September 2012

I have been known to wait until the last minute to write my blogs. This means they usually get written on Thursday night or Friday morning, but today, I'm really cutting it close here. At this moment in time, it is 11:19am, and I have just started my blog. I think I need to get on a schedule.

My last minute topic is...SKILLET! What else can I write an entire page of information on in less than thirty minutes anyway? More specifically, I want to address Skillet's new album, not Awake, but the new album set to release late summer of 2012. Such a painfully long time to wait for new Skillet music, especially with Awake being such a disappointment to me and many other Panheads.

Now, Awake wasn't a bad album. It just wasn't the album we were all waiting for and expecting. If you know your Skillet history, Skillet officially became a rock band after they released Collide in 2003. All the albums before then were either more electronic or softer rock. After Collide came Comatose in 2006, and in my opinion, this is the album that made Skillet so popular, both in the secular and Christian genres. It's definitely my favorite album, with songs like Rebirthing and Whispers In The Dark rocking my face off. This was the album Skillet was promoting when I became a really obsessive Panhead. I listened to Skillet for a long time, but Comatose was the album for me. It was the first Skillet record I ever bought, and I loved it to death. I love Collide as well, but Comatose was different and awesome in it's own unique way. I don't think there will ever be another album as awesome as Comatose.

When they announced the new album in 2008, I freaked out. By this time, I owned almost all of the Skillet CDs you could buy, blasted them in my room on a daily basis, and had my own handmade poster of them in my room. Some people in my church even called me Skillet instead of Selena. I followed the production of this album like bankers watch their stocks. I ate up the little bits and pieces of the new album that they allowed to be released on the podcast. It was so exciting for me.

You can imagine that when August 2009 finally came around, and Awake finally hit the stores, I was very excited. I had actually already listened to all but two of the songs on the new album, but they were low quality anyways, and I needed a CD copy of this record to add to my collection. I bought it the day after it came out (only because my dad refused to take me on the day it came out), and immediately put it to my harsh tests.

It was a major disappointment. Were the songs bad? Only a couple. Was it what I had expected? Not at all. I knew Skillet by now, and I was expecting something harder, something fresher, not this pop stuff. But still, I listened to it until I had every lyric, guitar solo, and drum beat memorized. It was going to be a long time until I had anything new anyways.

So Awake let me down. I went into a period in my life I like to call my most un-Panhead days since I was 12. Skillet was even not my favorite band for a short while there. But talk of the next album drew me back. I was riding on the hope that maybe John Cooper would come to his senses and realize that the Panheads wanted something different. In the interviews talking about the next album, he does mention that he wants to go back to the Collide era, which is Skillet talk for harder rock. This has given me great joy in my heart. This is what I was hoping for with Awake.

Another thing that has inspired me to hold on to my favorite band a little longer is Seth Morrison. I will miss Ben Kasica very much on this next album, but Seth's guitar playing is a little different than Ben's, more crunchy and less classical. I'm sure his influence on the new record will bring a welcome change.

That's about it. I'm going to buckle down for the next nine months or so, not let myself get too excited, and hope for a Collide like album. Skillet, please don't let me down again. I'm trusting you.

It is now 11:42am. I'm pretty good. B)

Welcoming a New Member: Ben, Seth, and Jonathan

This week is a music blog sort of week, don't you agree? I think I need to take a week off from all this intense stuff anyway. Let's talk about Skillet, shall we? OK!

I've had a Tumblr blog for a couple of months now, mostly because I enjoy blogging so much that I needed a daily blog as well as a weekly blog. There are a lot of obsessive weirdos on Tumblr, so I was fitting right in with my Legend of Zelda/Skillet blog. I had a ridiculously small amount of followers for the first month, but I didn't care. I was having fun blogging! I didn't care who cared.

