Lindsay from the official message boards has some exciting news:
so Jon was talking to me and a few friends on Saturday about the studio and how that its done now and they are all moved in and they cant wait to lay out the tracks. then during the show he was sayng how he was so thankful that everyone supported them and were waiting anxiously for the new album, so he wanted us all to know that they start recording TOMORROW! They had 2 shows this weekend out in the Carolinas but then they are pretty much off during the summer except for festivals, so they should have plenty of time to work on the album! Exciting stuff!
And so it begins! This bit will be added to the New Album Page on this blog. More on the new album later in this post. Thanks Lindsay!
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Some online news paper had this to say about their local radio station.
Listening to Kock 107 play the staples of a similarly named radio station, it's easy to understand why so many people love classic rock. When you listen to an entire hour of either, you can't help but become Homer Simpson, preaching to Bart and Milhouse about how today's music is without soul. The difference between Blue Oyster Cult and Switchfoot is that while BOC is still touring decades after its heyday with a few minor hits, Switchfoot's CDs are going to be at the bottom of a 99 cent bin before the end of the decade.
I beg to differ! He probably will be apologizing for that in a few years. I don't think Switchfoot's going anywhere...
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Land of Broken Hearts found this sweet video featuring Bro-Am surfers. (Thanks LOBH!)
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Christianity Today had a new article on Jon Foreman's new solo ep's, Spring and Summer:
Arrangements take on an international flavour at times - mariachi horns on A Mirror Is Harder To Hold, Japanese koto on Again, Oktoberfest rumpus on March (a prelude to Spring) – all reflecting the new life that makes Spring/Summer the times they are.
As ever the lyrics draw the listener in with personal revelation, alarming honesty and more than a handful of beautifully turned phrases. Like the music of indie-wunderkind Sufjan Stevens, there’s a home-brew quality about it all that weds beautifully to the optimism and hope.
Baptize My Mind lines up particularly nicely with Stevens’ Come On Feel The Illinoise! – and if you’re an indie fan, the links don’t come much better.
There will be a new Switchfoot release next year and their current track ‘This Is Home’ is gracing our cinemas this summer in The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian theatrical release and Walt Disney Records soundtrack. The new Switchfoot album will, ahem, rock. But there will be no discord between it and these four EPs. In fact, you can be sure that the platinum band’s next release will be all the richer for their songwriter’s experimentation.
Read the rest here.
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Oh, and they have another new Jono article today! It's an interview and features the usual brilliance of Jon Foreman's thoughtful answers. I picked the parts that stood out to feature here, but you can read the rest here.
These days, Jon Foreman has been known to arrive late for the bus call after a Switchfoot concert. It's not that the singer/songwriter is scatterbrained or overly chatty with fans. Instead, the guy's got such a voracious musical appetite, he's been known to stage an intimate after-show solo concert. And we're not talking about the stage or an officially booked coffeehouse, but rather the sidewalk or parking lot outside the venue. It's an opportunity to share quieter songs that Foreman considers too personal in scope for Switchfoot. With encouragement from the band, Foreman has recorded these songs for a series of four EPs—Fall, Winter, Spring, and Summer, all available as individual download, or packaged in stores as pairs of EPs. The friendly frontman called from his band's studio to discuss his ambitious solo material, as well as Switchfoot's upcoming endeavors (including their contribution to the soundtrack of The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian).
A lot of these songs represent your most overtly spiritual to date. What has been the mainstream reception to this material?
Foreman: I feel like they've been really well received as far as I can tell, but I haven't paid that much attention other than they seem to like it. By the way, another reason I wanted to do the EPs was that I feel like six songs meant you'd almost give as much attention to the first song as you would the sixth. On a full-length CD, once you reach six through ten or eleven, [your attention starts to wander] and you're kind of done with it. You move on to the next record, or you're already at the grocery store, or you're done running errands. This format allows every song to speak for itself in the way a full-length wouldn't. The songs are very understated, but I don't have to go pound them over anyone's head to get attention.
Why did you break up your solo material into four EPs rather than release them at once as a double-disc?
Foreman: I just hate the whole solo thing to begin with, and that may sound odd because I'm doing it! But the decision to go with the EPs was my way of saying, "Well, let's find a way of doing this where it doesn't feel like that big solo record side project." Every time a band breaks up and one of the guys goes solo, and it's always such a big hype, which I wanted to avoid. I really liked the solo material from Richard Ashcroft [of The Verve] and Sting had a good time with his solo work outside of The Police, but I kind of wanted to avoid too much attention since Switchfoot isn't breaking up. The EPs allow me to slip under the radar.
Why didn't any of these songs ever land on a Switchfoot CD?
Foreman: It goes back to the concept of what Switchfoot means to me. Switchfoot is this broad tapestry where we want to continue talking about the bigger issues. My stuff is more confessional in nature and I wanted this to feel like you would after a show getting invited to my house and having me play a few songs for you. It's like close friends talking about personal issues, and it seems to me like you can't do that with a half stack and a drummer who hits like Chad [Butler] behind you! This was a chance to do something differently, and the rest of the band were very encouraging. They'd tell me, "You've got to get this stuff out. People need to hear it!" Chad and [guitarist/keyboardist] Jerome Fontamillas played for parts of it, Tim [Foreman, Jon's brother and Switchfoot's bassist] played and sang. So it was still a team effort to get the songs out there.
What does the future hold for you, both as a solo artist and as Switchfoot prepares for the next studio CD?
Foreman: I'm finalizing this side project called Fiction Family with Sean Watkins [from Nickel Creek] and I'm amped about that. He's an incredible guy and it's an incredible project we've been sitting on for far too long. It will be finished this fall and we'll probably do a fall tour maybe with his sister Sara [Watkins, also of Nickel Creek], who just had [Led Zeppelin's] John Paul Jones produce her most recent record.
Then after that, we're putting out the next Switchfoot record. We've started and stopped several times, doing some sessions on our own and as well as some with Charlie Peacock. For me, the next record is really important because it's our first record as an indie band. We did three records with [Sparrow's] Re:think and three records with Sony/Columbia. Now it's the beginning of a new era. We really want to make sure we set the trajectory really high, empowered to make the best record of our lives.
Wow. I'm so amped to hear about the new stuff...
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Remember to continue voting like crazy for "This Is Home" on Radio Disney and Vh1.
Join a promotion team here!
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And lastly, let me leave you with a thought-provoking question (not really) with a vague answer (really):
A cd single of "This Is Home???"
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