Formation and early years (1996–2002) Switchfoot was founded in 1996 as Chin Up, consisting of Jon Foreman and his brother Tim, along with Chad Butler on drums. After playing only a few shows, the band was contacted by music industry veteran Charlie Peacock and eventually signed to his indie label Re:think Records under the current moniker, Switchfoot. Re:think went on to distribute the first three Switchfoot albums, The Legend of Chin, New Way to Be Human, and Learning to Breathe. Because Re:think was bought out by Christian giant Sparrow Records before Switchfoot's first release, however, the band's and Peacock's intentions of being marketed outside of the Contemporary Christian music scene and reaching a wider audience were put on hold. Consequently, the band was mostly marketed exclusively to Christian radio and retail outlets early in their careers, a time Jon Foreman has described as when "half of who we were was lost. Of Switchfoot's first three albums, Learning to Breathe was the most successful, being certified gold by the RIAA, and receiving a Grammy nomination for Best Rock Gospel Album. Later on in 2002, Switchfoot's music was featured prominently in the movie A Walk to Remember, starring singer and actress Mandy Moore, who sang Switchfoot's song "Only Hope" during a scene in the movie. The movie's soundtrack album also featured a duet with Jon Foreman and Moore, as well as four other Switchfoot songs from the band's previous catalogue, in addition to Moore's cover of "Only Hope". The Beautiful Letdown (2003–05) Following the exposure that came from A Walk to Remember, Switchfoot attracted attention from multiple record labels and ultimately signed with the major record label, Columbia Records/SonyBMG. Their major label debut, The Beautiful Letdown, under Columbia Records/Red Ink, represented the band's evolution from the predominantly lo-fi, indie rock sound of their early albums, toward a more layered, synth-influenced sound that helped launch the band to mainstream popularity. This shift sonically could be attributed to the fact that the album was the first to include keyboardist Jerome Fontamillas, formerly of industrial bands Mortal and Fold Zandura. Fontamillas had been touring with Switchfoot since 2000, following the release of Learning to Breathe. The Beautiful Letdown has since been certified double platinum, selling more than 2.6 million copies, on the strength of constant touring and the huge mainstream radio hits "Meant to Live" and "Dare You to Move." A live DVD depicting one of the band's live concerts, Live in San Diego, went platinum as well, and a third single, "This Is Your Life" was released to radio. In addition, the song "Gone" received major airplay on Christian radio stations as well. Following the runaway success of The Beautiful Letdown, a compilation titled The Early Years: 1997-2000 was released, which featured Switchfoot's first three indie albums released under Re:think records including the original artwork for all the albums. This collection has since been certified Gold, with total sales of over 500,000 copies.
Switchfoot also received five 2005 Dove Award nominations, and won four, including Artist of the year. Nothing Is Sound (2005–06) In 2005 prior to the release of Nothing Is Sound Switchfoot announced that guitarist Drew Shirley (previously the guitarist for All Together Separate) had become the band's fifth member after touring with the band since 2003. Nothing Is Sound, was released on September 13, 2005, and with Shirley's inclusion saw Switchfoot's sound become even more densely layered and guitar-heavy, resulting in an album that was edgier and darker than any of their previous work. "Stars" was released as the first radio single to promote the album, and was a solid hit on mainstream and alternative rock radio stations. "We Are One Tonight" was released as the second single in early 2006. Nothing is Sound Tour in Vancouver BC The album debuted at #3 on the Billboard 200 albums chart, an all-time high for the band, while bassist Tim Foreman attracted headlines by speaking out against the copy-protection used by the label and providing fans a detailed workaround on the band's message board, which was quickly deleted by Sony. This copy-protection is known as Extended Copy Protection, which has been identified by leading anti-virus companies as a trojan horse and a rootkit. During the Spring 2006 leg of the Nothing Is Sound Tour, the band introduced "a video diary of life on the road" in the form of free video podcasts available via iTunes and streaming online on Youtube.com. In addition to featuring snippets of upcoming songs and live performances, the videos gave fans an inside look at the more casual and humorous aspects of the band members' touring lives, as well as featuring footage of the band working on their follow-up to Nothing Is Sound. Oh! Gravity. (2006–07) Switchfoot's next album, Oh! Gravity., was released on December 26, 2006 to considerable critical acclaim. It entered the Billboard chart at #18 and peaked at #1 on iTunes' Top Albums chart. Before the release of the album, Switchfoot e-mailed a newsletter on June 2 which contained a free download of the song "Daylight to Break", a statement from Foreman implying that the band wanted to have a new album out by the end of the year, as well as a thanks to their fans for helping keep the band together for ten years. The band tried to involve their fans in the creation of the album, setting up a webcam in their recording studio and running a contest for a chance to play the cowbell in the studio with the band.
