hey-loo folks. I hope you had a fine week and are having a fine weekend. Things are quite hectic here as we're on the verge of launching the new message boards and the new switchfeed, and getting ready for the Relient K tour (no, that doesn't mean Switchfoot's touring in a car). We're very excited about whetting our appetite for construction, and hope you are too.
As a tribute to this RocK - Socks ofF tour, a YouTuber made this Switchfoot montage set to a Relient K tune:
If you didn't already know, Jon Foreman did guest vocals on an over-11-minutes-long song called "Deathbed" off of Relient K's latest album. If you haven't yet, you need to check that out.
There's something about the way Molly Jenson and Jon Foreman share a stage. The following is a video of them performing a song at Rock Harbor (where all proceeds went to Habitat for Humanity), called "Do You Only Love The Ones Who Look Like You?" - something they wrote back in February:
And now for the centerpiece of this post. You're probably not gonna believe it. But you can watch the ENTIRE set by Jon at that Rock Harbor show, with no tickets needed, right here. An hour and 3 minutes long, to be precise. Could this weekend get any better? I think not.
Last but by no means least, we have an hour-long interview with none other than Jerome Fountainmillions. It's great to have an hour of Jerome interview time, which happens very rarely, unfortunately. But here's to the freedom label-independence brings, and to podcasters Kev and K.C., friends of Jerome and subscribers of switchfeed, who conducted the interview. Extra points to them for the shoutout to switchfeeders! So head over to LISTEN, and don't forget to leave some comment-love when you're done.
...aaaaaand I may not have posted in a week, but I think I just made up for it. :p Enjoy!
hello there fine friends and family. how ye be? currently i'm sitting in a starbucks in lovely carlsbad, ca and i just finished uploading installment 25 of the podcast. i hope you guys dig it. it's definitely been too long since the last one. i promise, you won't have to wait nearly as long for the next one. i have a good hunch. so go update that itunes already! or, just watch it here.
Ok to start things off, a video from the Iowa State Fair. Not because it's related to anything recent, but because you need it:
As long as we're in vid mode I found one of Dare You To Move at the Big Exo Day in Australia. Jon's got some crazy new beginning vocalization goin' on. Video quality not exceptional, but it gets the job done.
Then there were the “big, national acts”…. Jon Foreman from Switchfoot and Sean Watkins from Nickel Creek joined up for the night to become The Real Sean Jon. {As in the real name of Diddy}.
Lastly but certainly not leastly, Switchfoot appears on the cover of the October '07 issue of Brio magazine (since our blogging software doesn't like embedding small pictures, view world's tiniest picture here), and inside that issue is also an interview with the guys. Definitely one of our favorites. Here are a few excerpts:
Brio: Some say Switchfoot started as a Christian band and then crossed over. Others say you weren’t ever a Christian band. Who’s right?
Jon: Well, what do you mean by a “Christian band”?
Brio: What will it look for you to “burn out bright” at the end of your life?
Jon: I’ve burned out very dull a few times already.
Tim: Our society teaches us that burning out bright is going out with a lot of toys, a lot of cash, a lot of recognition, at the peak of stardom—whatever that looks like. The kingdom of heaven is completely the opposite. The person who couldn’t care less about what she’s wearing is devoted to serving the people around her—that’s a star right there. The idea of burning out bright looks a lot closer to that than the guy who’s all talk and has it all.
Brio: What does the song “Dirty Second Hands” mean?
Jon: I think songs are like clouds, and they float by. It’s the same cloud, but it can resemble many different shapes. The cloud stays constant, but as it starts to cross, it changes a little bit.
That song for me has layers you can get into. When I sing it, I think about time and the idea the secondhand store is the end of us all. Proverbs says to look at the end of things is wisdom. To remember that the secondhand store is the end of all things is a good place to begin.
There are also the filthy second hands we all have. None of our hands are clean. There’s a certain amount of wanting to dismantle the pretense as well that somehow our hands could be clean. There’s a little bit of pulling off the façade of America. I think the last spoken word stands to sum it all up, the idea of fatality and that many times we’re the ones who put the handcuffs on ourselves.
Jon: I also love writing songs, which I know is the occupation, but it’s also my favorite thing to do. When I haven’t written a song in a long time, my wife will say, “You need to write a song” because I get antsy and ornery. She also says when I haven’t surfed in a long time that I need to get baptized. There’s something about staring infinity in the face and being reminded of a bigger picture.
