trademark industrial sound to hard rock with a new trademark--strings and beautiful guitar unlike any other hard rock band on the market. The music was compelling enough to attract Lee Trink, the general manager of Lava Records, to looking into giving Skillet a deal. In 2005 they were head liners for the edge fest in Albuquerque New Mexico.

At the 2006 Ichthus Festival in Kentucky, it was announced onstage that their new record would be titled Comatose. Its first singles are "Rebirthing," "Whispers In The Dark," and "The Last Night." The CD was released on October 3, 2006. As Cooper said on their official website "As soon as my feet hit the stage, I know no matter how many people are there I'm going to give it everything I've got. I'm going to do the best show I can do; the wildest show. I'm gonna rock it. I think we captured that feeling on our record." ^[1]

Cooper spoke at Rock the Universe 2007 about how their guitarist Ben Kasica had been very sick and almost missed the show, and he went into detail on the subject of Kasica and Rock the Universe in an interview. Jesus Freak Hideout reported on this, saying, "A serious illness set back a member of Skillet recently. Frontman John Cooper writes, Our guitar player, Ben, has had several weeks of feeling ill. We took him to the emergency room late one night on the road and he was diagnosed with strep throat. We had a show that night, and after a shot and some medication, he played the show at a festival called Enfuego... The next week Ben seemed to get worse and we had to take him to the emergency room again where they were confused of what he actually had. As it turned out Ben was going to have to have immediate removal of his tonsils because of the swelling and bleeding he was experiencing. I thought we would have to cancel some shows since we would be leaving that same night to go to Florida. The biggest bummer was that we would have to miss "Rock the Universe" at Universal Studios, which is one of my all time favorite shows we have ever played. So, we sat up all night and taught our guitar tech Sean some guitar parts so we could do the shows. We slept for a total of ZERO hours and then drove to the airport to fly to Miami! Nothing can stop Skillet from the rock show baby! We played 6 songs with Sean on guitar. Then something happened that I hope never happens again: I had to play guitar for 4 songs because we did not have time to teach them to Sean. I stink on the guitar! It was the first time in 11 years that I have played guitar on stage and it was uncomfortable! But, it wasn't too bad because the show was rockin'!! Then, amazingly enough, the doctor postponed Ben's surgery a day because Ben was too weak to have it. Then he woke up the next day feeling 100% better and the doctor released him to fly down and meet us in Orlando for "Rock the Universe"!

In the tour of 2006, their Back-up guitarist/keyboardist was replaced by their nanny Drea, as Korey had a baby on the way.

Skillet teamed up with Ron Luce & Teen Mania Ministries on their Acquire The Fire Tour across the United States & Canada in 2007. When they returned Skillet teamed up with Flyleaf to co-headline the Justice & Mercy Tour, which was postponed/canceled after a couple shows due to Flyleaf's lead singer, Lacey Mosley's vocal problem. They will team up with Luce in his Global Expeditions program on a missions trip with teenage missionaries this summer on a trip to Mexico.

Decyfer Down joined Skillet for a March 31 through May 20 tour.

Skillet will join Breaking Benjamin, Three Days Grace, and Seether on the first half of their tour in fall 2007.^[2]

Panheads are fans of the rock band Skillet.

Uh, "Panheads"? You see, there are three levels in "Skillethood". Those who don't know, those who become "Skilletfanz" through hearing our music, and then "Panheads", those who come to three or four shows traveling up to 10 hours, bringing skillets, banners, writing on their cars, and so forth. Of course, we love them all, but we have a special place in our hearts for "Panheads".

Guitarist Ken Steorts ^[3]

• John Cooper - lead vocals, bass (1996-present)
• Korey Cooper - guitar, keyboard, backing vocals (1999-present)
• Lori Peters - drums (2000-present)
• Ben Kasica - guitar (2001-present)

• Ken Steorts - guitar (1996 - 1999, founder of Visible School in Memphis, TN, a music and worship arts college)
• Trey McClurkin - drums (1996 - 2000)
• Kevin Haaland - guitar (1999 - 2001)

• Alien Youth - Unplugged Invasion DVD (2002)

• No Lies (1998) - "Locked in a Cage"
• Surfonic Water Revival (1998) - "Last Day of Summer"
• WWJD (1998) "Whirlwind"
• Cross Seekers (2000) - "Safe With You"
• Festival Con Dios (2001) - "Alien Youth"
• Extreme Days: The Soundtrack (2001) - "Come On to the Future"
• Veggie Tales: Veggie Rocks! (2004) - "Stand"
• X2003: Music Video DVD - "Kill Me, Heal Me"
• X2004 (2004) - "Savior"
• X2004: Music Video DVD - "Savior"
• X2005 (2005) - "Open Wounds"
• X2006 (2006) - "Rebirthing"
• OSeven: The Year's Best Christian Rock Hits (2006) - "Comatose"

• The song "A Little More" can be added to the Christian video game Dance Praise via the Dance Praise Expansion Pack Volume 3: Pop & Rock Hits.

• The song "You Are My Hope" appeared in the episode "Back to the Garden" on the TV show Joan of Arcadia. It was also heard on "America's Next Top Model"

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• Official site
• Template:MySpace
• Atlantic Records
• Ardent Records
• SRE Recordings