Skillet is glad to be back on road and a part of Winter Jam, taking place at Intrust

The Christian rock band Skillet is a veteran of six Winter Jam tours, but this one has been the most gratifying, John Cooper says.

“It’s just so great to get out in front of fans,” Skillet’s co-founder and lead singer said. “You can see on their faces how thrilled they are to be gathering again. Music always gives you a sense of community, and that’s pretty cool.”

The tour comes a year after a virtual shutdown of arena shows, including Winter Jam, which began in 1995.

“People are saying, ‘John, you don’t know how much I needed this show.’ It’s been very therapeutic for a lot of people,” Cooper said from his home in Wisconsin during a brief tour break. “There’s a real air of excitement about what 2022’s going to be like and what it’s like at shows.”

Skillet is co-headlining the Winter Jam Tour — playing next week at Intrust Bank Arena — with Tauren Wells. Others on the bill are KB, Colton Dixon, I Am They, NewSong, with pre-Jam performers Abby Robertson, Bayside Worship and speaker Shane Prutt.

“I love that it’s an eclectic night,” Cooper said. “Every Winter Jam tour I’ve ever been on there’s so much diversity and this is the most diversity I’ve ever seen on tour. There’s gospel, hip-hop, rap, pop, we’re obviously hard rock, worship, folk music — literally everything I can think of. And I really dig that.

“You get a lot of different kinds of fans, and you get Skillet the chance to win over new fans, I hope, and there’s a chance for all of us to say, yeah, we come from different places and different types of music, but we all come together for a central purpose,” he added.

Skillet is on the Winter Jam Tour as its 11th album, “Dominion,” was released last month. All songs on the album were co-written by Cooper, most of them with his wife, Korey, and recorded and sent back and forth to producers over Zoom.

“Dominion,” which Cooper feels has a heavier sound than previous Skillet albums, is “100% informed from COVID.”

“There’s different mentalities about it,” he said. “You can move on from COVID and pretend like it’s not a thing, or you can say we can’t ignore what we’ve been through. What was coming out of me — and this is not a logical decision, not a rational decision, it just happened, and it was very visceral — were these songs. I guess what was in my heart, that I wasn’t aware, was that I wanted to write a record about where we go from here.

“It’s not focusing on the pain of COVID,” he continued, “It’s focusing on the fact that I want to take control back of my life and encouraging others to take control of their lives and not surrender to fear. Yes, it’s been a hard time and it’s a thing you cannot control, but you can control your own mind and your own brain and your sense of anxiety and depression and maybe even alcohol abuse or substance abuse. All of these very real things are happening, and we want to encourage people not to give in to fear.”

Skillet ended up with about 100 concerts last year, despite the pandemic, Cooper said, including drive-in theater shows and selected club dates.

Assuming more countries open up this spring and summer, he said, Skillet will be returning to tour in Europe until July.

While Skillet is a Christian rock band in the United States, overseas the band is in the secular market.

“I think it’s fair to say that had the pandemic not happened, I think we would now be a bigger touring act in Europe than we are in America,” he said. “It was basically right at the same level prior to the pandemic.”

Indeed, the band’s final concert in London in December 2019 drew 4,000-5,000 fans.

While Cooper is appreciative of Skillet’s success in Christian rock — the band has sold 12 million-plus physical albums and downloads — he wants the group to make inroads to the mainstream rock market.

“I don’t feel like we’re at the top, personally,” the 46-year-old said. “I think we have a long way to go, and the biggest step is becoming more of a core artist in the mainstream rock world. We have a very wide net, and it doesn’t land in one particular market.

“I’ve got zero complaints, but it would be awesome to be known in the mainstream world,” Cooper added.

Winter Jam 2022

When: 7 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 10

Where: Intrust Bank Arena

Tickets: $10 at the door