Digital Minds
Rockers with a Conscience: Switchfoot Test Drives the New 8110 Preamp with Their UA Equipped TDM Rig
By Marsha Vdovin

One of the most explosive young bands of the moment is Switchfoot. Rarely have we seen a rock band with such aggressive guitars as well as a social conscience. Jon Foreman and Switchfoot, yearn for something more than what fame is offering. "If I'm content as an artist to write a hit song or have a Platinum record, then I'll have failed a lot of my fellow human beings," says Foreman. "We have the best jobs in the world because we play music for a living and love doing it, but we didn't get into this to try and sell something. For us, it's about communicating and connecting with people on a different level."

That stance earned the Switchfoot vocalist/guitarist and his band mates (brother/bassist Tim Foreman, keyboardist Jerome Fontamillas and drummer Chad Butler) an invitation to attend last December's summit for DATA (Debt, AIDS, Trade for Africa) in Nashville. DATA is the charity that Bono of U2 founded to promote AIDS awareness and debt relief for developing nations. "It was incredible," says Foreman, who's worked with Sudanese refugees in the band's hometown of San Diego. "Here's a guy who has all the money, fame and notoriety that anyone could ever want, and he's passionately talking to us about a bunch of poor people in Africa who will never buy his records. Listening to him speak was definitely a life-changing experience."

When the meeting ended, Foreman walked over and handed the U2 frontman $40. "I told him I owed it to him for sneaking into a U2 show in London a couple of years ago," he says. "He laughed and told me he did the same thing when he was younger. We spoke for a while, and then he gave the money back, saying he felt he had already been compensated. To be honest, I was relieved because it was my last $40 and I needed the money to get home."

“The 1176 TDM plug is my powerhouse. Every kind of track gets a taste of it: drums, guitars, acoustics, vocals and bass--just about anything sounds great thru UA1176.”

Presumably, the bandmembers are feeling a little more financially secure now. Their album The Beautiful Letdown, which was produced by John Fields (Andrew W.K.) and mixed by Chris Lord-Alge (Goo Goo Dolls, Michelle Branch), Tom Lord-Alge (blink-182, Rolling Stones) and Jack Joseph Puig (John Mayer, No Doubt), entered the Billboard Top 200 last year at Number 85 and has now sold well over 2 million copies! The Orange County Register described the music as "...a rousing rock testament of hope, dreams and inspiration," and the first single off the album, "Meant To Live" hit the Top 40 on the Modern Rock Chart. Their video, directed by Laurent Briet (Radiohead), subsequently went into rotation on MTV2, and the band has been tearing up venues across the country during a three-month sold-out headlining tour. In addition, the quartet has shared festival stages with the likes of Jane's Addiction and Audioslave, and recently performed on "Last Call with Carson Daly" and the "Late Late Show with Craig Kilborn."

I spoke with Jon Foreman recently after the band completed their newest album-once again produced by John Fields. I'm always fascinated by people's childhoods, and Jon shares the band with his brother, which took us back to those early years:

"My childhood was a formative period of exploration," Foreman says. "Looking back, I felt very free to do my own thing and try on many different hats. As far as music was concerned, our house was a great place to experiment. As soon as I got my first four-track, I was exploring sound in a new way--slowing it down, speeding it up, reversing it. When the four-track caught on fire, I moved into the digital world with a VS880.

"When it comes to my brother Chad and I, we tend to get into things around the same time. From surfing to music we tend to have a sort of brotherly Zeitgeist. So back in Junior High, when I really started playing the guitar, he started off on the bass. We've done things on our own, but most of the things that we've done musically have been together."

Foreman says that, musically, he started on piano before moving towards guitar. "Marching band in Junior High found me playing a trumpet however," he admits. Hah! Another Rocker confesses to being a former Band Geek!

As far as Switchfoot, Foreman says, "We all met thought the surfing scene here in San Diego, started playing music in coffee shops while Chad and I where going to college."

Jon Foreman of Switchfoot

Is it hard for him to be in a band with his own brother? "It's hard at times," he says, "but it's no harder than being in a band with anyone else. It seems like relationships never really come easy. In Switchfoot, everyone is passionate about the music and willing to go to bat to fight for their ideas; yet there seems to be an underlying respect and friendship that allows even the disagreements to be tolerable and feel like forward motion." (Awww, c'mon, I was hoping for some dramatic Oasis-type story!)

Switchfoot will release their fifth studio album, Nothing Is Sound, in July. John Fields was given the opportunity to test drive the UA's first 8110 8-channel preamp on the sessions for the new album. "The 8110 sounds awesome, said John. ' We used it to record guitar and bass on the new Switchfoot CD.

"I like diversity when it comes to guitar tones, so I'm up for trying anything for a mic," he continues. "Most importantly, the 1176 TDM plug is my powerhouse. Every kind of track gets a taste of it: drums, guitars, acoustics, vocals and bass--just about anything sounds great thru UA1176."

Fields has owned the UA 2-610 and 2108 preamps for a while and prefers to use them on all his recording, although he found the 8110 to work really well for bass and guitars. "For some of the vocals on the new album, we used a RODE Classic II Microphone, UA 2-610 preamp, E.L. Distressor, straight to Pro Tools. I personally I own the hardware 2-610 and the 2108 and use them on everything."

They also used the UA TDM plug-ins extensively for the Switchfoot album. "The plug-ins are freakin unreal!" says producer John Fields. "They changed my entire sonic landscape in Pro Tools. The 1176 in particular, and also the Pultec EQ. They're all phenomenal."

In the midst of both touring and recording, Switchfoot found the time to organize a benefit around their favorite pastime: surfing. On May 14, 2005, the band was planning to host--and take part in--the first-annual Bro-Am competition, held on Moonlight Beach in Encinitas, California. Proceeds will benefit Care House, a nonprofit organization that aids homeless children and young mothers in the San Diego community. "There are going to be pros and not-so-pros," Foreman says, "but our slogan is 'more bro than pro.'"

Find out more about Switchfoot by visiting their official website.

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