Usually, when it comes to American rock bands, there is an association with something postmodern and somewhat out of alignment with traditional moral values. However, the “Skeleton" is a group that is an exception to this rule. The main goal of this Memphis collective is the promotion of Christianity.
Age
Rock group "Skeleton" celebrates its twentieth anniversary. Of the four members of the group, only bass player and vocalist John Cooper was at the origins of it and participated in all the bands. The practice of inviting session musicians is widespread. Twice the work of "Skeleton" was nominated for the prestigious Grammy Award.
John Cooper and Ken Stewart, before joining their efforts, were members of various Christian groups. The collaboration of these musicians was initiated by their common pastor. About a month later, Fore Front Records drew attention to them and proposed a joint contract. The same pastor recommended to call the Skeleton group: in his opinion, this should express a combination of the most diverse areas of musical art in the work of one collective.
First steps
Already in 1996 the first album of the Skeleton collective debuted. A group led by producer Paul Ambersold decided to name him the same as the collective itself. Songwriting was the work of Stuart and Cooper. The first claimed that the motives were taken from the surrounding life, from biblical texts, church sermons and prayers. Both musicians have repeatedly stated that they want to be the vehicles of divine revelation for confused people. Despite a positive assessment of the disc by experts, he did not take at least some position on any hit parade. Cooper and Stewart, however, were not going to give up. And two years later they released the next album. Now the style has changed: instead of grunge, the group preferred
alternative rock in a more relaxed manner. Soon, during the tour, the group replenished with a new member - Corey Cooper. And in 1999, Ken Stewart left her, instead of him came Kevin Haland. Compared to the original Skeleton album, the group at the turn of the millennium again changed its style: its post-industrial rock became more mature and elaborate, elements of techno and electronic music are included. The team recorded the first concert album Ardent Worship in the style of “worship”, it included ten songs, two of which became a “swan song” for former members.
At the end of August 2001, the fourth album of Skeleton was released, and it was also the first to hit the chart.
On our land
November 2011 was a landmark for Russian fans of the group: she visited Moscow, St. Petersburg and Kaliningrad. After that, “skeletons” performed four times in our country: in 2013 they visited both capitals, Yekaterinburg, Krasnoyarsk, Nizhny Novgorod and Novosibirsk, and in 2014 they visited Krasnodar, Rostov, Voronezh, Kazan, Samara.
Today
When the Skeleton was created, the group almost immediately attracted another member - Trey Maklarkin (drum). In 2004, Cooper won ero The Rock Opera (the largest competition for Christian music), and in March, the tour began with four other prominent bands. Global success was achieved with the Awake album, some of the Skeleton songs included in it, for a long time remained at the top of popularity, used by filmmakers and creators of computer games. The latest album to date was released in the summer of 2013, and so far there is only vague information that another one will appear soon. During the existence of the group, her style has changed repeatedly. The first compositions can be attributed to the
style of post-grunge, then the project moved to industrial metal. The latest albums are written in the aesthetics of alternative rock.