Everybody wants a story; this is ours. It's not about putting on
a show or trying to sell something. Being Switchfoot is all about
putting a different foot forward, risking to change or be changed.
Switchfoot is a rock and roll family of sorts. Tim, Chad, Jerome,
and I have seen pretty much everything over the past six years.
We've done the "thirteen-hour drive" tours in the van, we’ve slept
on the streets in London, we've gotten kicked out of the club in
Hawaii, we've met our heroes and archenemies. We've been at this
ever since Tim graduated from High School: the best years of our
lives playing the songs that we believe in. This is the beginning
of our story.
From the start we wanted to be genuine- the same people on and
off stage. However, wearing your heart on your sleeve in front of
an audience is a huge risk- strings break, the power goes out, fingers
and memories malfunction. I used to hate playing live music for
this reason. I felt like I could express what I wanted to say better
on my four-track than I could on stage. When Tim, Chad, Jerome, and
I joined forces I finally felt like we were saying something new
as a live band, something that needed to be said. I began to love
the floating moments when anything can happen next. Somewhere back
there the risk of playing live became a fuel to burn and our honesty
became our strength.
Our roots dig deep into San Diego. We grew up surfing every day
and competing on the weekends. In fact, the name Switchfoot comes
from a surfing term. We're proud of our local music scene and thankful
to be a part of it. We’ve got our local heroes, (Mark Trombino,
O, Rob Crow, John Reese) but we all come to the table with different
musical backgrounds. In many ways our strength is in our diversity.
Tim might wish that he were Paul McCartney but Chad would probably
lean toward Stevie Wonder. I think I might go for Miles Davis but
that's another story. The point is that our albums have always been
hard to pin down. We've never tried for a specific sound or genre.
The "Switchfoot Sound" if there is such a thing has been simply
an attempt to put every song on tape with the unique production
that every individual song needs. The song is king not the album.
Switchfoot songs come from a place near the center of who I am.
These songs are my way of exploring the world, and at times challenging
the way things are. I've always had trouble writing the caffeinated
chorus that pretends to be something that I'm not. We've never fit
in any of the genre boxes, so we did our own thing, not in an attempt
to be different but simply trying to be ourselves. I try to be honest
in my songs and in my life as I try to wrestle with the tension
of "how it is and how it should be." I want the listener
to wrestle with the tension for herself because freedom and truth
and love are worth fighting for. Moreover, life is worth living.

Switchfoot – Live In San Diego (DVD)
Following the success of the band's breakthrough gold album, THE
BEAUTIFUL LETDOWN, Switchfoot rocks a sold-out hometown crowd on
its first DVD release, LIVE IN SAN DIEGO, in stores March 23.
LIVE IN SAN DIEGO features 11 concert performances of songs like
MTV hit "Meant To Live," plus "Dare You To Move," "Learning To Breathe,"
"Gone," "Ammunition," and "More Than Fine." Also included are Switchfoot
interviews and behind the scenes footage from the "Meant To Live"
video shoot.
Oh Gravity - Switchfoot's latest release (2006)
