Switchfoot is an American alternative rock band from San Diego, California. The band's members are Jon Foreman (lead vocals, guitar), Tim Foreman (bass guitar,backing vocals), Chad Butler (drums, percussion), Jerome Fontamillas (guitar,keyboards, backing vocals), and Drew Shirley (guitar, backing vocals).
They are known for their energetic live shows,[6][7][8] where the three guitarists in the line-up often operate simultaneously. Building on the pop sensibilities of Foreman's songwriting, rounded out by Fontamillas's bringing his industrial roots with hissynthesizer, the band works up "the Switchfoot sound" – a melodic crunch of densely layered sound featuring some electronic experimentation, and often driven by hard-charging guitar riffs, while throwing in a few softer ballads as well.
After early successes in the Christian rock scene, Switchfoot first gained mainstream recognition with the inclusion of four of their songs in the 2002 movie A Walk to Remember. This recognition led to their major label debut, The Beautiful Letdown, which was released in 2003. It went on to sell over 2.6 million copies and produced the band's best-known singles, "Meant to Live" and "Dare You to Move".
According to Jon Foreman, the name "Switchfoot" is a surfing term. "We all love to surf and have been surfing all our lives so to us, the name made sense. To switch your feet means to take a new stance facing the opposite direction. It's about change and movement, a different way of approaching life and music".[9]
The band has completed their seventh studio album, Hello Hurricane, which released in North America on November 10, 2009.[10]
Formation and early years (1996–2002)
Switchfoot was founded in 1996 as Chin Up, consisting of Jon Foreman (USF graduate) and his brother Tim, along with Chad Butler on drums. After playing only a few shows, the band was contacted by Charlie Peacock, and eventually signed to his indie label Re:think Records under the current moniker Switchfoot. Re:think would distribute the first three Switchfoot albums, The Legend of Chin, New Way to Be Human, and Learning to Breathe. Because Re:think was bought out by Christian giant Sparrow Records before Switchfoot's first release, however, the band's and Peacock's intentions of being marketed outside of the Contemporary Christian music scene and reaching a wider audience were put on hold. Consequently, the band was mostly marketed exclusively to Christian radio and retail outlets early in their careers, a time Jon Foreman has described as when "half of who we were was lost."[11]
Of Switchfoot's first three albums, Learning to Breathe was the most successful, being certified gold by the RIAA, and receiving a Grammy nomination for Best Rock Gospel Album.
In 2002, Switchfoot's music was featured prominently in the movie A Walk to Remember. Singer and actress Mandy Moore, who starred in the movie, sang Switchfoot's song "Only Hope" during a scene in the movie. The movie's soundtrack album also featured a duet with Jon Foreman and Moore, as well as four other Switchfoot songs, in addition to Moore's cover of "Only Hope".[12]
In 2004, following the commercial success of The Beautiful Letdown, a compilation titled The Early Years: 1997-2000 was released. It featured Switchfoot's first three indie albums released under re:think records and included the original artwork for all the albums.
Following the exposure that came from A Walk to Remember, Switchfoot attracted attention from multiple record labels and ultimately signed with the major record label,Columbia Records/SonyBMG.[13] Their major label debut, The Beautiful Letdown, under Columbia Records/Red Ink, represented the band's evolution from the predominantly lo-fi, indie rock sound of their early albums, toward a more layered, synth-influenced sound that helped launch the band to mainstream popularity. This shift sonically could be attributed to the fact that the album was the first to include keyboardist Jerome Fontamillas, formerly of industrialbands Mortal and Fold Zandura. Fontamillas had been touring with Switchfoot since 2000, following the release of Learning to Breathe.The Beautiful Letdown has since been certified double platinum, selling more than 2.6 million copies,[14] on the strength of constant touring and the huge mainstream radio hits "Meant to Live" and "Dare You to Move", which has become a cultural icon. A DVD of the band's live concert, Live in San Diego, went platinum as well, and a third single, "This Is Your Life" was released to radio. The song "Gone" received major airplay on Christian radio stations as well. In 2005, Switchfoot become the band of d year..