Hello, oh readers of the blog. I haven't had the privilege of addressing you all in quite a while, so it's good to be back. By the by, if you haven't checked out this week's MP3 Of The Week posted yesterday, featuring Tyler James, (or even the previous one, featuring Explosions in The Sky), you should probably get on that.
On the agenda today: you thought we were done with the Philippines news, eh? Think again. They love Switchfoot over there, and there's plenty of material evidencing the fact. In addition to all the stuff you already saw, we've got a couple more great photo-sets to show you.
Here are some from Daniel's site (click that link to see more):
And a few more (awesome) shots by Sheila (again, the link contains the rest):
Also, Jordan (the guy who showed the 'foot around while they were there) emailed us an interview that he conducted with the 5 amigos. CHECK IT. Thanks, Jordan!
In a society where music tends to define much of the culture, and often not in the best way, Tyler James simply puts forth a request to us (and himself): Stay Humble.
Though he may look like he's 14, he astounds everyone that sees him live with his sound. Not only is his voice much more mature than would be apparent, his lyrics show a maturity that is outstanding in today's culture. In addition to his words, the instrumentation on the track is just as great. Piano driven pop-rockish vocals coupled with his vocals and lyrics... I mean what else could one ask for? My comfort and my glory are shaken when I see That my life’s not a story about me Stay humble, humble, humble...
It's just straightforward, and that's what I love about it! So check out the song, and if you like it, I recommend grabbing his 5-song EP from iTunes... so worth the money!
Full Lyrics: It’s for your own, it’s for your own goodness sake It’s for your own protection from steps that you might take I’m selfish, there I said it It scares me when I see that I can’t deny what comes so naturally
It’s for your own, it’s for your own clear view It’s for your own efforts to hold on to what’s true My comfort and my glory are shaken when I see That my life’s not a story about me
Switchfoot won 'Album of the Year' for "Oh! Gravity.", at the coveted San Diego Music Awards. I know this means a lot to the guys, coming from their hometown and all. The awards also featured the first ever live performance by The Real SeanJon, the collaboration project from Jon Foreman and Sean Watkins of Nickel Creek. Read jon's blog mentioning the event (amongst other things). Congrats, guys! (More details here.)
"Only Hope" from the Philippines show. Great video quality is a bonus:
Below is a promo video of the show, with a little bit about the cause that Switchfoot played for. Visit IJM.org.
Lastly, here's an amusing video from Jordan (their tour guide in the Philippines), with the guys in the bus:
"Here's something I took on the way to the airport. Everyone's still groggy & acting weird, including me & Drew who never really slept. It's been fun. So here are their goodbyes etc. Enjoy."
There's countless blogs (some with great pictures) raving about the Manila show... too many to post them all here. It makes me happy to see the excitement of people who don't get to see the band live as often as those of us in North America do.
On an offtopic note, I just saw 2 MuteMath shows in 2 nights. Legs still ache from jumping all over the place. These guys truly kill it live. Un-freakin-believable. If they're coming near you this tour, go see them ...before they start selling out stadiums. (Roy, yup, this is the blog. Thanks to you, Darren & co. for taking the time to chat, and being so easy to talk to. Enjoy the rest of the tour!)
One of our readers, Cathy (aka catoinks) emailed us footage of the balut episode... :D
"My friend Belle sent me this link of Jon and the rest of the Switchfood gang eating balut (duck embryo: a Filipino delicacy once featured on Fear Factor) - it's hilarious! Chad ate penoy (salted duck eggs), however..."
Hello footfolks. I just watched a fairly good quality cam-video of "On Fire" from the recent Australia tour (at this blog) and I think it's one of my all-time favourite SF videos of that variety. For some reason it took me back to when I first fell in love with Switchfoot's music, and I kind of went through that feeling all over again as I watched it. Be moved...
I shall not delve into the why of my week of absence (as Vicky had it covered) except I have a "do not try this at home" piece of advise for ya'll: be very very sure of what you're doing if you ever take 23 credits in a university semester. Moving on...
It was interesting to see you guys' mixed reactions to the "Amateur Lovers" cover I posted last time with the question "yay or nay?" So what do I think? Yay all the way. I think they made a great, bold choice in covering Switchfoot, and not just that, in picking "Amateur Lovers" of all songs. Two thumbs up to the youth group band for an energetic effort that sought to give a fresh treatment to the song. Yay, and again I say yay. (Okay, I'll admit I'm just enjoying the sound of that word. yay.)
