Skillet sizzles in its seventh Winter Jam tour, which stops in Wichita next week
During the space of a 14-minute phone interview last week to promote his band Skillet’s appearance on the Winter Jam Tour at Intrust Bank Arena, lead singer John Cooper’s conversation was punctuated by several coughing fits.
“Great excitement, a lot of new fans,” he said from Greenville, S.C. “The only bad thing is the flu has just ravaged the whole tour. You’ve got 150 people who have all had the flu, basically. It’s like, ‘Oh Lord, please don’t let me get that thing again.’”
But such is life when you take six Christian acts, plus three pre-show performers, on the road for a tour, which began 30 years ago as January Jam but has expanded to two and a half months and 38 cities.
Others on the Winter Jam bill are Anne Wilson, KB, Colton Dixon, Newsong and Micah Tyler.
“Winter Jam is a great, unique beast, because it’s so diverse,” said Cooper, whose band is on its seventh round of Winter Jam touring. “You’re expanding your audience to people who would never come to a Skillet show, because the tour’s got country, hip-hop, rock, worship, Gospel. You’re kind of bringing a bunch of different, eclectic audiences together and the chance to play for new folks is really fun.”
As always, there are no tickets and entry is through a $15 donation at the door. Winter Jam, Cooper said, is meant to be for all ages.
“It’s a wonderful family event, because there’s this reawakening of a need for families to do things together,” he said of a post-pandemic world. “One of the lessons of 2020 was that we needed to spend more time with their family.”
Skillet is hitting Winter Jam on the strength of its 12th album, “Revolution,” the band’s first on its independent label.
“The fans very much love ‘Revolution,’ which is very rewarding,” he said. “It’s been fun seeing their comments online, and seeing comments online isn’t usually fun.”
Cooper, the group’s lead singer and bass player, began Skillet in 1996, and his wife, Korey, joined on keyboards in 1999. Drummer Jen Ledger and lead guitarist Seth Morrison were added in 2008 and 2019, respectively.
Looking to the horizon as a 30th anniversary approaches is both daunting and surprising to Cooper, comparing it to his daughter’s wedding last year.
“It’s very strange. I don’t feel old, and I don’t feel culturally old,” said Cooper, who turns 50 next month. “I think this job keeps you young because you’re always around young people and always around the culture. You see the shifts that are happening, you’re up with it.”
As headliner for Winter Jam, Skillet gets its own 40-minute set but also provides leadership for the other acts, Cooper believes.
“I take that role on willingly and gladly. I like to play that role,” he said. “I don’t mean that arrogantly, but I like to be able to show people how it’s done.”
Cooper said Skillet, which has crossed over into mainstream rock at times, felt an example was set when the band opened for Nickelback in 2012.
“They really set a standard for how you should treat an opening act,” he said. “When we’re the headliner, this is how it needs to be done.”
Although Skillet does make way for new sounds and new ideas, Cooper said, including its first hip-hop intro on the title song of “Revolution,” he said some things remain the same.
“The authenticity, the boldness of the lyrics, the things we sing about, the fact that we’ve always been unapologetic about our identity. That’s what people like about Skillet, I think,” he said. “Whether they agree with everything we say or not isn’t the point, the point is that they stick with us because we’re real, and they appreciate that.”
Skillet has big dates on the calendar for 2025, including overseas dates that are proof of new audiences throughout the world, including being one of the first bands in Russia in 2010 and last year in the Middle East.
“We’re going to places that rock bands don’t typically go to,” he said.
WINTER JAM
When: 7 p.m. Thursday, March 13; preshow begins at 6
Where: Intrust Bank Arena
Tickets: Admission is $15 at the door.