Interview: John Cooper of hard rocker Skillet

In the song, "Hero," Skillet vocalist and bass player John Cooper sings about losing faith in the world.

"Every time I turn on the TV, it's like, 'Really? Another sex scandal?'" he said. "This is absurd, from wars to violence going on all the time to the earthquake in Haiti. It's a scary time to be alive, and it's an easy time to lose your faith."

Skillet makes no secret of its faith. It's rare when a Christian rock band can cross over to the mainstream, but Skillet has done just that: charted on rock radio without denying the roots that got it there in the first place.

The Grammy-nominated band brings its "Awake & Alive Tour" on Friday, May 21, to the MSU Auditorium in East Lansing. Joining Skillet are fellow faith-based hard rockers RED and The Letter Black.

Cooper was kind enough to chat with us about the band's No. 2-selling album, his faith and how Skillet's song landed on WWE.

NOISE: Is it true music was forbidden in your house growing up?

Cooper: Not all music, but anything with drums. Drums and guitar were the devil's instruments. My mom was a piano teacher and voice teacher, so she loved music, just a certain kind. Classical, hymns and opera were okay. When I first heard Christian music, I felt vindicated, like, "It's not the drums that's evil."

NOISE: You're one of the few Christian rock bands that didn't abandon the genre after getting mainstream success.

Cooper: Thanks. I think I'm so adamant about not wanting to get rid of my Christian stance because it helped me so much in my early life. I'm not embarrassed about it, and I'm not silent about it in interviews. If people ask, "Are you a Christian band?" my response is, "Yeah. I love it."

NOISE: Your 2009 album, "Awake," debuted at No. 2 on the Billboard 200 chart. Why do you think so many fans relate to this album?

Cooper: I think it's because Skillet has a lot more fans than just Christian music fans. We are a Christian band, but we work very hard at writing songs about issues that, in my mind, everyone can relate to: atheists, agnostics, Jews, Muslims. I see that in bands like U2 and Switchfoot. Those bands have done a good job of having positive and hopeful messages, without alienating certain people.

NOISE: What's it like being in a band with your wife Korey (keyboard, guitar)?

Cooper: It's awesome. She's my go-to person to lean on when it comes to making the set flow and making songs sound better. She'll do keyboard programming and songs will come to life. Personally, it's nice on the road, because it makes the whole band feel more stable. We have our kids on the road, and it feels like a big family traveling and loving each other and having fun.

NOISE: Your song, "Monster," was No. 4 on the active rock chart last year and featured on WWE wrestling. How cool was that?

Cooper: It was awesome. "Monster" is a song a lot of stations said they would never play because it came from a Christian band. But the song kept doing better and better, and eventually, most of those people ended up playing the record.

Interview: Sevendust 'reestablishing' itself on new album

More than a decade and a half into their career, with dozens of rock radio hits and top 20 Billboard albums under their belts, the members of Sevendust finally feel like they've reached a place where they can make the kind of music that's truly, well, Sevendust.

And that appears to be the driving force behind their eighth studio album, "Cold Day Memory:" complete, hard-won artistic expression and freedom.

"The goal with this album was to reestablish ourselves as a band," said Clint Lowery, lead guitarist of the Atlanta, Ga.-based band. "The original lineup is back together, so we made this album using what we believe has always been our best assets: heavy, really heavy melodic music and sincere stuff. And that's what we do, naturally."

Though Lowery rejoined Sevendust two years ago, the new album, out last month, is the first Sevendust album he's written on since 2004's, "Seasons." Any Sevendust fan will tell you something was missing when Lowery stepped away, and Lowery couldn't be happier to be back writing fresh songs with his musical soulmates. The album features singer Lajon Witherspoon's soulful, R&B-influenced vocals amid dark, melodic guitars and brutal rhythms.

This time around, Lowery was heavily involved with recording.

"I wanted to have a part in all the songs," he said. "Since I haven't done a Sevendust record in three albums, I wanted to make up for lost time."
He says a good rock song has both edge and heart.

"If it's a heavier song, it needs to have a sincerity," he said. "You need to be talking about something that's real.

