Gracefully hard alt-rockers Skillet are set to headline the Sands Steel Stage at Musikfest on August 4. Skillet will add a bit of an edge to an already very diverse 2013 line-up. Musikfest this year is already very pop-heavy, so hard rock and alternative fans will surely rejoice at today’s announcement. Support for the evening will come from Thousand Foot Krutch, Decyfer Down, and We As Human. Ticketsare $29 and $39, and will go on-sale to ArtsQuest Members on April 30 at 10AM, and to the public on May 3 at 10am, via www.musikfest.org.
Skillet formed in Memphis, TN in 1996. After releasing five studio LPs, the band hit the
mainstream with their 2003 album Collide, which cracked the Billboard Top 200 at #179 and garnered the band their first Grammy Award nomination for Best Rock Gospel Album. In 2006, the band released Comatose. The album went gold, and earned Skillet their second Grammy Award nomination for Best Rock/Rap Gospel Album. The band followed up with an even bigger success in 2009 with Awake, which debuted at #2 on the Billboard Top 200, and eventually went platinum. The album won the band the Billboard Music Award for Top Christian Album in 2011. Famous for their extensive touring, Skillet have shared stages with artists like Stone Sour, Creed, Shinedown, Three Days Grace, Breaking Benjamin, Papa Roach, Seether, Theory of a Deadman, Halestorm, and many more. Throughout their career that spans over a decade, the band has been nominated for 2 Grammy Awards, 3 Billboard Music Awards, and 18 GMA Dove Awards (winning in 2008 for Rock Song of The Year – “Comatose”). Skillet will be releasing their ninth studio album, Rise, just in time for Musikfest on June 25.
Thousand Foot Krutch are still touring off their latest album, The End Is Where We Begin, which hit #14 on the Billboard Top 200. Last summer, the band toured with the likes of Shinedown, Godsmack, Staind, Papa Roach, Adelitas Way, P.O.D., and more on the Rockstar Energy Drink Uproar Festival. Decyfer Down’s 2009 album, Crash, hit #66 on the Billboard Top 200 and #3 on the Billboard Christian Albums Chart. They have toured with bands like Breaking Benjamin, Theory of a Deadman, Puddle of Mudd, and RED. We As Human were discovered by Skillet, and recently inked a deal with Atlantic Records. The band released their debut studio album in 2012, produced by Howard Benson (Skillet, Three Days Grace, My Chemical Romance). – by Matt Bishop