Switchfoot hosted a live studio chat for their fans today. Band members Jon Foreman (vocals, guitar), Tim Foreman (bass guitar, backing vocals), Chad Butler (drums, percussion), Jerome Fontamillas (guitar, keyboards, backing vocals), and Drew Shirley (guitar), answered questions posted by their fans via twitter. During the chat, they showed some of their guitars, announced their upcoming tour dates, showed the video for their new release, “Mess Of Me” and announced the pre-sale of their upcoming album, “Hello Hurricane”.
In announcing their tour dates, which are being finalized and will be posted on their official website next week, they announced a few of the cities they would be playing on this tour: Anaheim, Austin, Atlanta, Dallas, Houston, Los Angeles, Nashville, New Orleans, New York, Oklahoma City, Scottsdale, Tucson, and Ventura to name a few. The band also plans to play internationally, heading to Europe, Australia, among others next year in 2010.
Also on this upcoming tour, the band plans to change things up a bit with the stage line up. Bassist Tim will be playing from the other side of the stage. He notes that the stage world might be a little different for him if he sees it from the other side of the stage. The band also plans to play this upcoming album “Hello Hurricane” on tour in its entirety, a trend that is becoming more the norm for performers lately. Motley Crue, The Cult, Judas Priest, and Aerosmith has all experimented with the touring concept this summer. “We always try to write an album in a concept from start to finish. It would be great to play it for fans in the way that we originally conceived it. Songs 1 through 6 and then songs 7 through 12 were meant to read like of book and it would be great for the audience to hear it that way.”, says Jon. The band will also play both theirs and fan favorites from their past 6 releases as well.
They them moved onto some fan questions posted on Twitter which Jerome read from his iPhone. The band was
asked if there was a song that means more to them now than when they first wrote it. Their mega hit “Dare You To Move” was the obvious choice for them. Says Tim and later Jon continued, “It’s the one song that kind of grew as we did.” It seems the band will always enjoy singing the song. “Unlike many bands who always gripe about having to sing their big hit, we never get tired of playing it. We’ve played that song more than any song in our entire career. It means a lot to us”.
In a funny moment, the guys were asked if they had any pre-concert performance rituals, drummer Chad demonstrated his drumming warm-up ritual that he taps out his riffs on each of his band-mates backs. They’re his drum warm-up. They shared that he does that before every performance.
The album, “Hello Hurricane”, is available for pre-sale on their official website tomorrow. It features the single “Mess Of Me” which is already getting very good radio and video airplay. The band experimented a lot on the new album more than ever before. They showed a version of “Mess of Me” that they shot in their San Diego studio.
The band plans to host a second chat next month. For more info on Switchfoot, tour dates or to pre-order their album, visit their website: Switchfoot.
