Scott Weiland and the Wildabouts’ guitarist Jeremy Brown died on Monday, a day before the release of the group’s first album, “Blaster.”

Here is the story from Rolling Stone.

Please keep Brown, his family and the band in your prayers.

Here is a link to Fireflight’s new video for “We Are Alive.” The 15-year-old band’s first new record in more than three years, “INNOVA,” releases May 5.

@brandonspeck

Skillet is in Tupelo, Miss. tonight, the birthplace of King Elvis Presley. Elvis moved from Tupelo to Memphis, also the native home of Skillet frontman John Cooper. But that’s the only connection the child version of Cooper would have had.

The hard rock star wasn’t allowed to listen to Elvis.

“I wasn’t allowed to listen to rock music. So Elvis was kind of like the anti-Christ at our house,” Cooper said. “I couldn’t even listen to Christian rock music for years and years. My parents are very religious and they really believed that, you know, drum beat was from the devil and all that kind of stuff and thought the devil was using Christian rock music to get people out of Heaven and into Hell.”

Cooper fell in love with rock ‘n’ roll at friends’ houses and coupled with his faith, has turned into his passionate pulpit.

“I just fell in love with rock music. It was passionate and aggressive and it described the way that I felt,” Cooper said. “I got really into Christian music because I loved the idea that this music that meant so much to me could be used for a good purpose, could have a good message.”

Skillet is a touring machine, Christian circuits like Thursday’s Winter Jam, but also with secular bands including Seether, Puddle of Mud, Stone Sour and Halestorm.

Cooper is passionate about his Christian beliefs and never hesitates to make that known from any stage, but he never intends on anything becoming preachy. Music, though, is intended to be personal expression.

“I think it’s important that we are free to be ourselves,” Cooper said, “free to say what we believe and hopefully get that message across in a way that is not necessarily preachy, but just honest. And I think that that comes through in the lyrics, but also I talk about it in interviews and yes, from stage, I talk about my faith in Jesus, because it’s very natural.”

It’s where his lyrics, written alongside wife and rhythm guitarist Korey, are founded.

“We’re honest about who we are and what we believe and we kind of let the music hopefully inspire people, but yes, that message has always been very, very important to me and I think if you take that message out of Skillet, I think you don’t really have Skillet anymore. I think that’s what defines us and makes our music inspirational to people.

“Even people that aren’t religious at all say, ‘Something about your music makes me feel good and I think the heart of that is my faith in God and the fact that we’re so open about it.”

So Head tweeted Monday that Love & Death music is in the works.

J.R. posted this teaser in February.

The wait is on.

@brandonspeck

Tucked away in the back of Tupelo’s Megasports Go-Karts and Fun Center, Skillet cut its teeth in front of a few handfuls of teenage rock ‘n’ roll fans.

Nearly two decades later, Megasports is gone, but Skillet is still relentlessly touring.

“Oh my gosh, that’s ages ago,” said Skillet lead vocalist John Cooper, the sole remaining member of the trio that played those Tupelo days. “It’s funny, when you tour and you go back to the same places over and over, in some ways it seems like a long time and in some ways it doesn’t.”

Cooper and the foursome (Korey Cooper, wife/rhythm guitar/keyboard/vocals; Jen Ledger, drums/vocals; Seth Morrison, lead guitar) returns to Tupelo Thursday to headline Winter Jam Tour – right across the road from the building that formerly housed Megasports.

“It’s been nearly half my life from that time,” Cooper said. “A lot of great memories from that time. Some bad memories, too, but a lot of good ones.”

The hard rock outfit is the hardest rock band on the eclectic Christian tour, that also includes rock acts Family Force 5 and new band Veridia. There are also contemporary acts like Jeremy Camp and Francesca Battistelli. Doors open at 6 p.m. Show starts at 7. All seats are general admission and the show is free, with a suggested donation of $10.

Since those early days in Tupelo, Skillet has released nine albums, two Grammy-nominated, and has sold more than 2 million records in the US alone. Cooper and Co. no longer have to set up and take down their own set. Back in the day, that kept them from enjoying the go-karts and hitting cages on the trip from hometown Memphis to Tupelo.

“Now it’s more like press, and press, and running the business,” Cooper said, “but not actually doing the physical work. We have a little more time to focus on other things.”

The natural question for a rock band started in Memphis and playing in Tupelo could easily revolve around native son Elvis Presley. But Cooper, nowadays the face of an internationally-acclaimed hard rock band, has no such story to tell.

“I wasn’t allowed to listen to rock music. So Elvis was kind of like the anti-Christ at our house,” Cooper said. “I couldn’t even listen to Christian rock music for years and years. My parents are very religious and they really believed that, you know, drum beat was from the devil and all that kind of stuff and thought the devil was using Christian rock music to get people out of Heaven and into Hell.”

Cooper fell in love with rock ‘n’ roll at friends’ houses and coupled with his faith, has turned into his passionate pulpit.

“I just fell in love with rock music. It was passionate and aggressive and it described the way that I felt,” Cooper said. “I got really into Christian music because I loved the idea that this music that meant so much to me could be used for a good purpose, could have a good message.”

Deena Jakoub at VooDoo Fest. (veridiamusic.com)

@brandonspeck

Winter Jam is the Internet of modern-day concerts, playing venues full of an eclectic group of ears. VERIDIA is a new beneficiary, the alternative/pop rock act on the final leg of the three-month tour.

“It’s been a really great experience and a really great way for exposure,” said vocalist Deena Jakoub, “especially with Skillet headlining.

Skillet is the closest to what VERIDIA does, a giant plus for the young band with the multitudes of Panheads at each show.

“A lot of them are getting to see what we do, but all together, it’s been really great to play with such an eclectic style of show,” Jakoub said.

The lineup includes rock act Family Force 5, too, but also contemporary acts Jeremy Camp, Francesca Battistelli and Newsong. Jakoub is a fan of power-vocalist Blanca. She says the variation hasn’t made for a tough crowd.

“They’re ready to jump up and down and scream and let it all out,” she said.

VERIDIA released their “Inseparable” EP in Feb. 2014 and have opened for Red and Demon Hunter. Jakoub is proud to be one of the latest in a rock scene full of female-fronted bands – Lzzy Hale (Halestorm); Maria Brink (In This Moment); Kristen May (Flyleaf) to name a few. Guitarist Korey Cooper and drummer Jen Ledger are prominently featured in Skillet.

“It’s really refreshing. I’m an only child and I kind of guess I always wanted a bunch of brothers and it sort of ended up like that,” Jakoub said, “traveling with a bunch of dudes. It’s always a good time.”

Brandon Brown (guitar), Kyle Levy (drums) and Trevor Hinesley (guitar) round out the foursome.

Winter Jam isn’t the only melting pot VERIDA is involved in. Jakoub and Brown moved to Nashville from Dallas, where Levy and Hinesley joined the current lineup.

“You really only hear more about the country side of things, because that’s what it was,” Jakoub says of Nashville. “It probably will always be a country town, but all around the city, there’s so many amazing acts that perform every weekend, that you really don’t ever get tired of it.”

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