Page 19 - Black Velvet Magazine Issue 108

BV108 pg 14-19 Skillet Interview.qxp_BV108 pg 19 12/06/2023 20:47 Page 6

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opinions, I don’t mind; but you asked me mine. agree or not. It hasn’t been about trying to make know, if you want to get a vax, get it. If you want
I don’t mind what theirs are, but to me I just kind someone else be like me; it’s just been about ex- to get ten, get it. If you want to wear a double
of felt very alone, like, ‘Am I the only one that pressing my life story and my experience. I think mask, wear it. If you don’t want to work, don’t
feels this way?’” that the pandemic sort of made me feel like work; if you do want to, do. It was just very much
there were some things that I needed to say. like, you’ve got to let other people make some
n ‘Valley Of Death’ John sings, ‘The world Maybe that’s where it changed. All of a sudden, decisions about their lives. I saw what was hap-
II wanted turned to night’. We ask if, as a I felt like, ‘Oh, I have to say that. I can’t be silent pening…I have, I had two teenagers at the time;
band or on a personal level, has the pandemic about this’. In America one of those things…and my daughter graduated high school during the
changed his priorities or any goals that he had I know not everybody is going to agree on this, pandemic, so she did the online graduation, if
set? and again, I don’t mind if people don’t agree with you will. It was depressing seeing her and her
“Hmmm…” John ponders. “You’re going me on this, but in America, people were going friends not be able to have any social contact for
deep on this interview, I’ve got somebody from mental about the vaccine, masking, and all of a months at a time. I just felt that this was really
my label here, I hope he didn’t want me to shut sudden if you didn’t get a vaccine you lose not good for young people. It’s a hard time to
up!” John laughs as he turns and points over to friends; you might lose family; you might lose grow up. I mean being eighteen and fifteen is
Skillet’s PR guy, who is sitting alongside Skillet’s your job. It was insane. There’s a friend of mine, hard anyway, but it’s really hard when you’re not
guitarist, Seth Morrison, on the sofa situated on I won’t say the name of the band; a big band allowed to see your friends ever again, with no
the opposite side of the dressing room. kicked their guitar player out after 18 years of hope in the future of it ever changing. I realise
“I would say, yes. In some ways. You know, playing in a band together, because he wouldn’t that a lot of people will not agree with me about
Skillet has always been open about who we are; get vaccinated. And I was just like, this is ab- that, but I’m just like, ‘Screw that, I’m not going
open about what we believe; I think very authen- solutely an un-American thing that is happening to live that way and I don’t think it’s good for
tic, and also very inclusive of other people that and my position was, I think very inclusive, you young people.’ So, I just became outspoken
about saying, ‘Hey, stop hating on people that
disagree with you about it. Let people make their
own decisions’. And some people got really
mad. So, I would say for me it was an issue I felt
like I could not be silent about, because I’m see-
ing what it’s doing to the kids and it’s not good.
And the real annoying thing is that no matter
how much scientific evidence comes out saying,
‘It probably wasn’t a good idea to lock down for
a year. Probably wasn’t good for the kids; it’s not
good for their mental health’. No one’s apolo-
gised. None of my friends have said, ‘Sorry, you
were probably right.’ Nobody is going to apolo-
gise, nobody’s going to change, and it’s really
annoying. I don’t need them to apologise. I just
want things to go back to when we were friends
again. I don’t need an apology, just let’s move
on. But, a lot of people don’t want to move on.”
John says that he wonders what would hap-
pen if Covid23 came tomorrow. Would it all hap-
pen the same way again? Have we learnt
anything or not? What does this mean for the fu-
ture? “If they can make me do this, what else
can they make me do?” John questions. “I love
history, I’m not a history buff, but I enjoy history.
I’m quite fluent on the Russian Revolution and
Karl Marx, and those kinds of things. If you’ve
read any history this seems really familiar, and
this is kind of quite frightening. it’s like, ‘What in
God’s name is going to happen the next time?’”

t’s an answer none of us know. The pan-
Idemic created a much greater division
within societies across the globe and not just po-
litically, particularly in the United States. Now
that the restrictions have been lifted, let's hope
we can find a way to reunite and learn together
- listen without judgement; accept others will not
always share your viewpoint and be more toler-
ant of that. Let's be kinder to each other.
As Nelson Mandela once said, 'For to be
free is not merely to cast off one's chains, but to
live in a way that respects and enhances the
freedom of others.'
Visit www.skillet.com for more info on Skil-
let.

Words By Penny and Sam Gower

SKILLET