JOHN COOPER Says Opening For IRON MAIDEN Is 'Awesomest' Thing SKILLET Has Ever Done

SKILLET frontman John Cooper, who launched a new metal project called FIGHT THE FURY last year, spoke about his love of all things heavy during a recent interview with Anne Erickson of Audio Ink Radio.

Asked for his opinion on artists like Ozzy Osbourne and SLAYER calling it quits, Cooper said (hear audio below): "I'm a humongous Ozzy Osbourne fan — always been, ever since I was a kid. I was never a huge SLAYER fan, though we just played with SLAYER two nights ago, and it was an amazing experience. They are such icons. Anytime you can play with somebody… Whether you love the music or not, it's a real honor to be on the stage with bands like that… I was a massive METALLICA fan, massive Ozzy fan... There's a lot more than that. MEGADETH. But METALLICA is the best metal band of all time, in my opinion. We never played on the same stage as METALLICA, though we did play at the same festival one day, which is kind of bragging rights, I guess. [Laughs] But last year, probably the number one awesomest thing SKILLET's ever done [is that] we opened up for IRON MAIDEN [in Europe] last year — we did three shows together. It was unreal. I love MAIDEN. Huge fan. And they are as amazing as they ever were. Unbelievable."

FIGHT THE FURY released its debut EP, "Still Breathing", last October via Atlantic. The band also features SKILLET guitarist Seth Morrison, along with drummer Jared Ward and guitarist John Panzer III.

SKILLET is currently on the road in support of its tenth full-length album, "Victorious", which was released on August 2 via Atlantic.

SKILLET has sold more than 12 million albums. The band's past four releases — from 2006's "Comatose" to 2016's "Unleashed" — have been certified at least gold by the Recording Industry Association Of America (RIAA). SKILLET's 2009 album "Awake" has gone double platinum.