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This is a test post. Switchfeed, the extinct Switchfoot blog, is being resurrected as Switchface. We lost the old domain because it expired and we failed to renew in time. But things happen for a reason. Stay tuned for updates on Hurricane-era Switchfoot...

Hello switchfoot world.

I was listening to "The Best Yet" earlier today, realizing what a great, well-flowing selection of songs it was, a greatest hits collection ideal for the average uninitiated music fan. It is in stores now, if you wanna check it out or if you're looking for a Christmas gift idea. It is a CD that sums up extremely well the era of Switchfoot up until now, and really shows why this band has captured the hearts of millions - and I guess it's a nice way to close the Columbia chapter as they look forward to explore fresh directions in the future. Click here for a review I came across that waxes high praise. And here's the recent blurb from the band about this and other happenings (like new tour dates with 3 Doors Down):

Hola amigos!

We are very happy to announce that we have just released our 1st EVER greatest hits cd, titled "The Best Yet." This 18 song collection includes the newly released song "This Is Home", as well as such tracks as "Dare You To Move," Meant To Live," and "This Is Your Life." Click here for the track listing.

Today, we are also releasing the Deluxe Edition. This edition includes a DVD containing 14 music videos and band commentary. Includes video favorites like "Stars", "Dare you to Move", and "Meant To Live", along with rarities spanning our entire career.

The Best Yet Deluxe Edition will be included in this year's Holiday package which includes a new unreleased Switchfoot B-side, and much more! This special package is now available and in limited quantities. So place your order now, and have a Christmas party in November!

Purchase the Holiday Package HERE
Purchase "the best yet" (standard edition)
Purchase "the best yet" (deluxe edition)

Buy the standard version on iTunes here.

Also...
NEW DECEMBER TOUR DATES WITH 3 DOORS DOWN
Switchfoot will be joining 3 Doors Down on tour this December throughout the Southeast and Mid-Atlantic US. Please see tour dates here for more info.

SWITCHFOOT ON MYSPACE
Check out Switchfoot's "Memories of Home While Touring Playlist" on Myspace, click here!

JON FOREMAN SOLO DATE - THE STAND, BIRMINGHAM, UK - NOV 8, 2008
Jon will be heading to the UK for a special performance at a benefit concert for Hope For Justice. For more info, visit www.hopeforjustice.org.uk

As McCain began his concession speech, the audio from the giant televisions had been turned off in favor of music. So while McCain, clearly emotional, thanked his supporters and admitted he'd lost, the rock band Switchfoot's "This Is Your Life" played.

"This is your life," go the lyrics. "Are you where you want to be?" About halfway through McCain's speech, the music went off and the party's standard-bearer could be heard.

(Acronyms are so handy). Hey friends, we've got another September "birthday"! Indeed, on this day 8 years ago, Learning To Breathe was released as Switchfoot's 3rd studio album.


The final album released on the label "Re:Think," and the final album as a 3-piece band, this was a whole different creature than the previous New Way To Be Human, and even showed some signs of sounds to come on The Beautiful Letdown. Of course, this was much more than just a transition album, even if it did have a theme of movement. With songs like "Learning To Breathe," "The Loser," the original version of "I Dare You To Move," and not to mention one of my personal all-time favorites, "Love Is The Movement," you have to admit it - this is a great disc. Here's what one of its creators had to say about it:

“’Learning to Breathe’ felt like we were beginning to hit our stride as a band. Two albums and five years of touring had matured us as a band. This was the most prepared we had ever been before entering the studio. These were songs we’d been playing live as a band, trying out new ideas. There was a sense of confidence upon entering the studio that we’d never felt before at the beginning of a project. This was an enjoyable album, recorded in six weeks with long-time friend/producer Charlie Peacock and newcomer Jaquire King. This album felt like we were turning the corner -- we had finally demystified the recording process, and we were no longer intimidated by it.” -Tim

"Welcome to the fallout: where the truth and the shadows have become blurred. This is the incompletion... and we are holding our breath. But look! The winds of redemption have come to within the confines of our frozen fists. "Behold, I make all things new." And in this newness there is hope for the hopeless, where the eternal lines of the heavens collide with our own humanity. In the divine comedy where up is down and down is up we lose ourselves to find ourselves. Love is the movement. This is the revolution."

The conducting of interviews over the telephone (read "cell phone") is a common occurrence during tours. For example, there are 3 right here.

Ex. 1: Tim spoke with HamptonRoads.com on Sept 11th, discussing his years of living in Virginia Beach, and re-dealing with some of the same old issues:

...lead singer, Jon Foreman, and bassist, brother Tim, lived in Virginia Beach in the 1980s.

Tim, 30, remembers it well. "We were just surf punks, so we would just spend all of our time in the North End."

The area has changed a lot since then, he said.

"I've been to town maybe once or twice a year since we've been touring for the last 12 years, so I've been able to watch it. It's really a fun, hip place these days."

They don't worry about labels, either. Do the Christian rockers make up a "Christian rock band"?

That label doesn't quite work for Foreman.

