"Your Love Is a Song" enters Top 30 of Hot AC!

For up to date (most of the time) news and original opinions before they hit the update, follow us on Twitter!

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Over the weekend, "Your Love Is a Song" leaped into the Top 30 of Mediabase Hot AC, settling at No. 29. This is looking good for the Billboard placing, possibly landing Switchfoot their first Hot AC/Adult Pop Songs Top 30 single since "We Are One Tonight."

Very exciting. Remember to share around the free download of the song with friends; details here.

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Jon Foreman and Drew Shirley stopped by at 96X recently to play a Sessions show. Here, they play "The Sound."



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Here are some videos from Switchfoot's show at the Varsity Theater in Baton Rouge, LA.

In this one, Jon talks about the conversation he overheard before playing "Only Hope" and "Dare You to Move." If you follow his tweets, you'll know what he's going to talk about.



^That's pretty great! Here are some more clips:

Sabotage
Meant to Live
Your Love Is a Song
Gone
Awakening
Dare You to Move
24

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Next, some videos from the show in Tyler, TX: "The Sound"



Oh! Gravity
Meant to Live
Dark Horses

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And lastly, on Sunday, Switchfoot played Austin City Limits, which is a pretty big festival. Here, a local radio station out there in the Austin area interview Tim Foreman, Chad Butler and Jerome Fontamillas about their then-upcoming performance, as well as more details about "Vice Verses!"

Virginia Show recaps

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Switchfoot played a couple of exciting shows in Viriginia the last few days. What's been great is that the band has been pulling out the new "Dark Horses" quite consistently; hopefully it continues to get play throughout this tour. Today's blog will just be another video update with footage from the past few shows, so hang in there and be ready to relive and experience a Switchfoot show!

We start in Richmond, where the band played "Dark Horses."



...and "Daisy." You've got to love anytime they play this song live; it's a rare treat.



On Fire
Encore: "Hello Hurricane" and "Dare You to Move"

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We then move to Norfolk, VA. Switchfoot pulls out another "Nothing Is Sound" gem, the rarely-ever-played-anymore "Lonely Nation."



^Judging by this video, it looks like the band is a bit rusty with this song. It's okay guys; hope you keep playing it this tour!

Here are more videos:

We Are One Tonight (featuring fan, James Murla)



Virginia Song/Your Love Is a Song



Free



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Dark Horses

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Oh, and lastly, Jon Foreman and Drew Shirley at a radio event:

Switchfoot urges you to bring canned goods to shows; lends to the call for HIV-Free generation

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Switchfoot has posted a new YouTube video featuring Chad Butler and Drew Shirley urging you to bring canned goods to the shows this month – with their typical humorous twist.



^Be sure to get on that if you're going to a show this fall, friends!

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Along the same philanthropic lines, Switchfoot was joined by ONE.org over the weekend at Liberty University.



Here's an excerpt from their blog:

Switchfoot, long time ONE supporters, put on a great show. Our volunteers helped sign up new ONE members to take action around our current campaign: ensuring that babies are born HIV-free. Every day, 1,000 new born babies are born with HIV -– something entirely preventable with smart medicines and smart policy. That’s why it was so exciting for me to be part of this moment where Liberty students and others could add their voice to the movement.

To read Jon Foreman's quote, as well as to view the source blog, check it out here.

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For Christian aficionados, Switchfoot will be featured alongside many popular CCM bands in the latest Wow Hits collection, called "Wow Hits 2011." I wish they could've come up with a more creative title. Anyhow, "Your Love Is a Song" is the track of choice for it's success on Christian radio throughout the past year.

To see the full tracklist, click here.

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Now, on to the tour videos recap section of the update. Switchfoot played at the Electric Factory last Sunday, and here are some videos from the show in case you missed them:

"Dark Horses"



^poor camera audio quality notwithstanding, I'm definitely digging the energy behind the song. It's got a slow-burn rocker type of quality, similar to "Lonely Nation" and even recalls Green Day's "Boulevard of Broken Dreams" to a certain extent. What do you think of the song?