Our Filipino friends across the pond recently witnessed a rare occurrence of cosmic proportions. Naturally, they were blown away. I've selected three blogs about it for your reading pleasure. The first one's written by Tina, one of the girls in the Street Team that hosted the band (I love the poster - wish I could have a copy!) The second one is here, and besides describing the incident on stage when Jerome got the guys to eat a Filipino delicacy called balut (an egg with an unborn chick inside. ...something so hardcore many Filipinos themselves wouldn't dare eat it), it includes pictures, like these:
And Jon's black t-shirt is rad.
The third one has some sweeet pictures (check it out!), three of which I've sampled below:
Lastly, and I think this is an amazing find: a very recent radio interview with Jon and Chad in Australia. Listen/download here. It features an acoustic performance of "Awakening" at the end. And there were some really wise things said in there that I would love to have in text. Let's see. Alright, later amigos.
Well hello! Believe it or not, the YouTube Scoop is alive and well! (as are school, work and student organizations.) So, let's get right to it folks.
This video is a tribute to the victims of the 9/11 attacks. Seeing as how yesterday was the 6th anniversary of the event, I thought it would be a good idea to post this short slide.
The next two videos aren't exactly visually pleasing, but they are worth watching just to hear the music (both songs are my newest favorites). They were taken at Jon's Bondi Bar acoustic mini-gig in Oz. (ps - tabs to Learning How To Die can be found here. Thanks, Rose!)
These last videos are ones I actually took myself on Fall tour. (yes, I had forgotten about them until last weekend!) The outdoor stuff is from the Cincinnati, OH show, and the indoor stuff is from Columbia, SC. (I still feel a little guilty we made Jon play in Cinci. As you can see, it was so cold!)
Okay so, that was an extra long YouTube Scoop #9. Hope you enjoyed!
PS: Yes, Phil hasn't posted in nearly a week, but he's alive and well- trying to balance his first week back at school with the building of an official Switchfoot fansite with new boards, an all-new switchFeed, bootlegs and image gallery (where fans can upload directly to the server into organized folders and others can comment/rate), and much more, all tightly integrated. He gave me a preview and it's very exciting! Anyhow, he should be back to blogdom soon.
yo peeps. this is my first official post on here under my own name. awesome. well, tonight we're here in new zealand, and we have some decent internet in the venue. you all know what that means. webcam. yeaaah.
head on over here to the webcam link and check out the show tonight. no sound, but youll see the show. they go on about 8:30 auckland time, which is about 1:30 am california time. you night owls are lucky this time. peace out.
MOTW #22: Explosions in the Sky - The Birth and Death of the Day
Instrumental... When most people think of instrumental music, they think of classical music. People think that instrumental music is boring. This week's MOTW is out to defy the stereotype. Explosions in the Sky is an instrumental indie rock band from Austin, TX; it is composed of four men that have been making music together since 1999. In spite of being on an indie label, Explosions has toured frequently and released numerous albums (including the soundtrack for the movie Friday Night Lights), which has gained them a strong fan base and increasing popularity around the country and the world.
This week's MOTW comes from their newest album, All of a Sudden I Miss Everyone, which was released in February of this year. This song, called "The Birth and Death of the Day", is the first track on the album and is one of the most powerful songs I have ever heard. There isn't a whole lot I can say that the song doesn't say for itself. Each instrument's part is simple and well-defined, but the combination of those instruments creates something greater and more exciting than anything that can be found in your run-of-the-mill modern rock music. This track (along with most other Explosions songs) is a bit longer than the average MOTW, but listen all the way through, because every second of this song is amazing and complex and interesting. If you like this track right away, awesome; go buy the rest of the album, and you will not be disappointed. But if you don't like it right away, give it time. Keep listening until it hits you. And you'll thank me later... :D
yo peeps. it's andy here in australia. the boys are about to go out for a surf and it's freezing cold outside. crazy.
for you aussies out there, i'm here with some more info about jon's acoustic show tonight. it is going to be at a place in bondi beach called BB's and jon will go on around 8:30. i'm not sure if it's 18+ or if there's a cover or anything, but needless to say, it will rule. hope to see you guys there.
ATTN friends down under: jon foreman will be playing an acoustic show either tonight or tomorrow in the bondi beach area of Sydney. mmhmm. We're still working out the details, so please stand by for another update once we finalize things! but meanwhile, you might wanna be telling your friends (and their granduncles) that jon foreman is coming to town with his guitar and lots of love... see ya!