"It also needs a really good beat and a great guitar riff. It needs an edge to it; something that makes people want to cut loose."

Producer Johnny K (Disturbed, 3 Doors Down, Staind) worked with the band on the release. He helped perfect the album's hard-driving rock single, "Unraveling," No. 9 on the active rock charts at press time.

"It's a father and son theme," Lowery said of the song, which is Sevendust's most successful single to date. "It's about any relationship where you needed someone to be there and they let you down."

Sevendust is touring the U.S. right now, and the band's on the road a lot. But that's okay with Lowery. The guys take life on the road in stride.

"If you party a lot and drink, it's going to get hard, but if you can take care of yourself, it can be a lot of fun," he said. "It depends on how you handle yourself.

"People say it's hard, but it's only hard when you make it hard. It depends on where you're at as a person. For us, we enjoy playing, meeting our fans and seeing everybody. So, for us, it's good times."

By Anne Erickson, Gannett NOISE

EXCLUSIVE: Video interview with Drowning Pool

Hard rock band Drowning Pool is No. 4 on the Active Rock chart with their single, "Feel Like I Do." Here's my video interview with the guys. Rock!!

Interview: Andy Brewer of Taddy Porter talks the 'Southern sound'

Andy Brewer embraced the "Southern sound" early on.

"I remember as a kid driving to go fishing with my dad and hearing Lynyrd Skynyrd and the Allman Brothers, and loving it," said the singer for Stillwater, Okla.-based rock band Taddy Porter.

"I remember the songs sounded pretty and explained what we were doing at the time. I was just fishing with my dad, and it all fit together. I like holding onto the nostalgia of that."

He's not alone. Southern rock is entering a new era of appreciation. Just look at the upswing of Southern-flavored bands on the radio: Kings of Leon, Blackstone Cherry and the Black Keys.

Soulful groups like Taddy Porter are hotter than ever.

"I think Southern rock has been around for awhile, but it wasn't really prevalent in today's music, except for country," he said. "But now, I hear lots of bands coming up that have a Southern sound. It's great."

Taddy Porter, which plays shows in both Grand Rapids and Flint this week, has a fuzzy-warm success story that starts with the guys playing tiny, 10-person shows in Oklahoma and ends with them landing a tour with major-label rockers Saving Abel.

That tour was a turning point.

"When we were out with Saving Abel, they brought big crowds," Brewer said. "We were the opening band and didn't think we would get a positive reaction because we're a different genre. But they dug us."

MySpace plays and Facebook fans went up. Way up.

"After that, we realized this was something special and that we could get to a point where we could hold the crowd in our hands a little bit," he said.
On the agenda now: Finishing up the band's yet untitled full-length, due out in April or May.

The album's debut single, "Shake Me," harnesses a close-to-the-bone, gritty blues-rock sound with heart.

Also on the horizon: Rock on the Range this May. The two-day hard rock, alternative and metal fest is held every year in Columbus, Ohio, and the 2010 lineup includes the Deftones, Slash, Limp Bizkit, Rob Zombie and, yes, Taddy Porter, among others.

It's an honor. Even for a Southern guy.

"I had actually never heard of the festival until I found out we were on it, because we're not from around there," he said, laughing. "But I researched it, and the acts that play it are major. Plus, it's just a huge show."

By Anne Erickson, Gannett NOISE/LSJ

Interview: 'Addicted' to Saving Abel

After Saving Abel first recorded the hard-hitting song "Addicted," the Corinth, Miss., guys thought it was good, but set the demo aside because it didn't seem to fit the band.

"If you go back and listen to our initial indie release, we sound more like a Matchbox 20-meets-Wallflowers band - really poppy," guitarist Jason Null said, chatting by phone from a Nashville recording studio. "So when we came up with this bit of heavy rock, we couldn't use the song."

When Saving Abel started getting serious label interest, Null remembered the song and brought it back. And it's a good thing he did. "Addicted" climbed to No. 2 on the Mainstream Rock chart last year, breaking the band on the national scene and landing the guys tours with major players like Nickelback, Hinder and Papa Roach.

