Photo By Brian Appio

Because of their loyalty to the group, Cooper said they give their fans, who refer to themselves as “Panheads,” a lot of access to the group. “Whether it’s virally on the Internet or meet and greets, we treat our fans good because we appreciate them and they have kept us in business for a long time,” he said. Before there were any “Panheads” or nation-wide tours, Skillet began as a dream of one little boy who always enjoyed music. “My mom was a piano teacher so I grew up playing classical piano for quite a long time,” Cooper said. “I was into music and it was really the only thing I was good at. Music really spoke to me.”

By the time he was 14-years-old, he was singing in a band. Two years later, he was writing his first songs. The inspiration behind his lyrics are things that he can relate to, personally or not. “It can be shaped by a book I’m reading or a conversation or a fan letter. It’s really things I feel passionate about,” he said. In all of the songs he writes, Cooper said a lot of it includes his world view, which is having faith in God. “Even when I’m writing songs that aren’t religious or spiritual at all, they are still through my world view and are pretty genuine through that,” he said. For example,  Cooper said their latest single, Awake and Alive, has become one of their biggest songs to date and speaks about the heartbeat of Skillet. “It’s about not being afraid to stand up for what you believe and that’s a big topic of ours,” he said.

- Amanda Crane (Bossier Press)

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