I have been researching songs to use in the service for our physical church this week, with the theme of Christ being our anchor in life’s storms. Inadvertently I came across this song ‘Anchor’ here by Skillet. They are one of my favourite and most listened to bands, but I actually had never heard this song before. I really loved the lyrics and well, everything about it. That was what inspired me to look at Skillet this week.
If you enjoyed listening to that as much as I have, here is an ‘unplugged’ version that I have found on video.
You may be forgiven for thinking, that at the moment they don’t sound too much like a rock band, well as you will see from the next song, they most definitely are. My granddaughter actually thinks I’m quite mad when I put this song on, but she did sneak it into her favourites playlist at one time I seem to remember.
The song in question is ‘Psycho In My Head’ here. This is the rock sound that I absolutely love, the voice, the guitars, the drums, all of it. I used the video again for this because I really liked the way it was filmed, it’s so much better to see, as well as just hear Skillet.
The drummer Jen Ledger is amazing, she manages to sing as well as play the drums. Not an easy task. I would love to be able to drum like that, in fact more to the point, I would be happy if I could drum at all. Not sure the neighbours would approve though!
I have found a short clip here of a ‘drum cam’ on Jen, it shows her amazing talents and gives you a sneak peak of another of their songs.
An interesting combination that skillet have come up with is to mix the cello in with their regular sound. ‘Awake And Alive’ here , is a great example of that, I really like this live concert version.
Aside from the music, one of the best things to me about Skillet is that they have the rock image and sound, but they don’t live the normal life of rockstars with the drugs and bad living included. The lead singer John Cooper and the ‘rock chick’ guitarist Korey Cooper, (described by John Cooper as the ‘baddest, sickest, age-defying and most insane stage performer ever’), have actually been happily married for over 28 years now and have raised two children whilst touring and playing in the band. They may look the part but they certainly don’t take on all of the negatives of the industry. And they are both over 50 and still going strong!
I’ll just leave you with a bit more from Skillet here, enjoy and crank up the volume a little, it’s worth it!
The Church at Hiraeth 