 Rarely does a rock band combine explosive guitars with an
intense longing for meaning. Jon Foreman and Switchfoot, however, yearn for
something more than what pop-culture is selling. "If I'm content as an artist to
write a hit song or have a platinum record, then I'll have failed a lot of my
fellow human beings," says Foreman. "We have the best jobs in the world because
we play music for a living and love doing it, but we didn't get into this to try
and sell something. For us, it's about communicating and connecting with people
on a different level."
Musically, Switchfoot draws as much from the Police and James
Taylor as from the Beatles and Stevie Wonder to create swirling guitar pop, full
of effortlessly arching melodies and textures that shift in continual, sensual
motion. "We've never fit in any of the genre boxes," says Foreman. "I think that
diversity is our strength."
Over the course of the past several years, more than 40
Switchfoot songs have been used for several nationally televised shows,
including "Dawson's Creek" (five songs), "Regis and Kelly," "Felicity," and many
more. "The context in which the songs are used can be pretty funny," says
Foreman. "I remember writing a song about spiritual longing and then seeing it
played back during a hot tub scene on some show. The songs can wind up very far
from the edge of the bed where they were originally written."
Switchfoot's roots can be traced back to the beaches of San
Diego in the mid-`90s, when the Foremans and Butler connected as surfers (Fontamillas
joined in September of 2000). Though they competed in national surf
championships on weekends and earned product endorsements from equipment
companies, the real bond came from a common love of music. They decided to form
a band, chose the name Switchfoot (a surfing term), put themselves through
months of sweaty garage band workouts, and then hit the road. After just 20
gigs, Switchfoot signed with re:Think records and released Legend of Chin in
1997. They've averaged 150 shows a year ever since, while selling more than
400,000 copies of their first three albums (Legend of Chin, New Way to Be Human
and Learning to Breathe) combined. Shortly after recording The Beautiful
Letdown, Switchfoot signed with Columbia. The album has since become the band's
fastest-selling record to date. "Tim, Chad, Jerome and I have seen pretty much
everything over the past six years," says Foreman. "We've been at this ever
since Tim graduated from high school. But this all feels like a new chapter. I
think this album is where our future begins."
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