We have tons of new reviews up this week on cMusicWeb.com, so make sure you
check those out! Earlier this summer we talked to Skillet about their disc,
Collide, coming out in a couple weeks. Check it out and make sure to come
back this weekend to cMusicWeb.com when the full interview will be online!
Plus, this week we have new discs from indie Kyle Matthews, Hillsong's
Darlene Zschech, and more.

GOT COMMENTS?? - We want your input on cMusicWeb.com! Send it to
webmaster@... or find me on AOL IM.

UNSUBSCRIBE?? - Logon to http://groups.yahoo.com to do so, or drop us an
e-mail telling us why you're annoyed by hearing from us.


SKILLET AND cMUSICWEB.COM COLLIDE @ CREATION EAST 2003
by Kim Flanders

cMW: Our motto is "A different approach to music." How does Skillet fit
into this?

KOREY COOPER: I think our approach to music is that it is a vehicle to say
and do what we feel called to do. So it is not an end in itself which I
think it is for a lot of artists. Like I do like music a lot, but I don’t.
Like if God asked me to stop music, it would be hard but it would not be
like a huge issue for me. So I think for us, we have a message we feel from
God to share, and that is what our music is for, it is just a vehicle for
that.

cMW: What is your heart for youth in the world today?

JOHN COOPER: In our nation, I would like to see a genuine Gospel come to
the youth of our nation. Not religiousness, or not a tradition of going to
church since they were kids, or whatever it is that they have been doing
since they were young. But the genuine life-changing Gospel that will cost
your whole life to come to Christ. It will cost everything you have ever
had. There is nothing else to live for anymore because your life is ruined
for the Gospel. To see that kind of genuineness come, because I think with
that will come a passion for Christ among people because they would
understand what life is really about. And I think that we are so religious
and traditional in our nation. I have a feeling we might be the last
country on the earth to see revival happen because we have grown up with it
and it is not a big deal that God saved us any more. I mean it is, but we
just don’t know it. I think the genuineness of the Gospel has kind of been
lost.

Church is big business. I am not being cynical about it, but it is true, it
is big business. You go to college and you go visit a church that you have
never been before and they vote on you if you are good enough. It is not
what the Bible teaches, but we do it. I think we have lost a lot of the
genuineness.

cMW: Do you have any accountability on the road?

JOHN: Mainly just with each other. I mean we do with our church that we
love. We moved from Tennessee to Wisconsin to be part of our church.
Actually Korey's dad is the Pastor. So yes we do have a lot of relationship
there, and there is accountability there, but that is not the day to day
accountability. That is done among ourselves. We live together every minute
every day. We sleep on the bus together, and it is not like we don’t ever
see each other for more than 30 minutes or something. It is something that
is distinctive of Skillet. We have such a great relationship with our
church. We do a lot with our church in terms of when we are home. Korey
and I lead a youth group at church and we are involved with worship at our
church, and a Home Group, stuff like that. We are pretty blessed to have a
church family.

cMW: Can you tell us more about your upcoming album? How many cuts, is
there a major theme, do you have a title?

JOHN: The album is going to be called Collide which we pretty much just
decided for sure. Unless I think differently in a few weeks. It is going
to come out in November. I think there is going to be 10 tracks. We
started with 12, but to tell you the truth, I just did not like the last
two. They just were not coming together, they did not really fit the theme.
It really felt to me like we had 10 really good songs and 2 really not so
good songs.

The theme behind Collide, just the idea that the Christian life collides
with the fact that we are living in the world and we are humans. Kind of
the expression about two worlds colliding. There are a few songs about
issues that people are going through like not feeling good, feeling unwanted
or useless. There is one song on the album which is about divorce which is
the first social issue that we have ever tackled on a record before. And
there is a love song on the record which is our first time to ever have a
love song on one of our albums. I am really excited about this song it is
called "Little More." And it is not just about loving a person, it is
about the fact that love conquers all. When things seem really hard, the
idea that love can take a little more. I think that goes with the message
of "Collide", that we are Christians and we do need to learn how to balance
the fact that we are humans and we do make mistakes with the fact that we
have been redeemed and God has a new life for us that we need to learn how
to live.

Read more about Skillet at cMusicWeb.com:
http://cMusicWeb.com/rock/skillet


OTHER NEW STUFF ON cMUSICWEB.COM

Review: City on a Hill: The Gathering - Various
http://cMusicWeb.com/worship/cityonahill/gathering.shtml

Review: Wake Up, O Sleeper - Cool Hand Luke
http://cMusicWeb.com/rock/coolhandluke/wakeuposleeper.shtml

Review: Risk - Ten Shekel Shirt
http://cMusicWeb.com/worship/tenshekelshirt/risk.shtml

Review: Sacred Revolution - Passion
http://cMusicWeb.com/worship/passion/sacredrevolution.shtml

Review: Grace Like Rain - Todd Agnew
http://cMusicWeb.com/worship/toddagnew/gracelikerain.shtml

Review: Photographs & Tidalwaves - Holland
http://cMusicWeb.com/rock/holland/photographsandtidalwaves.shtml

Review: This Desert Life - Counting Crows
http://cMusicWeb.com/alternative/countingcrows/thisdesertlife.shtml


AVAILABLE TUESDAY, OCTOBER 14 (at cMusicWeb.com or your local music store)

PURCHASE THIS MUSIC AND MORE AT GRASSROOTSMUSIC.COM:
http://www.grassrootsmusic.com/?associateid=249

FOREVER - HILLSONG MUSIC
A bit of a different project for the Hillsong Music team, the band abandons
the vocals and goes instrumental, for a nice disc to play as background to
pray and meditation.

IWORSHIP CHRISTMAS - VARIOUS
A two-disc set with 35 Christmas tunes to listen to, this is another
one-size-fits-all Christmas disc. However, there are only 3 brand new
recordings from MercyMe, Sara Groves, and Sonicflood, so if you already have
most Christmas CDs, you probably do not need this one too.

KISS OF HEAVEN - DARLENE ZSCHECH
Although it is distinctly Darlene Zschech's worship, this disc is more aimed
to the inspirational market. This solo disc features slick, produced, studio
cuts of hymns such as "Beautiful Saviour" and her hits, such as "Shout To
The Lord."

STORIES AND SONGS - MARK SCHULTZ
The third release from inspirational pianist Mark Schultz finds a collection
of beautiful songs and stories from this unique songwriter.

TIMELESS CHRISTMAS CHILD - KYLE MATTHEWS
Indie Kyle Matthews puts out an intriguing Christmas disc because it is
almost all new songs, not the old recycled ones you have Bing Crosby
singing. This indie sounds like it should be the PICK OF THE WEEK.


Thanks for reading this week's cMusicMail, and we'll be back next week with
even more great content. If you have any comments or questions, please reply
to this e-mail or send them to webmaster@.... We'd love to hear
from you!

Dan Ficker
http://cMusicWeb.com/
a different approach to music
AOL IM - dMusicWeb