t was the end of Junior High when I first heard of Switchfoot yet they had already been making waves for a few years. This was the case for a few of us but most didn’t know the name until ‘03 when “Meant To Live” catapulted them to the top of the charts and into the lime light. That first single, and the challenging second hit “Dare You To Move”,  were what gave them the name that they have today, but for those that have followed Switchfoot for the last decade know that there is much more to them than a couple big singles.

They, like most other bands, have put in their time in vans and at local shows working hard and playing in tiny venues for only a few kids. But that is not to overlook where they are now. Fame, like most things, can be handled two ways and Switchfoot has not for a second taken the low road. Holding to their convictions and beliefs, Switchfoot has made some of the most thought provoking music that our generation knows.

Challenging us to see the world differently, asking us to not follow down beaten paths because they are safe or easy, Switchfoot seems to know no limitations. And this is no exception for their newest album Hello Hurricane which is set to release November 10th. We got a chance to chat with bassist Tim Foreman over the phone before an acoustic set at the Grammy Museum in L.A

It’s well known that you guys broke into the mainstream with your album The Beautiful Letdown. I remember that being a moment of “Hey, these guys were great before this too!”

I’m sure a lot of people were saying that along with me. Can you tell us a little bit about that leap and where you see yourselves as a band today?

Tim Foreman: Yeah, the recording process for The Beautiful Letdown reminds me in some ways of the recording process for this new release in that we made it as an independent project entirely on our own. Then when we were finished with it we figured out how to release it. I think the difference with this current project is we spent about two and a half years on this particular journey trying to figure out what type of album we wanted to make and the type of band we wanted to be for the next ten years. This was a really difficult record for us to make. We recorded over ninety songs and had a lot of freedom in that process. Trying to figure out what twelve songs fit together as a cohesive project out of those ninety songs became a real challenge. Also I don’t think we could have made the record any other way. We’re really proud of how it came out and it was quite a journey to get there.

There is a video on your Myspace that a lot of people have been talking about. It kind of goes through your struggles while recording this new album, Hello Hurricane. It was even said that there was a darkness creeping into the studio at times. Can you tell us about that and what was going through your guys’ heads as you stepped into the studio? After recording this many albums, has it become routine?

TF: We started into the project fresh out of breaking our ties with Sony and Columbia, building our own studio here in San Diego. There’s a lot of freedom and excitement right off the bat in the undertaking of this project. I think the darkness started to creep in with the sheer number of songs that we recorded; we set the bar so high for this record. We would spend all day working on a tune then come in the next day and tear it all down. We were just so brutally honest with ourselves and brutal on the artistic process that at certain points we felt like we were never going to finish because nothing would ever stand the test of what we were looking for on this record. I think we started to wonder if we would ever know the finish line if we ever saw it. Fortunately, when we finally arrived at the final twelve songs, we knew we were nearing the finish line and it actually felt like the most important we’ve ever made as a band.

Do you feel like that darkness found its way onto these new songs?

TF: There’s certainly heaviness and weight to this record that I don’t think was part of the last record. I think its one of the most hopeful records we’ve ever made but its set against the backdrop of pain. To use an illustration from the album title, it touches on the storms of this life and how we find hope to pull us through those storms.

“Mess of Me” is definitely a personal introspective song. Talk to us a bit about the meanings behind it?

TF: For me, I think of the Walt Whitman quote “Every man dies but not every man truly lives.” The punch line is “I wanna spend the rest of my life alive”. So for me this song delves into the reality of there is no quick fix. You can’t outsource living. It’s not something you can grow to a drug store and prescribe. It’s something that has to be done yourself.

When you do find yourselves going through these more gloomy periods of your life or your career, how does your faith play a part in comforting you or ultimately, maybe pulling you out of it?

TF: My faith plays a huge role in every aspect of my life. It’s a big part of the music we play. Our music really is a vehicle for us to explore things we don’t understand. It’s definitely a therapy of sorts to explore questions, doubts, pains, hopes and the darker and lighter aspects of what it means to be alive and breathing on this planet.

You guys have been huge supporters of the non profit organization To Write Love On Her Arms since its beginning. And we actually have an interview with Jamie in this issue as well as Mae so the topic has been brought up in the office a lot lately of artists getting more involved in non profit or humanitarian work. What is your guys’ opinion on that? Do you think that more artists need to utilize their position of influence to spread the word about something bigger?