Oh! Gravity Spring Tour 2007 Charleston S.C. To promote the album, the band first released the song, "Dirty Second Hands", as a "preview" single via iTunes on September 26. The title track "Oh! Gravity" was also released to iTunes on October 21 and was sent to radio on October 31 as the lead single for the album, seeing limited success at alternative and modern rock radio. The album's second single, "Awakening", was released in early 2007. Although it saw virtually no play on radio, the accompanying band-funded music video song received over one million hits on YouTube in less than three months. Major label independence, The Best Yet (2007–08) Later, on August 10, 2007, Jon Foreman revealed that the band had severed ties with Columbia Records in order to release music as an Indie band. "Neither party has any hard feelings," he said of the split a few months later. "I think for us, the reason why we signed with Columbia was because of the people that were there. So it's very understandable when all those people are gone, you don't hold any real bad feelings or good feelings towards a company name. I think that's part of the problem with the corporate entity as a whole is that there's no true responsibility. Later in October, the band announced that they had created a new record label called lowercase people records, in order to better make a direct connection with their fans. Subsequently, Foreman began working on his own set of solo EP's (one named after each season of the year); the first of these was released on November 27, 2007, the last on June 10, 2008. Foreman also began a side project with Sean Watkins of Nickel Creek originally called "The Real SeanJon" but later renamed "Fiction Family". With their new status as an independent band, Switchfoot embarked on their 2007 fall tour, playing shows with Relient K and Ruth.
The tour, dubbed the "Appetite for Construction Tour", was designed to benefit Habitat For Humanity, with the bands donating one dollar per ticket sold to the cause. In addition, Foreman wrote the song "Rebuild" with Matt Thiessen from Relient K, and released it as a way to raise additional money for Habitat. By the end of the tour, the bands had raised over $100,000 for Habitat for Humanity. With no album to promote, the band continued touring for philanthropic causes, booking a short national tour in March through May titled the Up In Arms Tour, partnering with and benefitting the organization To Write Love on Her Arms. Later that year, Columbia Records/Sony Music, released the first ever Switchfoot greatest hits compilation album titled The Best Yet, a sort of "final farewell from Sony". Hello Hurricane (2008–2010) Prior to the label split, Foreman had announced in a March 17, 2007 MySpace blog that Switchfoot had begun pre-production for a new album, saying that "the new SF record is underway." Later, on October 12, 2007, Foreman also announced that the band had begun construction of their own studio in their hometown of San Diego. It was completed in the spring of 2008, and the band began recording their follow-up to 2006's Oh! Gravity. In March, the band wrote and recorded a new song called "This Is Home" for the film The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian. The song was included on the film's official soundtrack and an accompanying music video was also filmed, with footage from the film. In April, the band announced that instead of one studio album, they had actually been at work on 4 albums-worth of material, and had decided at the time to release them one after another, starting with the first one on November 10, 2009, titled Hello Hurricane. The album to follow it will be called Vice Verses, set to release at an undetermined date. Upon completion of Hello Hurricane, the band began searching for "the right partners" to distribute the songs globally. On August 7, 2009, the band announced that lowercase people records was licensing the album to Atlantic Records, ensuring "these tunes are heard around the world." To help promote this new release, the band took a hands-on approach with their lead single, "Mess of Me," by hiding copies of the single all across the world and encouraging fans to share it around by finding the discs and making copies of their own to hide. Through this, the single spread all across the world in grassroots fashion in advance of a traditional radio release, which saw the track hitting the Top 15 of Modern Rock radio. This was followed by the release of "The Sound (John M. Perkins' Blues)," which went on to become the band's first Top 10 Modern Rock hit since "Dare You to Move." On December 1, 2010 it was announced that Hello Hurricane had been nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Rock or Rap Gospel Album. The band concluded the year with the release of the Eastern Hymns for Western Shores EP, which was included in their annual holiday package for fans.
Lissie was born in Rock Island, Illinois, one of the Quad Cities on the banks of the Mississippi River. She’s a straight-talking Midwestern girl, all flaxen hair and big blue eyes, and this girl is smart and gutsy and tough, with a big old voice to match it: Laurel Canyon prettiness stewed in campfire and bourbon.