Also from that show, a dude by the name of Aaron Hicks plays "Awakening" with Switchfoot. He rocked the part pretty well:



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Yesterday morning, Switchfoot did a radio blitz on the city of Washington, D.C. Here is an audio/video of Jon and Drew playing "The Sound" on DC101 in the morning:



Later on, some of the band played at the Gibson Showroom. Here's "Your Love Is a Song":



and, "Meant to Live"



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In case you missed it yesterday, Taylor Guitars announced a special "Stories and Songs" event with Bob Taylor (founder of Taylor) and Jon. Here's the press release with all the info. If you can, be sure to head out!

John M. Perkins benefit show loose ends; new Fiction Family tune; Show videos

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Hope you all had a great weekend! Here are some last things to tie up from the John M. Perkins benefit show last week. First off, we finally have a full video of Switchfoot performing "The Sound."



^Electric.

Next, Belhaven University posted their own recap video of the event. Drew Shirley and Jerome Fontamillas are interviewed:



Christian Post did a story on the event. LINK.

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Now for a quick Q&A interview with Jerome. Here, he talks a bit about "Vice Verses."

OS: The upcoming album Vice Verses contains material from your sessions for Hello Hurricane. Can listeners expect a similar album?

JF: We’re hoping to push further, creatively and musically. Whether it’s a natural progression from Hello Hurricane or not, you never know. We’re still planning how we’re going to go about recording the album. We have an abundance of songs (like 90), and John is a writing machine. So we have new songs, and you’re adding 20 or 30 into the mix. So it will be interesting.

OS: So are you guys planning on releasing that other material from the Hello Hurricane sessions?

JF: We’re hoping to. There are a lot of songs. I’m not saying all of them are good, but we just have to dwindle it down to a regular amount of songs. We are diving into the idea of a double album or something. That’s the greatest thing—that we’re able to release these songs and other people will hear them. We’re just trying to figure out a way to get these songs out there so people can hear them. A CD is one format, but there are other ways too.

OS: Can we expect to hear them live?

JF: We’re not prepared yet to play the songs that haven’t been on albums yet. I know John has been doing these “after shows” where he will go out after the show with his guitar into some corner somewhere and start playing our new songs. It’s pretty awesome, because we’re really excited about the new songs. We’re getting geared up to go record them.

For the rest of the interview, head over to Ourstage.com.

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Now for some "Hello Hurricane" tour news! Switchfoot played a few shows, including one at Liberty University. We've got copious video footage from that one. First,

"The Sound"



^Watch the ending. Jon Foreman channels some "Dirty Second Hands" live action at the end there. You feelin' that?

24/Dare



More videos:

Needle
Oh! Gravity.
Meant to Live
Free
Stars
Gone
On Fire
Your Love Is a Song
Dare You to Move

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Also, our friend Josh sent in the setlist from the show last night in Philly's Electric Factory.

Main:

Stars
Bullet Soul
Mess of Me
Gone
This Is Your Life
The Sound
Your Love Is A Song
Free
Yet
Company Car
Sabotage
Dark Horses
On Fire
Awakening
Meant to Live

Encore:
Hello Hurricane
Dare You to Move

"Dark Horses" Video:



^It's great to see "Dark Horses" making its way into setlists now. I'm excited to hear how that song turns out in the studio. Also, Josh tells us "Your Love Is a Song" is being played in G now in order to help preserve Jon Foreman's voice for the "Vice Verses" sessions coming up.

^Thanks bro.

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Do you want in on new Fiction Family material? Well, you're in luck – that is, if there is a Ben and Jerry's ice cream shop close by. They are giving away free Bonnaroo Festival artist tracks, and Jon's other band is included.

The song is called "The Ashes of Rock and Roll (Fool's Gold)" according our friends over at LOBH.

Details from the Ben and Jerry's website:

Fiction Family tunes are coming; more news bits

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The members of Fiction Family have been tweeting quite a bit lately about the upcoming project they're working on. Here's your digest:

@seancwatkins (Sean Watkins):

- September 1, 2010: Starting off the Fiction Family recoding day. http://tweetphoto.com/42706674



- September 1, 2010: Great productive day recording with fiction family. Tracked 2 new ones of mine, and finished off two of jon's that needed touching up.

- September 2, 2010: Couple pics from today http://tweetphoto.com/42797565




@TylerChester (Tyler Chester):

- August 31, 2010: Time to finish up this Fiction Family recording. This record is turning out so, so good.