Null says "Addicted" shaped the direction of Saving Abel's sound and the route the guys took musically. Now their mindset is heavier and edgier - full of brash lyrics, catchy melodies and seismic guitar riffing.

"I can remember Skidd (Mills, the band's producer) playing the song for us after we had tracked it, and we just kind of looked at one another and were confused for a second," Null said, laughing. "We were like, 'Is this really us? Is that where we're going as a band?'

"We really thought that song was going to be great for us from the beginning."

Hard rock, by its nature, is a tough, in-your-face genre, and Saving Abel's music is no different. Part pop metal, part fist-pumping rock, the group connects with heavy music fans and adds enough ballads ("18 Days") to go co-ed.

Saving Abel got together in 2004 with Null, lead singer Jared Weeks, guitarist Scott Bartlett, bassist Eric Taylor and drummer Blake Dixon. In typical rock-story fashion, the guys held day jobs while recording music on the side and promoting the group one hole-in-the-wall gig at a time.

"The last job I held right before I signed the record deal was a manager for K-Mart stores," Null said.

Even after the guys recorded tracks and booked shows, they still needed a name. Null finally came up with "Saving Abel" during a late-night reading of the Bible.

"I was up working on some band stuff, and I was online, and it must have been a line from some sort of Christian magazine, but I can remember it read, 'There was no saving Abel from his brother Cain.' And those two words together just jumped out at me," he said.

As Saving Abel's members can surely attest, being in a platinum-selling rock band has its obvious advantages. But it's also a lot of work.

That said, Null says all the touring, all the late nights and early mornings, all the press demands, all the head-numbing pressure - it's all worth it.

"I think I can speak for everybody in the band when I say that this is what we've always wanted to do: tour and play music for a living," he said. "It's like in anything that you do: You get tired sometimes, but I'd much rather be tired and be playing music for a living."

The common thread of Saving Abel's 2008 self-titled debut is the lyrics, which come straight from the guys' personal experiences. That includes "Addicted."

"Jared, our singer, wrote that about his high school sweetheart in Corinth," Null said. "They had broken up and got back in touch after a few years had passed and just hit it off.

"I can remember he came in one night and was excited that he ran into her. Evidently, they had a good night together, because he sat down and was like, 'Man, I have this melody in my head.' "

Null considers the band's current single, "Drowning (Face Down)," a personal song, as well.

"'Drowning' was one of those late nights with the band writing in the basement, and at the end of the night we were winding down and playing some stuff. The guitar lick intro you hear on that song is something I've been playing since I was a kid and never did much of anything with it," he said.

"But in all, the song is about life's up and downs."

By Anne Erickson, Gannett LSJ

Concert Review: Muse sells out the Palace in Detroit

English alternative rock trio Muse played a theatrics-filled show to a sold-out crowd of 12,000-plus at The Palace of Auburn Hills last weekend.

Muse entered at 8:30 p.m. with a stage show that had the band performing on gigantic, elevated video platforms, amid a sea of laser lights. Frontman Matthew Bellamy oozes talent. He seems at one with whatever instrument he's playing, whether it's his Red glitter Manson guitar, piano or keytar.

The guys of Muse, who have been together over a decade, are longtime rock icons in the U.K. The band's popularity is spilling over to the states, and this is their largest-scale tour yet.

From ambient harmonics in "Undisclosed Desires" to fiery, blues-y guitar soloing in "Unnatural Selection," the night packed variety. Bellamy, hugging his six-string, has a way of delivering volatile, razer-edged guitar solos that are spastic, yet controlled. With confidence and charisma, he donned pinkish-red pants and glittery silver shoes, at times sliding across the stage and falling to his knees during guitar solos.

During the hour and a half performance, the crowd - sometimes standing mesmerized, sometimes pumping their fists - cheered for hits, "Uprising," "Supermassive Black Hole" and (closer) "Knights of Cydonia."

Muse uses pedal effects and techno-beats to color its sound, but it's doubtful anyone at the Palace would deny the members' artistry. Other highlights: classically-leaning piano soloing from Bellamy ("United States of Eurasia") and a meaty, rhythm section duet between bass player Christopher Wolstenholme, who favored a red-toned Fender jazz bass for the night, and drummer Dominic Howard.