"I think it shrinks what, to me, is the most important aspect of who I am. I think my faith is bigger than a genre, and genres were invented to sell records."

Jon Foreman, who writes nearly all the band's songs, uses them to explore themes of soul-searching and socio-political consciousness.

"Everyone is on their own journey, and whenever you try and define people ... it puts them on display like [they are] in some sort of a zoo cage," he said. "[These songs] are basically signposts on the road of the journey that I'm on, where I'm learning the need to understand the world around me."

“It’s some new territory for us musically,” Butler told Alternative Addiction in a recent interview. “I think people are going to be surprised when they hear it, that it’s Switchfoot. I’m thrilled about it, to finally have the capacity and the freedom to do it.”

...not only has their band grown in size over the years (with the addition of Jerome, and later with second guitarist, Drew), but their show has grown increasingly more dramatic. While still fun in many ways, front man Jon Foreman's stage presence has grown a bit more theatric in mood. When he speaks about issues - whether carefully brushing elbows with politic topics or spiritual issues - they're often cryptic for the sake of being poetic or poignant. Gone are the days of the college-age trio singing about Chem classes or company cars. I guess these changes stand out so much more when sandwiched between a free spirit like Randolph and the jovial down-to-earth blue collar personalities of Third Day. Regardless, love or hate the changes Switchfoot have made, they still put on a strong indie-flavored pop rock set.

Hola folks,
We've settled in on a list of tunes for limbs and branches- thanks to everyone who put their two cents in! I used the votes and my own thoughts on the songs to come up with the following list of tunes:

Your Love Is Strong
Behind Your Eyes
The Cure For Pain
Resurrect Me
Southbound Train
Broken From The Start new guy 1
House Of God, Forever
Instead Of A Show
A Mirror Is Harder To Hold
In My Arms
Learning How To Die
Over The River new guy 2

see you out there on the road...
peace!
jon

...and the tour progresses on (as is the custom for tours). The fellas were just on the east coast for a few dates, and we have some documentation of their rockage.

From their Sept 12th excursion to Virginia Beach, fabulous photographer Susieq linked us to all the shweet shots she snapped. Here's a sampling of her skills:






I really could keep posting pictures because they're all so good. But instead I'll let you go see them for yourself. (Thanks, Susie!)

The next day found them up in Holmdel, NJ, rockin' the PNC Bank Arts Center. Kweevak.com posted a review of the entire show:

The crowd was on their feet and clapping along by the opening note. The first song featured a catchy chorus and crunchy guitars. It was fast and furious melding into another segment that had urgent riffs and rhythms. Audience members were swaying their arms and the connection lasted the entire set. More potent playing, chord changes, creative keys and some harmonizing followed. Switchfoot was energetic and engaging.

If you check your calendars, they should tell you that today is September 13th, 2008. And that means that Nothing Is Sound, Switchfoot's 5th album, is now 3 years old. Time sure flies, eh?


This was the first record to have to follow in the massive footsteps of The Beautiful Letdown. I think it did so in a totally "Switchfoot" way - it didn't meet anybody's expectations, nor was that its purpose. It went in a whole different direction than people predicted, starting a new chapter all its own, yet not ignoring the past. Even though they didn't try to stick with the same recipe as they used for TBL, this new record was a solid and coherent continuation of their previous works.

I think this album also created a bit of controversy. Many people were scared or unaccepting of the "new" sound. For others it took longer to grow on them than previous albums had. Some listeners loved it instantly. (And of course, there was the whole copyright protection mess...but let's not rehash old catastrophes, shall we?) Somehow this collection of songs has made it through all that, and is still (in my opinion) getting better with age. Here's a bit of what Jon had to say about Nothing Is Sound when it first came out:

A few general thoughts on new tunes and their relationship to our previous four albums: A part of me wishes I could say that our music was formulated and planned out by brilliant, methodical minds who structure entire records out of themes that are independent of anything that has ever been thought of before. In reality, most of these songs are simply the spontaneous ramblings of a man with a guitar who can't sleep- trying to make sense of a broken heart in world that is upside down. In many ways these songs mirror the melodies in my own life: relationships, fears, hopes, insecurities, doubts and so forth all set to the major and minor keys. But it makes sense that these honest songs are the ones that we're proud of; because whether it's Elliot Smith or Stevie Wonder or Pavement or whoever, the honest ones have always been my favorites...

..."Nothing is Sound" is the fifth Switchfoot record. For me, it feels like the next step of a journey, diving deeper into uncharted territories. Because we've lived and breathed on tour for the last eight years, onstage is where our music comes to life, a life that is hard to pin down on tape. If you think this record feels a bit like a "live" record, we're proud to say that these recordings have somehow captured the energy of our live show more than any other record we've ever made. Perhaps the best way to look at this record is as the next chapter in a mystery novel: many of the same characters, the same settings and yet a few more clues come to life. Who knows, it could be a dark chapter revealing even more mysteries to be solved. I'm pretty sure you're the only one who can decide for yourself; I'd be curious to hear what your thoughts are. I certainly have my own... Whatever the theme of this record might be, believe me- it was only partly intentional! Hope you enjoy the tunes. -jon