Our family moved from Rancho Bernardo, CA (and a great church) to Carlsbad, CA in September of 2000. We initially tried to keep attending our old church but the distance was prohibitive. My wife was looking for some fellowship with women in the area so she searched the web for a Calvary Chapel in Carlsbad. She found North Coast Calvary Chapel had all sorts of neat ministries so she went to a Keeper's of the Home meeting. In January we decided to attend a service on a January Saturday night. The pastor was different from many others. He quoted C.S. Lewis and really seemed to have a grasp on the various philosophies in the world. Since I've read Mere Christianity about 10 times and my wife had a minor in philosophy everything clicked. At the end of the service the pastor said that since they were going to be leaving on a tour Switchfoot was going to play a couple of songs.
Now, at this point my wife and I really didn't know much Christian music other than Jars of Clay. The only thing we had heard of Switchfoot was when our pastor in RB mentioned some bands coming to the Wednesday night services. He mentioned Dogwood and Switchfoot and people chuckled. So we had never heard SF before. We thought, great, another mediocre Christian band, and surf punks to boot. Well, were we ever surprised. SF played "Learning to Breathe" and "Economy of Mercy" and we were blown away. These were not the lyrics of some immature Christian musician but were soulful and deep. I went home and looked up the SF web site . I noticed that two of the members of the band had the same last name as the pastor. My wife then told me she'd heard the pastor mention that they were his sons (guess I was looking to get out). I then got "Learning to Breathe" then the other two albums.
I would read the lyrics and liner notes and thought they were pretty darn clever. I then noticed the lyrics to a song called "Erosion". In it it said "tut tut it looks like rain" from Winnie the Pooh. I played this for my kids and they wanted to hear more. Then they saw the videos on the "Learning to Breathe" CD and would want me to play them over and over. Soon they were imitating them including the jumps Jon does in the videos.
By this time our family was totally hooked on Switchfoot but their tour was taking them everywhere but back home. We then saw that they were going to play a show at our old church on a Wednesday night. We got there a little early so we got to see SF warm up. They then played 8 songs during the service and were so darn good. Afterwards we were going to buy some souveniers. We noticed some familiar faces behind the counter and it was the Switchfoot guys. They were signing autographs and were chatting with everybody. A couple of friends from work also went and became immediate fans.
In August 29, 2001, Switchfoot played a full concert in La Jolla. It was a packed house. My wife, oldest son, Godson and the same two friends from work accompanied me. The show was even better. It seemed Switchfoot was freer on the stage than at church. They just let it all out. Afterwards we hung around and ran into Jon. He sat down with my son and Godson, talked with them, signed autographs and posed for a picture.
We've seen them a couple of other times since and has only heartened us as fans of Switchfoot. Now, a monster has been created. My boys only want to hear Switchfoot and think everyone else stinks. Oh well, it could be worse. At various time over the last few months have wanted to grow up to be all the guys of Switchfoot at one time or another and my little one even wanted to be Willis Chin.
Picture taken in La Jolla after a Switchfoot concert on August 29, 2001. Clockwise from the top, Tim Rogers (old fart), Jon Foreman (singer, guitar), Andrew Rogers (son), Drew Milhoan (Godson).
This is my favorite Switchfoot picture. This was taken at Maranatha Chapel in San Diego on December 19, 2001.
See photos from an appearance at North Coast Calvary Chapel.
See photos and info from a concert at Canes Bar and Grill.
See photos from a concert at North Coast Calvary Chapel.
See photos from a concert at Emmanuel Faith Christian Center.
See photos from "The Beautiful Letdown" record signing at Tower Records.
See information about a grassroots effort called Switchfoot Friday.