With a mix of Brit-pop and neo-prog, some call Muse a new, amped-up Radiohead-- just more accessible and digestible.

Los Angeles alt-rocker Silversun Pickups opened at 7 p.m. The group is best known for its 2009 No. 1 alternative hit, "Panic Switch," and singles "Well Thought Out Twinkles," "Lazy Eye" and "Substitution." Lead vocalist Brian Aubert, bass player Nikki Monninger, drummer Christopher Guanlao and keyboard player Joe Lester fashioned an amalgam of rock, pop, folk and psychedelia and, judging by the between-act chit-chat, won over new fans.

Exclusive: Tool frontman chats comedy, new project

To say Puscifer - the side project of Maynard James Keenan - is a departure from anything the Tool and A Perfect Circle frontman has done before would be an understatement.

As Keenan describes it, Puscifer is not a rock band. Not even close.
"This has more in common with SNL or the Adult Swim network than it does Metallica," he said, chatting by phone last week.

Needless to say, gone are the dark, menacing aesthetics that permeate Keenan's work with Tool and A Perfect Circle. Instead, Puscifer is a comedy troupe. The production meshes music, videos and sketch comedy to create a very unique, very un-Tool like experience.

Puscifer reaches the Royal Oak Music Theatre on March 23 and 24, so I checked in with Keenan about the project and his new documentary, "Blood into Wine." To listen to the interview, click here.

Anne: Puscifer is comprised of a revolving door of performers. Who will be playing with you in Detroit?

Keenan: Each night will be different. I would guess one night will be Tim Alexander (Primus) and Matt Mitchell (Tool guitar tech) for the rhythm section, and the other night will be Matt McJunkins and Jeff Friedl from ASHES dIVIDE.

Anne: What's the vision behind this project?

Keenan: It's mostly that we had some ideas we wanted to express that were impossible to express in 1995. Some of the stuff we're trying to do would have been cost-prohibitive back them. Some of the videos we've been able to do because of technology. Back in '95, it would have been a half-million dollar video. Now we can do it for five, ten or fifteen grand.

Anne: When did the idea come about?

Keenan: In the mid-'90s, when we were doing sketch comedy at local comedy clubs (in L.A.). We wanted to expand it to film sketch, animation and various other elements including stage performance.

Anne: Do you think there's a comic side to you that people haven't seen?

Keenan: They've seen it, just didn't get it. I mean, come on: "Stinkfest?" If someone can't see the humor in some of those songs, then they're not listening or just choosing not to.

Anne: You have quite a few back-to-back dates on this tour.

Keenan: Yes, and those are always two completely different shows. Each night is a different performance with different sets and videos.

Anne: Cool. And this is not a rock concert, right?

Keenan: Exactly. This is not a band; this is a troupe. This is a performance, not a concert.

Anne: Cool. Let's talk about your documentary, "Blood into Wine." The film shows you living in a small town in Arizona and working at your vineyard. What inspired you to move to Arizona?

Keenan: I'm from a small town, so L.A. was kind of getting under my skin. There are a lot of great people and great opportunities out there, but there's also a lot of zombie-vampire activity. There are a lot of energy suckers and at some point, you see what people are really concerned about - things that they shouldn't be concerned about - and it kind of takes you back.

Growing up in Ohio and Michigan, you have to shovel the snow. That's a real problem. If you don't shovel snow in your driveway and get to work, then you won't have a job. In L.A., it's traffic and you miss your hair appointment. It's just kind of silly. So I moved to Arizona to get away from some of that disconnected feeling.

Anne: Are there any plans for a Michigan screening of the film?

Keenan: I would imagine at some point. It is a documentary, so theaters aren't going to be beating down the door to get the film on their screens. It's definitely not as visually stimulating as "Avatar." There won't be any 3-D "Blood into Wine" versions. But I would expect to have showings on some of the more local, independent theaters. The best thing to do is to go to BloodintoWine.com and for new screenings.