I follow a lot of Skillet blogs, and one day, as I was checking out my feed, I noticed I had a lot of Skillet spam. Hundreds of pictures of John, Jen, Korey, and even Seth decorated my feed. I was enjoying it, until I got close to the end of my feed and I hadn't seen a single picture of Ben. As is my way, I got a little upset and completely changed my blog to a blog about Ben Kasica. You can see it here.

History lesson break: Skillet is composed of John Cooper, (hey, Skillet just came on the radio!) who plays bass and sings, Korey Cooper, who sings back-up and plays keys and guitar, and Jen Ledger, who sings back-up and plays drums. Up until February, they had a forth member, Ben Kasica, who played lead guitar. But Ben left the band to pursue other things, and spend more time devoted to his other ministries. Ben was my favorite member of the band, so I was pretty heart broken when he announced his departure. I've written before of how that was the final nail in the coffin for my Skillet obsession, long story, you can read about it here.

Along with may other "Panheads" (Skillet fans), I eagerly awaited the reveal of the new guitar player. A lead guitarist is essential to Skillet's live shows, so we all new it had to happen soon. Our anticipation was quickly rewarded, as rumors of a new trial guitarist sprang up. His name was Jonathan Salas.

I Googled his name the minute I heard, and was... disappointed to say the least. I knew that it would be hard if not impossible for Skillet to find someone to replace the likes of Ben, but I knew they could do better than this. He wasn't a bad guitarist, in fact he was quite talented, I'm not saying he wasn't. But he wasn't Skillet. He didn't fit in, he wasn't what Skillet needed, it just didn't work for me. Apparently it wasn't working for Skillet either, as no more than a month after Jonathan started touring with them, he left.

More drama ensued among the Panhead community. We had to say goodbye to Ben, welcome Jonathan, and say goodbye to Jonathan in such close proximity, and now a new guitarist was on the way. I have to admit that during these events, I was in an all time Skillet obsession low, so I'm not entirely sure how things went, but as April came to a close, Seth Morrison entered the Skillet.



I liked him much better than Jonathan. I liked him before he even joined Skillet. He entered a contest Thousand Foot Krutch was holding for a new guitarist, and I voted for him. I was pretty happy that he was going to try out my favorite band, twice...

You can see Seth in action with Skillet here.

The main point of this post is to let my fine Tumblr followers and blogger followers alike that I'm not holding anything against Seth for replacing my favorite guitarist. I might sound a little bitter at times, but I really enjoy the changes, and I'm eager to see if Seth stays or not, and what he's going to bring to the next record. I'm also excited about what Ben has been doing with his recording company Skies Fall Studios, and his clothing line with Life. Love. Music. I have a blog devoted to him yes, but I'm no longer sad about his departure. I will miss his involvement with Skillet very much, but all of us have to go through changes, and follow the path the Lord is leading us down. I wish Ben, Seth, and Jonathan the best in their new careers!

What I Do When I'm really Super Bored

These are banners I make on my computer when I have nothing else to do. If you like them I can make you one, just send me some pictures and colors you want me to use, and I'll see what I can do. Ok, here they are. Click on them to view them full size.


This would be Andrew Garcia.


This is Ben Kasica from Skillet. The words are the lyrics to "Treasure" by Flyleaf.


Danny Gokey......duh. Not my best work.


This is my sister Genevieve. I took these pictures by the way.


John Cooper from Skillet, with the rest of the band in the background.


I just made this one really fast for my friend Haley. Lee Dewyze in case you can't read (which would be weird, why would you come to my blog if you can't read?)


Creepy John Cooper.


This is a wallpaper I made custom for my computer, but it ended up looking kinda weird. It's John Cooper and Ben Kasica, with a poem I wrote.

These are all banners I made for the Panhead Awards 2009.







ALL COPYRIGHTS TO BANNERS BELONG TO ME! PLEASE ASK BEFORE YOU USE THEM! The only exception is if you were a winner of the Panhead Awards 2009, in which case please feel free to take any one of the Award banners.