In case you haven’t heard of Switchfoot or their rousing hit single “Meant to Live,” there are a few things that you should know. The original three members attended UCSD, which means that you can freely assault them with cheers when they take the stage at WinterFest. Although Switchfoot may be labeled as a Christian band, they refrain from preaching. Instead, they infuse their lyrics with universal themes of hope and a spiritual search for meaning and adorn them with pleasing modern-rock tunes.
The band was formed on the beaches of San Diego in 1996 by brothers Jon and Tim Foreman (lead singer/guitarist and bassist, respectively) and Chad Butler (drummer), all of who shared a common passion for music and surfing. “Switchfoot” is a surfing term which means to change position of your feet on the board. The threesome jammed in garages then took their sound on the road. After 20 shows, they were signed by the Christian label re:think, and released Legend of Chin in 1997. With an impressive tour schedule (averaging about 150 shows per year) two more albums, New Way to Be Human and Learning to Breathe, and the addition of guitarist/keyboardist Jerome Fontamillas in 2000, Switchfoot garnered a substantial Christian fan base. In 2001, the band received a Grammy nomination for Best Rock Gospel Album of the Year.
After its success, the band signed with Columbia Records and released its fourth album, The Beautiful Letdown, to a wider audience. Jon Foreman asserts that the album tries to “talk about real pain and real loss and the real crap that goes on every day, and then in that context talk about hope that gets deeper than the wound.”
The album consists of a versatile blend of polished modern rock tracks. “Meant to Live” mixes Creed-like heavy guitars with a chorus that questions people’s obsession with pop culture: “We were meant to live for so much more/Have we lost ourselves?” The poppy “This Is Your Life” makes use of funky keyboard sounds and soft guitars. “More Than Fire,” “Dare You to Move” and “On Fire” rely on melodic acoustic guitars. “Ammunition” resembles tunes by Collective Soul, while “Gone” is the best clap-along Third Eye Blind failed to write. The rhythmic “Adding to the Noise” boldly states, “If we’re adding to the noise/Turn off this song,” and “24” finishes off the album with a soft lullaby.
With sales of The Beautiful Letdown steadily climbing, the single “Meant to Live” getting a healthy jolt of radio overplay, four San Diego Music Awards, and more than 50 song usages on televised shows, the band seems to have accomplished its goal. To top it off, they even got to meet their idol, U2’s Bono, at an AIDS-in-Africa charity event.
Last year, in an interview with Launch, Jon Foreman compared music to surfing. Music is, he said, “loud and sweaty. It’s got a certain smell to it. And at the end of the night there’s this energy that’s filling a room.” Make sure you watch out for this revitalizing force and the spiritual stimulus exerted by Switchfoot when they hit the stage.
