Switchfoot is bringing its first-ever holiday tour to the Santander Performing Arts Center, Reading, on Dec. 6. The show will feature popular Christmas classics along with a set of the band’s greatest hits.
Tickets for the show will go on sale starting Friday at 10 a.m. at Ticketmaster.
The Southern California-based Christian rock band never thought their music would reach tens of thousands of fans worldwide — or that it would propel them to fame. It just worked out that way.
Wanting to express his feelings and spirituality, singer-songwriter Jonathan Foreman formed Switchfoot with his brother, bassist Tim Foreman, in 1996 while the two were attending the University of California, San Diego. A year later, the pair was joined by their mutual friend, drummer Chad Butler. After playing only 20 gigs together the trio signed with the Christian re:Think record label and released their debut album, “Legend of Chin.” Their alternative rock/pop blend and insightful, Christian-inflected lyrics have catapulted the band to the top of the charts and earned them a place among top rock acts of the early millennium. Keyboardist/backing vocalist Jerome Fontamillas joined the lineup in 2000.
Avid surfers from childhood, the Foreman brothers turned to the sport when it came time to choose a name for their band. Switchfooting, Jon explained on the Jesus Freak Hideout website in 2000, “means to take a new stance facing the opposite direction.” They chose the term to express the band’s philosophy, he continued, because “[i]t’s about change and movement, a different way of approaching life and music.”
After spending seven years on smaller Christian labels and being marketed solely as a Christian rock band, Switchfoot was ready for a change.
“We’re Christian by faith, not genre,” Tim told Rolling Stone in September 2003. Standing by their word, the band’s sophomore effort, “New Way To Be Human,” broke musical barriers and the won fans for the band across the musical spectrum. The title track won a Dove Award for Song of the Year in 1999 and other songs from the album were featured on teenage dramas such as “Dawson’s Creek,” “Popular,” “Jack and Jill,” “Felicity,” “Party of Five” and “Time of Your Life.” The band also made a cameo appearance in the 2001 made-for-TV film “Kiss Tomorrow Goodbye,” which also featured two of their songs.
Switchfoot released their best- and fastest-selling album to date, “Beautiful Letdown,” in 2003 on Columbia/RED Ink. “Beautiful Letdown” entered the Billboard top 200 albums chart at No. 85, while the single “Meant To Live” (inspired by T.S. Eliot’s poem “The Hollow Men”) helped break the band into the mainstream, peaking at No. 5 on the Billboard modern rock chart and No. 2 on the top contemporary Christian chart.
Perhaps what sets Switchfoot apart from their peers is that despite their level of fame and success, they remain loyal to their roots. The quartet is heavily involved in helping with San Diego’s Sudanese refugees, volunteering their time to speak with them and the their pastors.
“Our goal is to write about the entire spectrum of humanity,” Jon told the Dallas Morning News in 2003. “To look at the beautiful aspects of life without looking at the letdowns is not being honest.”
Source: Berkshire mont
Be First to Comment