TF: I think there is a lot of talk now days about artists being a part of change or enacting change in the world around them. I’ve heard a lot of cynicism about that or questioning the motives around larger bands being involved in a charity and I think that’s a bunch of crap. I think any time you see someone standing up to be a part of the difference or a part of the change, whatever the motives are, I applaud that. I think its exciting to live in a day and age where the biggest bands in the world like U2 and Coldplay are flying the banner of change and taking a hard look at the way they tour from the carbon footprints they leave to the material they print their shirts on to the organizations they are supporting that they all need to tie together with the music. You can’t just sing about it and not do it. So to see artists doing that and we’ve certainly taken it upon ourselves to always be trying to not only enact change through the art which is important because music is a very powerful way to be a part of the change, but I also think that to have a tangible thing to show for it after the tour is really important to us.

What inspires Switchfoot during the lyric writing process?

TF: I think its just life. These songs are ultimately written very inwardly. Whether its Jon writing a song at 2 A.M. wondering what its all about or trying to figure out the mystery of God or girls. Which are two of the more mysterious elements on this planet (laughs). I think that ultimately they start inwardly and that’s an amazing thing that something that is very personal can become very universal. We’ve all dealt with these issues of pain, hope or struggle. This is the human condition; it’s not just unique to me.

Jon has said that to understand this record you really have to reach back into the last ten years. Can you expound on this statement?

TF: I think this record really captures a lot of the journey we’ve been on since we’ve started this band. We almost had to deconstruct all of that and go away from it in order to come back fresh. We got off the road and felt like we needed to kind of step away from everything from the major label to the management or outside studio. We holed up, just the five of us and had late night conversations about why we make music and the type of band we wanted to be for the next ten years. I think at a certain point in that we were almost afraid to be Switchfoot. We always try to reinvent ourselves with every record but with this one we really had to do things differently. That sent us on a journey that ultimately led us to a really fresh sound and approach but it also led us to acknowledge the things we like about being Switchfoot and the things that make us unique and to hold onto those things. The idea that there are a lot of songs that are fun to play but there’s only a few that only Switchfoot can play and those are the songs we want to be playing.

One thing I really respect about you guys is that it seems you haven’t tried to adapt to new trends in music. You just write what you want and it’s always paid off.  How does your evolution of sound work? Or do you feel like you just go in and let it happen?

TF: I think this record more than any record shows that sometimes art is very difficult and needs to be labored over. We recorded so many different versions of songs that we tracked for this record and of the twelve songs that made it onto the record there are four or five dramatically different versions of them on hard drives scattered around the studio. So for us it was a real journey figuring out how to make this record and that’s after being a band for thirteen or fourteen years. It almost felt like we needed to forget everything and start again.

What was the final glue that did prove as the cohesiveness that Switchfoot was looking for on this record?

TF: A big part was when we brought in Mike Elizondo We were fairly far along and we had whittled it down to maybe sixty songs at that point. What Mike did best was he reminded us of who we were. I think it allowed us to be excited again about the songs that only we can play. We went back into the studio with a fresh energy to finish the songs.

Does is seem surreal when you step back and look at how far Switchfoot has come since The Legend Of Chin? Sold-out tours, major labels, things like that? Did you ever expect Switchfoot to make it to where you are now?

TF: It’s such a gift. We really feel like we’ve got the best job in the world. We haven’t taken it for granted for a single day. I think that comes from the days we spent in a mini van driving ourselves around the country as a three piece playing with punk rock bands to twenty kids a night. We’ll always have that and nothing can take that way from us. So to be playing for a lot more than that these days, to have a thousand or more people showing up and singing a long is such a gift, such an honor that we don’t take lightly.

Where do you see Switchfoot in 10 years?

TF: I have no idea. We love playing these songs and you know you talk to a lot of bands that have had mainstream success with a single or two and those are the songs that they hate playing every night, they’re just sick of them. I feel really fortunate with this band that that isn’t the case. Those songs that really got the public’s attention whether it’s “Meant to Live” or “Dare You to Move”, those songs mean more to us now than when we wrote them. I don’t even think we fully understood what they meant when we wrote them. They’ve grown and matured with us and are really a special part of our band’s history. I look forward to that same cultivated relationship with this batch of songs. So I hope to be playing these songs for many years.