For Skillet’s John Cooper, the band’s new EP is all about diving into the hard parts of life — and knowing God will catch you when you fall.
“This particular EP, because of what we’ve been through the last few years, is leaning towards, ‘Let’s just talk about the hard side. I’m not okay, I know I will be okay and I am reaching out to God, saying I need your help, I’m not going to make it today if Christ doesn’t meet me in this. I will not make it today,’” he told CCM Magazine.
Cooper then shared a story about a friend who called him recently and said, “Hey, I need to talk to you about something…I’m going into rehab. I’m really embarrassed.”
“And I was like, ‘Why are you embarrassed?,’” he recalled. “‘This is life. We all are worthless without the cross. So I’m going to stand with you. We’re going to believe for victory over that because Christ…already paid the price, so we can put that in the past. And when you’re weak, He will show Himself strong.’”
Related: SKILLET Frontman Opens Up About Pain Behind New Song ‘SCREAM’
Skillet’s new EP, titled After the Storm, “is special to me because it reignites what Skillet was always meant to be — which is music that helps lift people out of dark times,” Cooper said in a statement about the project. “I wrote these songs because I needed to be lifted out of my own darkness.”
One of the songs off After the Storm is “SCREAM,” which is already resonating with fans.
“I called it ‘Scream’ because the upcoming full release, which is going to have six songs, is definitely the most, I think, vulnerable that we’ve been in a long time,” Cooper told ChurchLeaders. “It’s the most emotional, you know, dealing with the hard stuff in life.”
He continued, “We all go through things — some people suffered more than others,” he said. “And when suffering comes your way, generally you’re not expecting it. And you kind of see what you’re made of.”
“That ‘scream’ for me is, ‘I know my life matters. I know that God can help me and I’m not going to give into this,’” Cooper explained. “It’s actually a sign of resistance.”
After the Storm debuts Oct. 9.
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