Hey everybody what’s up! Skillet here wishing everybody a happy holiday! We just finished our last shows until Christmas and we are enjoying about two weeks off! Not including tour rehearsals for next year of course. We can't afford to take too much time off and end up not being ready to rock faces! Speaking of, a fan in Indiana last Saturday night told me after the show that he was still trying to find his face and put it back on cause we ROCKED HIS FACE OFF BABY. I just wanna wish him well on his efforts...

So what has Skillet been up to? Everything! We have been touring hard this year, and getting geared up to tour even harder next year. As many of you know, we are going out on the Winter Jam tour with Mercy Me, Barlow Girl and Newsong starting in January. Directly after the tour, we are finally beginning our own HEADLINING TOUR for "Comatose" with Thousand Foot Krutch!!! Lots of people have always wanted to see that pair in a concert and we are finally making it happen. Included in all of the business, we are announcing the release of the "Skillet Comatose Deluxe Edition." This release has extra music, videos, making of the record footage, and most importantly to me, a NEW rock song that I produced myself that has never been released before! Lastly, we have semi-begun working on new music for our next studio project. So there is a lot of work in store!

Other things that have happened in the last month or so...of course the bus has broken down. There can be no Skillet without that. I had my first really bad experience with the police in which I considered maybe I was going to be on "Cops" when we were passing through South Carolina. I was walking from the movie theater to the hotel at night. The walk was about a mile or so and it was freezing, so I had a coat and a hood on. Before I knew it, there were three cop cars with me bent over the hood and I was being interrogated and felt for weapons. Finally I was told that there had been a robbery in the area and I matched the description. Something about a "white male that looks flippin cool as heck." The cops asked me if I had any weapons on me and all I could think of was, "Well yeah, but I got a license for these guns!" Then I would proceed in my mind with flexing my arms Hulk Hogan style. I did not do that, but just the thought of it made me giggle a little...moron. Note to self: bad jokes are even less funny when you are being questioned in a robbery.

Cool things: We have had a lot of award nominations and accolades given to us. Some have been nominated by people involved in the music industry and some have been from fans like you guys voting for us. I just want to thank everyone who took the time to call a station or vote online for anything for us! We keep playing music that we hope you guys will like and we will NEVER stop giving back to you who have helped bring us here! Included in the "awards" I mentioned, we have been nominated for a Grammy for "Gospel Rock Album of the Year!"

Final thoughts: I sometimes mention in my emails what my kids are up to for those of you who care. My daughter is legendarily cute, and she has left me speechless with some truth that I feel the world needs to know. This morning she said, "Mom and Dad, if I was a superhero, I wouldn't tell you guys." Knowing that I have taught my daughter to keep her secret identity safe so that she may change the world is something I am very proud of. For instance, the world does not know that I possess "the one ring..." Remember that and keep it in your heart during the holidays...and as always, stand and stay strong.

- John Cooper