While this doesn’t directly relate to WWE, I am choosing to cover this because it involves an interview with John Cooper, lead singer of Skillet. Skillet has been involved with WWE since 2009 when their song “Monster” was used for the Hell In A Cell PPV and their song “Legendary” is the current theme song for Monday Night Raw.
Cooper was interviewed by FOX News yesterday where he discussed his faith, influences, growing up, their music, and his new book “Eden: A Skillet Graphic Novel”.
On being raised in a strict Christian family:
”I was raised in Memphis, Tenn. which you know a lot people call that the Bible Belt. Not everybody knows what that means. But yeah, I was definitely raised I couldn’t wear black, couldn’t have these tattoos for sure, no rock and roll nothing with drums. Drums was like the devil’s instrument where I grew up and so I kind of grew up in a very strict household. There were some really good things about it though because I am a Christian.
I believe in the Bible and I believe in the principles of the Bible and living by it. And as I got older I just kind of said, a lot of the things that I’m being told I can’t do. I don’t really see in the Bible and so I’ve obviously become my own person and I played in a rock band and I believe that music was created by God not the devil. I think the drums are a wonderful instrument and black is the best color because it goes with everything and it’s slimming. So there you go.”
On turning down opportunities and being involved with WWE:
“Yes I have. I probably wouldn’t say what they were because then it sounds like I might be slamming somebody else, but I’ve been asked to be involved in certain things, film, that I wouldn’t be comfortable with. But I’m comfortable with quite a lot because I kind of feel like this is just my song. I don’t mind if it’s in a movie that I disagree with.
But there’s some things that are just out of balance for me and that would be if we’re getting to a place that is supporting what I would consider to be like extreme violence, extreme love of death and things like that. I’m not into that but I love being involved in things like currently, we’re involved with WWE wrestling. Wrestling has been very good to me and they believed in us when no one else did. All the way back to our song “Monster,” they were the first people to play Monster and now they’re playing our new song “Legendary” as their theme song for RAW which is huge for me.
So I love partnering with sports, comics, WWE, film, things like that but there have been times I’ve just said hey, that’s just not something we can be a part of and if it costs me money I don’t care because again life isn’t about money — life is about being comfortable with the decisions that you make, be proud of who you are being able to stand behind your decisions is is an important thing.”
On his faith and losing his Mom at the age of 14:
“I’ve had a really wonderful life. But I have had hard times like everybody else. My mom passed away when I was 14 from cancer. But it was also the 80s and cancer research thank God has come such a long way. But in the 80s chemotherapy was such a nightmare. My mom was sick almost for three years so from the time I was 11 to 14 I was around someone that was physically ill most of every day. You kind of get used to like seeing this, the feeling of death, the stench of death.
Coming into a house and having someone that’s on their deathbed for a couple of years is very difficult. And so, I learn to deal with death at an early age. And that was hard because I began fighting with my dad a lot. He was hurting; I was hurting, my brothers were hurting and I really at that point had to realize that I needed to lean on God and I didn’t have anybody to talk to. So, I would talk to God in my room at night and I began to know Jesus as a friend. And so that’s why I always tell people I don’t like to preach at people but proselytize you know.
But when people ask me I always say, “Hey, Jesus wasn’t just a savior to me.” He became a friend to me, someone that I could tell, “Hey, I’m going through a hard time [and] this stinks pretty bad. And I feel all alone. I feel like no one is listening.” Jesus became a friend to me and a hope for me. And that has affected my songwriting, the book that I wrote” Eden” my comic book you know all the things that I write about and talk about. Will all come back to my faith.”
You can read the full interview at the link at the top of the page. His book “Eden: A Skillet Graphic Novel” is on sale now at Amazon. Their latest album “Victorious”, which features the song “Legendary” is also available now on Amazon.
Leave a Reply