Nothing Is Sound (2005–06)
Main article: Nothing Is Sound
In 2005 prior to the release of Nothing Is Sound Switchfoot announced that guitarist Drew Shirley (previously the guitarist for All Together Separate) had become the band's fifth member after touring with the band since 2003.[16] Nothing Is Sound, was released on September 13, 2005, and with Shirley's inclusion saw Switchfoot's sound become even more densely layered and guitar-heavy, resulting in an album that was edgier and darker than any of their previous work.[17] "Stars" was released as the first radio single to promote the album, and was a solid hit on mainstream and alternative rock radio stations. "We Are One Tonight" was released as the second single in early 2006.
The album debuted at #3 on the Billboard 200 albums chart, an all-time high for the band, while bassist Tim Foreman attracted headlines by speaking out against the copy-protection[18] used by the label and providing fans a detailed workaround on the band's message board, which was quickly deleted by Sony. This copy-protection is known as Extended Copy Protection, which has been identified by leading anti-virus companies as a trojan horse and a rootkit.
In Spring of 2006 the band introduced "a video diary of life on the road" in the form of free videopodcasts available via iTunes[19] and streaming online on Youtube.com.[20] In addition to featuring snippets of upcoming songs and live performances, the videos gave fans an inside look at the more casual and humorous aspects of the band members' touring lives, as well as featuring footage of the band working on their follow-up to Nothing Is Sound.
Oh! Gravity. (2006–07)
Main article: Oh! Gravity.
Switchfoot's next album, Oh! Gravity., was released on December 26, 2006 to considerable critical acclaim. It entered the Billboard chart at #18[21] and peaked at #1 on iTunes' Top Albums chart.
Before the release of the album, Switchfoot e-mailed a newsletter on June 2 which contained a free download of the song "Daylight to Break", a statement from Foreman implying that the band wanted to have a new album out by the end of the year, as well as a thanks to their fans for helping keep the band together for ten years. The band tried to involve their fans in the creation of the album,[22] setting up a webcam in their recording studio and running a contest for a chance to play the cowbell in the studio with the band.[23]
To promote the album, the band first released the song, "Dirty Second Hands", as a "preview" single via iTunes on September 26.[24] The title song "Oh! Gravity" was also released to iTunes on October 21, sent to radio on October 31 as the lead single for the album,[25] and achieved moderate success at alternative and modern rock radio. The music video for the song premiered on Yahoo! Music on November 13, 2006. The album's second single, "Awakening", was released in early 2007. Although it saw little success on mainstream radio, the video for that song received over one million hits on YouTube in less than three months.
Switchfoot and Christian music
Switchfoot is often referred to as a Christian rock band, mostly due to their continued involvement with the Christian rock scene. The band has always philosophically disagreed with this label: "For us, it's a faith, not a genre", says Jon Foreman. "We've always been very open and honest about where the songs are coming from. For us, these songs are for everyone. Calling us 'Christian rock' tends to be a box that closes some people out and excludes them. And that's not what we're trying to do. Music has always opened my mind—and that's what we want".[47]
In addition to the general market, they also distribute their music to Christian markets, and play larger Christian festivals. Though they hold this position, they have not alienated their Christian fans. As in their indie days, they are still distributed to Christian retail outlets throughSparrow Records/EMI CMG, featured on Christian radio and charts, and presented Dove Awards, even after having been signed to the mainstream Columbia Records from 2003-2007 and currently, Atlantic Records. "[Signing to Columbia was] a realization of something that we'd wanted to be from the beginning," Foreman explains. "When we were signed to re:think Records [an indie label], the goal was to get the music out to everybody. [But] when Sparrow [a Christian label] bought re:think Records, it was evident that our music wasn't going to be in the hands of everybody. As a Christian, I have a lot to say within the walls of the church. But also, as a Christian, I've got a lot to say just about life in general ... So to be able to be on Columbia and on Sparrow felt like the realization of the two sides of what we had to say. It's a dream come true to be able to have songs that are outside of the box."[48]
Following the release of The Beautiful Letdown, the band temporarily stopped playing at Christian festivals and doing interviews with Christian organizations, as they found the speculation about their faith to be distracting from the music. Three years later, Switchfoot began going back on this policy, headlining at large Christian-based music festivals, and agreeing to be featured on the June 2006 cover of CCM Magazine,[49]after declining the opportunity for years.[50][dead link] Yet in many ways they used the opportunity to describe their split from the CCM industry. This has caused some, such as Spin writer Andrew Beaujon, to take the view that "their lyrics often have two different meanings, one meaning for a Christian audience and one meaning for the rest of us. They try to relate to two different groups of people at once".[51]