@jonathanforeman:

- September 3, 2010: got some great fiction family jams recorded this week. Now boarding... plane sweet plane


^Who's looking forward to hearing these new tunes? I'm hoping the addition, officially, of Aaron Redfield on drums and Tyler Chester on bass will beef up the sound of this side project. Also interested to see what tunes come out of this record. Thoughts?

Oh, and Tim Foreman chimed in too:

- @Jonathanforeman is playing some new @fictionfamily jams on the bus on our drive to Kentucky. They sound great, dig em.

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Last week, "The Sound" was once again Stryker's No. 1 Requested Song on KROQ. GREAT WORK, footsoldiers. Keep it going by requesting the track here.

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Switchfoot's tour with The Almost has gotten a lot of disappointing reactions from the fans due to the lack of tour dates, particularly on the western portion of the U.S. These new dates should calm a few nerves, though not many, I'm assuming:

10/9 - Tyler, TX – The Venue Down Under (w/ The Almost)
10/28 – Santa Cruz, CA – Catalyst Club

^Head over to switchfoot.com for ticketing info and what-not. Let's hope for more tour dates! :)

BREAKING: Switchfoot releases "iTunes Session" on (of course) iTunes

For up to date (most of the time) news and original opinions before they hit the update, follow us on Twitter!

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The Switchfoot camp is never short on surprises. Today, the band is putting out an "iTunes Sessions" record on Apple's iTunes Music Store. It's a collection of live studio recordings of some of their songs.

Before we cut to the chase, here's what the front page of iTunes looks like this morning:



Once you click into that menu, another surprise pops up:




NOT ONLY is there a brand new set of live recordings from the band, "Hello Hurricane" is being offered at the discounted price of $8.99 (USD). If you have not picked up this masterpiece of a record, do so now!

Link to the launch page here.

Link to the iTunes session here.

^Be sure to leave a positive review/rating on the iTunes store. That goes a long way in boosting any album in the store.

NOTE: UK and international fans, no word yet on whether the iTunes Sessions release is releasing overseas. As of now, U.S.-only... sorry, friends.

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Really, you've got to give HUGE props to Atlantic Records for all the beautiful things it's done for the band during this record cycle. Not only does the band have it's first Top 10 Billboard hit in six years, countless ESPN boosts, and a ton television show spots and commercials, but now the band has got an iTunes Sessions record and a front page feature on the iTunes Music Store.

What more lies ahead for this band? "The Sound" is still gaining spins daily, and "Your Love Is a Song" is slowly inching up on the Hot AC charts. Good times still to come, my friends!

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Also, be sure to check out the new fall tour dates with The Almost on Switchfoot.com! I'm sure more are forthcoming, so hang tight!

Lots to catch up on: Paper Route drops out of the Fall Tour; LOBH Interviews Ruddy Gracia (Bidfire winner); "Always" remix news

For up to date (most of the time) news and original opinions before they hit the update, follow us on Twitter!

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Hello friends. Sorry I've been a bit absent lately... let's just say Summer has finally arrived for me, and catching up with friends and family, editing photos from those outings, all while working occasional odd jobs has left little time to update this blog. But don't worry, I'm not going anywhere... hope you guys missed me, but I'm back!

After all that is said, most of today's update is supplied by our tireless friends over at LOBH, particularly Jeanna.

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First big item of the day is the report that Paper Route have backed out of the Fall 2010 leg of the "Hello Hurricane" tour. Here's what Gavin from the band told our friends at LOBH.

Gavin: "The paper route switchfoot thing wasssss for reals. We weren't able to do it because of recording. Buuuuuut I really think we'll tour with them again one day. We're really bummed we cant tour with those guys right now. but we HAVE to finish our album so we can tour nonstop again and see all of you!"
(Here I express my utter devastation at this news - anyone who knows me knows I am a HUGE Paper Route fan)
Gavin: "Jeanna, I KNOW I KNOW! We're more bummed than anyone! It's basically tour over the fall and push our record release back or get it done asap so we can tour all next year... tough decision for sure."
(I express further regrets, and share how Switchfoot has been playing Paper Route tunes through the speakers before their set.)
Gavin: "Jeanna, that's awesome, really wish we were playing with them"

^The LOBH staffers are HUGE supporters of Paper Route, so today is indeed a day of mourning for them. Either way, it's tough news for all parties involved, as Switchfoot will possibly be touring on a successful single ("The Sound") by the fall and would have provided great exposure Paper Route and fellow supporting band The Almost to new and large audiences.

