Switchfoot Want You To Focus On Their Music

Switchfoot are generally known in the media for their two loves: surfing and Jesus. Neither comes up in our brief interview, so this is one Switchfoot story where you won't hear anything else about surfing or Jesus. Or, for that matter, the fact that two of the band members, Jon and Tim Foreman are brothers. With Switchfoot, those things aren't that important. They'd rather you focus on the music. Not the fact they're into Jesus or surfing or have a couple brothers in the band.

"As a musician I guess the only thing I would ask from a listener is to put the CD in, close your eyes and forget about all the peripherals," says Jon Foreman. "I guess that's a dream that may not happen in my lifetime, but I listen to music from all sorts of people and I think there is an open-minded individual who will be able to listen to music of all types."

The band just released their second major label album, Nothing Is Sound, and the response has been positive so far.

Jon Foreman was supposed to play a role on another album released around the same time, that being Daniel Victor's superstar-studded Neverending White Lights project, called Act I: Goodbye Friends Of The Heavenly Bodies. Victor's album features collaborations with Raine Maida, Todd Kerns and Jimmy Gnecco of Ours, as well as members of Finger Eleven, Alexisonfire and The Watchmen, among others.

"He gave me a call, he said, you know, he's doing a project with a bunch of different bands," Foreman says. "To give you a hint of how long ago this was, this was back when Remy Zero were still together, probably four years ago, four and a half years ago, and I'm like, 'Yeah, let's do it.' So he said he was in L.A. so he took a train down to my house, the place I was renting down by the beach and he slept on the couch, endured the rats, literally. There were rats at that house."

Over the past few years Victor and Foreman collaborated on a number of songs, including the track "On Fire" off Switchfoot's last album. But fans hoping to hear their contribution to the Neverending White Lights project, called "Throwing Chairs" are going to be disappointed as it was cut from the final track list.

"It's one of those things where when we first signed up for it it was something different from what it is now," Foreman says. "And also it was supposed to come out four years ago, and to have it released at the same exact time as our record would have been tricky for the record company to be excited about it. We're hoping on the next one, he says he's hoping to do a few of these. I need to give him a call actually, thanks for reminding me."

—Jason Hailman