Switchfoot


Switchfoot is an American rock band from San Diego, California. The members are Jon Foreman, Tim Foreman, Chad Butler, and Jerome Fontamillas. Guitarist Drew Shirley was a member from 2005 to 2022.
After early successes in the Christian rock scene, Switchfoot gained mainstream recognition with the inclusion of four of their songs in the 2002 film A Walk to Remember. This led to the release of their major label debut The Beautiful Letdown, which was released in 2003 and featured the hit singles "Meant to Live" and "Dare You to Move". Their fifth album, Nothing Is Sound peaked at number three on the Billboard 200, and included the single "Stars." Their seventh album, Hello Hurricane received a Grammy Award for Best Rock or Rap Gospel Album. They have been noted for their energetic live shows.
According to Jon Foreman, the name Switchfoot comes from 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."

History

Formation and early years (1996–2002)

Switchfoot was founded in 1996 as Chin Up, consisting of Jon Foreman and his brother Tim along with Chad Butler on drums. After playing a few shows including the Foreman brothers' dad's megachurch North Coast Calvary Chapel in Carlsbad, California, the band was contacted by music industry veteran Charlie Peacock and eventually signed to his indie label Re:think Records under the current moniker, Switchfoot. Re:think went on to distribute the first three Switchfoot albums, The Legend of Chin, New Way to Be Human, and Learning to Breathe. Because Re:think was bought by Christian giant Sparrow Records before Switchfoot's first release, 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 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."
Of Switchfoot's first three albums, Learning to Breathe was the most successful, receiving a Grammy nomination for Best Rock Gospel Album.
Later in 2002, Switchfoot's music was featured prominently in the movie A Walk to Remember, starring singer and actress Mandy Moore, who sang Switchfoot's song "Only Hope" during a scene in the movie. In addition to Moore's cover of "Only Hope", Switchfoot's songs "You", "Learning to Breathe", and "I Dare You to Move" were showcased in the film, as well as their own original version of "Only Hope" towards the end of the film.

''The Beautiful Letdown'' (2003–2005)

After the exposure which came from A Walk to Remember, Switchfoot attracted attention from multiple record labels and eventually they signed with Columbia Records/SonyBMG. 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. The shift sonically could be attributed to the fact that the album was the first to include keyboardist Jerome Fontamillas, formerly of industrial bands 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 triple platinum, selling more than 3 million copies behind constant touring and the huge mainstream radio hits "Meant to Live" and "Dare You to Move". A live DVD depicting one of the band's live concerts, Live in San Diego, went platinum as well and a third single, "This Is Your Life" was released to radio. In addition, the song "Gone" received major airplay on Christian radio stations as well.
After the runaway success of The Beautiful Letdown, a compilation titled The Early Years: 1997-2000 was released, which featured Switchfoot's first three indie albums released under Re:think records including the original artwork for all the albums. The collection has since been certified gold with total sales of over 500,000 copies.
Switchfoot also received five 2005 Dove Award nominations, and won four, including Artist of the year.

''Nothing Is Sound'' (2005–2006)

In 2005, prior to the release of Nothing Is Sound, Switchfoot announced that guitarist Drew Shirley had joined as the band's fifth member after touring with the band since 2003. Nothing Is Sound was released on September 13, 2005; with Shirley's inclusion Switchfoot's sound became even more densely layered and guitar-heavy, resulting in an album which was edgier and darker than any of their previous work. "Stars" was released as the first radio single to promote the album, and was a solid hit on mainstream and alternative rock radio stations. It was used in ads for HBO. "We Are One Tonight" was released as the second single in early 2006; it was also featured in ads for the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin, Italy.
The album debuted at No. 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 used by the label and providing fans with a detailed workaround on the band's message board, which was quickly deleted by Sony. The copy-protection is known as Extended Copy Protection, which has been identified by leading anti-virus companies as being a trojan horse and a rootkit.
During the spring 2006 leg of the Nothing Is Sound Tour, the band introduced "a video diary of life on the road" in the form of free video podcasts available via iTunes and streaming online on YouTube. 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; it features footage of the band working on their follow-up to Nothing Is Sound.

''Oh! Gravity.'' (2006–2007)

Switchfoot's next album, Oh! Gravity., was released on December 26, 2006, to considerable critical acclaim. It entered the Billboard chart at No. 18 and peaked at No. 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, 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.
Promoting the album the band first released the song, "Dirty Second Hands", as a "preview" single via iTunes on September 26. The title track "Oh! Gravity" was also released to iTunes on October 21 and was sent to radio on October 31 as the lead single for the album, seeing limited success at alternative and modern rock radio. The album's second single, "Awakening", was released in early 2007. Although it had virtually no play on mainstream radio, the accompanying band-funded music video song received over one million hits on YouTube in less than three months. When Oh! Gravity was pre-ordered a 3-song EP called Oh! Switchfoot was included. The short CD included three songs: "The Sound in My Mouth", "C'mon C'mon", and "Oh! Gravity ".

Major-label independence, ‘’The Best Yet’’ (2007–2008)

Later on August 10, 2007, Jon Foreman revealed that the band had severed ties with Columbia Records in order to release music as an Indie band. “Neither party has any hard feelings,” he said of the split a few months later. “I think for us, the reason why we signed with Columbia was because of the people that were there. So it’s very understandable when all those people are gone, you don’t hold any real bad feelings or good feelings towards a company name. I think that’s part of the problem with the corporate entity as a whole is that there’s no true responsibility.” In October 2007, the band announced that they had created a new record label called lowercase people records, in order to better make a direct connection with their fans.
Jon Foreman began working on his own set of solo EPs ; the first of these was released on November 27, 2007, the last on June 10, 2008. “Your Love Is Strong” is the most well known from the string of releases. Each of his EPs contained six songs. At the end of the process, he released a sort of “best of” album called Limbs and Branches. Foreman wrote two additional songs for this called “Over the River” and “Broken from the Start”. Once all four EPs were released, they were re-released on vinyl in limited quantity. Foreman also began a side project with Sean Watkins of Nickel Creek which was originally called “The Real SeanJon” but later renamed “Fiction Family“.
With their new status as an independent band, Switchfoot embarked on their 2007 fall tour, playing shows with Relient K and Ruth. The tour, dubbed the “Appetite for Construction Tour“, was designed to benefit Habitat For Humanity with the bands donating one dollar per ticket sold to the cause. In addition, Foreman wrote the song “Rebuild“ with Matt Thiessen from Relient K, and released it as a way to raise additional money for Habitat. By the end of the tour, the bands had raised over $100,000 for Habitat for Humanity. With no new album to promote, the band continued touring for philanthropic causes, booking a short national tour in March through May, partnering with and benefitting the organization To Write Love on Her Arms.
In March 2008, the band wrote and recorded a new song called “This Is Home“ for the film ‘’The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian‘’. The song was included on the film’s official soundtrack and an accompanying music video was also filmed, with footage from the film.
Later that year, Columbia Records/Sony Music released a Switchfoot greatest hits compilation album titled ‘’The Best Yet‘’, a sort of “final farewell from Sony.”