No news on whether or not The Almost are still in or not.

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Next, LOBH interviewed the winner of the Bidfire auction. His name is Ruddy Gracia, and he seems to be a cool dude. Check out their interview here.

Excerpt:

Land of Broken Hearts (LOBH): Ruddy thanks so much for taking the time to chat with us. Let's start at the beginning... how long have you been a Switchfoot fan?
Ruddy Gracia: Awesome. Well I'm 18 now so when "The Legend of Chin" was released, I was like 5 yrs old... but my dad got that cd a year or two after and since then, I loved listening to Switchfoot! So I guess 10 yrs!

LOBH: Wow so you're a long time fan! How did you hear about the contest? Were you bidding all day like a lot of the fans, or did you just get lucky?
Ruddy: Well, I'm subscribed to the newsletter... and when I got the email something inside me thought that I could actually win! It's funny because I wasn't even the one bidding for me. I was on my senior class/birthday trip in NY, New Jersey, and Washington. I turned 18 three days after the bidding started so my awesome friends spent hours and hours bidding for me as my birthday present!

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As you guys know, we broke the news to Switchfoot fans that there was going to be an "Always" remix and also first posted the remix preview. Max Vangeli's management has recently reached out to LOBH. Here's what they got:

Here's a bit of the background story on the remix, that Max's management shared with me! Consider it a "bonus" interview.

LOBH: I wondering how this track was brought to Max's attention? Did a
label ask him to remix it? The band? How did he learn about it?
Over the course of 2 months or so Atlantic Records brought/sent Max five tracks or so in different genres for potential remixing. While they were all cool songs, Max didn't feel that any were the right remix projects for him. Finally, Switchfoot - Always came along and he absolutely loved the vocals in the song. From what our contact at Atlantic told me, Switchfoot was excited about having one of their tracks remixed by a house music producer. After Max was done a few months later, we sent in the track for the band and label's approval. Both loved it and here we are! People in our genre dig the remix. Max turns down about 95% of remix requests because he prefers to produce original tracks, but he just couldn't say no to "Always" because he was in love with the vocals.

Potential Switchfoot/Paper Route Tour

For up to date (most of the time) news and original opinions before they hit the update, follow us on Twitter!

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According to Concert Ideas, Switchfoot is working on getting a tour together with Paper Route and The Almost. Here's the source Tweet:

- Switchfoot will be going on tour with The Almost and Paper Route in October and November and are looking for dates.

Management says that it's definitely in the works, but nothing concrete is happening yet. Sit tight Paper Route and The Almost fans!

I think it's a good mix; Aaron Gillespie recently left his old group, Underoath, and is now focused primarily on The Almost, which should make for a good show. Paper Route is definitely one of the bigger indie bands out there, and I know many a Switchfoot fan (LOBHers, we're lookin' at ya! ;) ) will be STOKED for this tour. We'll keep you all posted.

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Stay tuned tomorrow, because we've got some pretty exciting news in store... that's all I can say for now, though I'm DYING to break it to you all. :)

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Here's a video of Jon Foreman and Drew Shirley performing an acoustic rendition of "Mess of Me" at Fritz Club Beach, Berlin.



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CHARTS

"The Sound" continues its rise on the Mediabase. Today, it is back at No. 31, on the verge of re-entering the Top 30! We need to keep this going, so make sure you're requesting the single at your local alternative station! Also, thanks to your efforts, the latest Footsoldiers campaign has been successful so far!

Let's keep it up! We MISSED all the countdowns AGAIN last night. So, here are the voting links/instructions to get that going again:

Q101's Top 9 at 9 (Chicago)
KPNT's 5 Songs That Don't Suck (St. Louis)
91x Christy Taylor's Really Big Countdown (San Diego) (email christy@91x.com, subject line: Really Big Countdown Submission)

Let's do it!