Genres: Alternative/Indie,Christian/Gospel,Pop,SoundtracksChristian music, alternative rock, pop - bands are most often supposed to stick to just one of those categories. But for most of its history, Switchfoot has been crossing and even transcending those classifications. Youth-friendly Christian music, pop-melody alt rock and other such cross-overs are their specialty, mixed in with the energy for which their concerts are known.
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Switchfoot: The New Approach
"It's a dream come true to be able to have songs that are outside of the box."
Christian music, alternative rock, pop - bands are most often supposed to stick to just one of those categories. But for most of its history, Switchfoot has been crossing and even transcending those classifications. Youth-friendly Christian music, pop-melody alt rock and other such cross-overs are their specialty, mixed in with the energy for which their concerts are known.
Switchfoot on the Scene
The band can trace its foundation to 1996, when brothers Tim and Jon Foreman formed a group with drummer Chad Butler. After doing a few shows, famed music producer Charlie Peacock recruited the boys for his indie Re:think Records label. It was with him that the band released their 1997 debut LP The Legend of Chin, their award-winning 1999 album New Way to Be Human and their breakout 2000 effort, Learning to Breathe.
Despite the commercial success and Grammy nod of Learning to Breathe (which was also keyboardist Jamie Fontanilla's first with the band, having joined that year), the group felt cornered. This was due largely to the purchase of their indie label by Christian super-label Sparrow Records, which limited them to a largely religious market for some time.
Breakout success came in the form of the 2002 film A Walk to Remember, where four of the band's songs were used and one was covered by Mandy Moore. All became major mainstream hits, and began the group's transfer to the bigger mainstream market.
Switchfoot Makes It Big
A Walk to Remember placed Switchfoot squarely on the map, and the group was able to release The Beautiful Letdown under Columbia Records/Red Ink. With more mainstream production and synth-influenced sounds, the group became much more accessible to the larger music market. The Beautiful Letdown went on to achieve double platinum status, thanks largely to the success of iconic tracks like Dare You to Move and Meant to Live.
After the multi-award success of The Beautiful Letdown, the band added a fifth member, Drew Shirley, in 2005. That same year, the five-man lineup released Nothing is Sound to a debut high of #3 on the Billboard charts. Their fifth album made waves on both the Christian and mainstream scenes with Stars and We Are One Tonight. Oh! Gravity came out in 2006 and did as well; debuting at #18 on the Billboard and made it to #1 on iTunes.
2007 saw the band severing ties with mainstream label Columbia Records to form their own, lowercase people records, which they said was to better connect with fans. Their departure was marked by the release of greatest hits album The Best Yet later that year, a final collaboration with the label.
In early 2009, the band announced that they had not one but four albums' worth of songs, which they would release consecutively. The first, Hello Hurricane, was already released in November 2009, while Vice Verses is slated for 2010. Hello Hurricane was licensed to Atlantic Records, which the group said was to better distribute it around the world.
Did You Know That...
- ...the band was formed under a different name? They first called themselves Chin Up, but renamed themselves Switchfoot when they signed on with Peacock.
- ...they're a group with a cause? They've worked with movements like Habitat for Humanity and DATA, to name a few.
- ...fans are a big part of the act? In the final steps of recording for Oh! Gravity, the group held a fan contest to play the cowbell in one of the tracks. The position was eventually won by Sarah Mooridian in August 2006.
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