Lissie was always musical. Inspired by her Grandfather, a former international barbershop quartet champion, she would sing along at her Lutheran church but she was never a choirgirl. She scored the lead in an 80-date production of Annie for the local dinner theatre at the age of nine. “I was always humming,” she says, “making up these little songs and melodies, writing these poems and putting them to music. I know if I’m I feeling bummed out just the vibration of singing is kind of soothing to me.”
She was also the family rebel. Trouble seemed to have a knack of following Lissie, from once dyeing her hair with pen ink in 6th grade to cutting class, talking back, eventually getting thrown out of high school. “I felt that people didn’t know what to do with me, and tried to squash my spirit a little, which gave rise to a defiant streak within me early on,” she self-describes. “It was that that made me bend my ideas around convention.” She taught herself a handful of guitar chords, wrote about the girls who snubbed her and the boys who broke her and all the scrapes she got herself into. Playing them out loud at the local coffee shop where she worked, she dreamed of the world beyond her hometown.
In LA she played bars, showcases and residencies, sometimes performing in clubs to an audience of one. In the spring of 2006, she started a weekly residency with musician friends at Crane’s Hollywood Tavern in her neighborhood, which she named ‘Beachwood Rockers’ Society’. Lissie made ends meet handing out restaurant flyers and selling honey every Sunday at the local farmer’s market. “Raw honey,” she recalls. “I would say, “Have you tried the world’s best-tasting honey? It’s not heated, treated, whipped or spun!”
Little by little, things came together. She recorded a five-track EP, Why You Runnin’, with her friend Bill Reynolds (of Band of Horses) and in London with Ed Harcourt, which Fat Possum released in November 2009. The EP caught the attention of new fans and the U.S. press, with praise rolling in from Paste, Nylon, Filter, and Marie Claire, among others. She toured with Ray LaMontagne, A.A. Bondy, City & Colour, and The Low Anthem; she eventually tackled a whirlwind SXSW schedule (10 shows, 4 days) with ease and won over tough critics like Pitchfork, Rolling Stone, and even Perez Hilton.
She headed to Nashville to record with Jacquire King (who was fresh from working with the Kings of Leon), and also recorded some more with Reynolds. What came out of these sessions is the bulk of her debut album, Catching A Tiger: 12 songs that range from bluesy-folk to unfettered pop, and showcase both her remarkable voice and her songwriting chops.
Lissie left LA, spent time in London and Tennessee, hankering a little for that Midwestern hometown in Illinois. Eventually she extricated herself from a long, troubled relationship and relocated to Ojai, CA, population just shy of 8,000. She rented an old farmhouse she had never seen, in a town she had never visited, “just because I sat next to someone from there on an airplane who told me it was nice.” She likes it up there. “It’s fairly slow, everything closes early and you can see all the stars at night. There are mountains outside my front door and it’s really quiet, which means I get a lot of work done and have time to myself which is essential for me to function. I can still drive into LA for some excitement when I want, going out and being around other people is equally important to me.”
“All these things,” she says, talking a little about her new hometown in CA, and a little about her music, too, “I do them without thinking. So much of my process is instinct and it’s natural. Even in photo shoots I won’t wear concealer, I don’t want to look like someone painted my face. Everything I do I want to feel natural; I want it to mean something to me. If it doesn’t feel natural I can’t do it. I can’t act. I’m not good at faking it.”
And this is the essence of Lissie, something straight-down-the-line, unaffected. “Now I’ve gotten older I really found myself recognizing the hometown Midwesterner in me and embracing it,” she says. “For better or worse it may not be all that tactful or that cool, but there’s no phoniness. It’s pretty direct. And I’m direct; I’m not hiding anything. I don’t really know what or why or who I am,” she says, “but I don’t know how to not be how I am.” Lissie is, you might say, ‘not heated, treated, whipped or spun.’
Since early this year, Lissie has largely been based in London, where Catching A Tiger was first released. Embraced lovingly by the British press, she’s been featured in Q, The Sun, The Sunday Times, The Mirror, Time Out, The Big Issue, and on the BBC and Later…with Jools Holland, among others; she’s played with Joshua Radin, The Local Natives, and Alan Pownall, in addition to performing at Bonnaroo in Manchester, TN, and The Great Escape in Brighton, England. She’s also picked up praise and support from a wide range of fellow artists, including Katy Perry, Courtney Love, Mumford & Sons, and Ellie Goulding, who joined her onstage to perform “Everywhere I Go” at The Great Escape in May.
