Christian Band of the Moment: Skillet

Skillet is an American Christian rock band, and was formed in Memphis, Tennessee in the year 1996. This band consists of lead vocalist, and bassist John Cooper, his wife Korey Cooper as their guitarist, keyboardist, and vocalist, Ben Kasica the guitarist, and the newest member Jen Ledger as their drummer. They have also released seven studio albums, the latest two receiving Grammy nominations: Collide and Comatose. Over the past 13 years, Skillet has spanned many different genres, including alternative, industrial rock, and hard rock.

Skillet was formed as a band in 1996 with two members: John Cooper, former vocalist for Seraph, and Ken Steorts, the guitarist for Urgent Cry. Befriending through touring together.. Urgent Cry and Seraph disbanded soon after, and John and Ken's pastor encouraged them of starting or having their own band. Coming from different styles of rock music, the two decided to name the band Skillet, after the Denny's menu item. Soon after, Trey McClurkin joined the band as their temporary drummer. Skillet had only been together for one month before they received interest from the major Christian record label Forefront Records. In late 1996, they released a self-titled debut, Skillet. The album was well received and the trio continued to write new material as they toured the United States.

Skillet recorded their follow-up album throughout 1997, entitled Hey, I Love Your Soul, which was released in April of 1998. Their second effort was a change in style from the band's first release. With this release, Skillet would abandon their post-grunge approach for a lighter alternative rock that was more dependent on John Cooper's keyboard playing. His wife Korey was enlisted soon after to play keyboards live in order to alleviate John's live performance duties.

-yajleira