QUAKERTOWN, Pa. — It was 20 years ago that alt-rock band Switchfoot released its watershed album, "The Beautiful Letdown," with its Top 20 gold hits "Dare You to Move" and "Meant to Live."
But it was a disc that almost never happened.
Columbia Records apparently had lost interest in the band and dropped it. "The Beautiful Letdown" was released on a smaller Columbia affiliate, RED Ink Records.
- Alt-rock band Switchfoot will perform at 8 p.m. Opening act Emily Drinker at 6:30 p.m. (gates at 6 p.m.) Saturday, July 8, at Univest Performance Center, 301 W. Mill St., Quakertown
- Tickets, at $35-$130, are available at www.quakertown.org
- The group will play some selections from its biggest album, 2003's "The Beautiful Letdown"
The album, of course, was a massive hit: It sold triple platinum, hit the Top 15 and won Switchfoot six Dove Awards for Christian music, including Album of the Year, Song of the Year and Artists of the Year.
Two decades later, the band in May released a new version of the disc, "The Beautiful Letdown (Our Version)," that not only gives listeners updated versions of its 11 songs, but will be the subject of a massive tour this summer and fall.
Before it hits the road, Switchfoot on Saturday, July 8, will perform at Quakertown's Univest Performance Center.
"I’s amazing to think that it’s been 20 years since that album came out."Switchfoot bassist Tim Foreman
"It’s amazing to think that it’s been 20 years since that album came out," band bassist Tim Foreman said from a beach in San Diego in a three-way phone call with drummer Chad Butler in a nearby studio.
Other members of Switchfoot are Foreman's brother Jon, the band's singer and principal songwriter, and keyboardist Jerome Fontamillas. Longtime lead guitarist Drew Shirley left the band last year, apparently amicably.
"I think for us it was a chance to pause and just reflect and celebrate the journey we’ve been on — not just as a band, but our whole community of people who have been singing along with us, particularly with that album, for the last 20 years," Foreman said of re-recording the disc.
'The album you never wanted anyways'
Foreman said the decision to re-record "The Beautiful Letdown" "was kind of twofold."
"On the one hand, it was a chance to celebrate where we’re coming from and the journey," he said. “And on the other hand, it was also a chance to adapt some of the little changes that we made along the way.
"You know, we wanted to stay pretty true to the original recording of the album, but at the same time, these songs have grown with us, and we’ve grown with them in 20 years.
"You never believed in it, but we did."Switchfoot bassist Tim Foreman
“And there’s been little, subtle things that we’ve kind of added or changed along the way that we wanted to take the chance to grow these songs and create a new version for a new generation.”
But in a time when Taylor Swift is famously re-recording her own albums because she has lost the rights to her master recordings, Foreman concedes that, too, is the case with "The Beautiful Letdown."
"The original album was actually — it almost never came out," Foreman said. "And so from day one we had a kind of very conflicted relationship with our record company.
“So our first time being signed to a major label was ‘The Beautiful Letdown,’ and right before it came out, they dropped us and so we put it out through one of the independent labels way down the food chain.
“They owned, and still do own, the masters. So I think this was also an opportunity, yeah, to reclaim the album and say, ‘Hey, you know, that was the album that you never wanted anyways,’" he says with a laugh.
"You never believed in it, but we did."
Continued success
By the time it signed with Columbia, Switchfoot already had hit the Christian charts with three albums on the genre's Sparrow label. The 2000 disc "Learning To Breathe" went gold and was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Rock Gospel Album.
“And we feel so privileged to still be able to travel the world and meet people who connected deeply to these songs. I think for this season of our lives, it’s just a reminder of what a gift music is and how powerful it can be.”Switchfoot drummer Chad Butler
As Columbia fumbled with "The Beautiful Letdown," four of Switchfoot's songs, including "Dare You to Move," were included in the hit 2002 Mandy Moore movie "A Walk to Remember," thrusting its music into the spotlight.
"For any band to have an album blow up like ['The Beautiful Letdown'] did is a one-in-a-million chance," drummer Butler said. "And to be able to have those songs sung by people all over the world, it’s just incredible. It’s an honor and a very unique experience for us.
“And we feel so privileged to still be able to travel the world and meet people who connected deeply to these songs. I think for this season of our lives, it’s just a reminder of what a gift music is and how powerful it can be.”
Switchfoot continued to have success. Its next album, 2005's "Nothing is Sound," was its highest-charting, hitting No. 3, selling gold and producing the gold hit "Stars."
In all, the band has released seven full albums since, and had a dozen songs hit the Alternative chart and nearly three dozen on the Christian chart.
It even released a Christmas album last year, with some original songs, such as "California Christmas."
“You know, we’re all big fans of that holiday, it’s a real special time," Foreman said. "And to actually focus on writing some songs from our perspective instead of just singing traditional ones around the Christmas tree, it was a challenge.
“To be able to blend in the California culture that we experience, it’s very different from the rest of the world. So I think those songs uniquely express our southern California Christmas.”
'The album I'm most proud of'
Switchfoot's latest fully new disc was 2021's "Interrobang," which Tim Foreman said was recorded in essentially live studio takes, with the band all in one room.
“It’s a very unique album for us," Foreman said. "We wanted it all to not only sound like it was recorded all in one room, but we wanted to actually capture it that way."
So he said the band "spent a lot of time in preproduction" — a process that once was common, but has largely disappeared because "now you can record in your bedroom and it sounds pretty good."
"A lot of times we don’t like to say what it’s for yet, even for ourselves, and kind of stay in that child-like state of just exploring and doing what you love to do."Switchfoot bassist Tim Foreman
“And what’s interesting with that process is it takes a lot longer to start recording, right?" Foreman said. "So you feel like you’re not making any progress — for months and months you haven’t pressed record once.
“But then all of a sudden, you do and you’re done. It’s like the distance to the finish line might actually be closer. You’re just waiting a lot longer before you press record. I think we learned a lot in that exercise.
“I think musically, in a lot of ways, it’s the album I’m most proud of.”
Asked whether Switchfoot is working on new music, Foreman said, “I guess the answer to that is: We’re always working on music.
"A lot of times we don’t like to say what it’s for yet, even for ourselves, and kind of stay in that child-like state of just exploring and doing what you love to do."
After 20 years, still 'a real gift'
Foreman compares playing music to surfing, which is something he said he, his brother and Butler still do daily (the band's name is a surfing reference to switching your feet to change a direction or approach).
"They’re songs about life, about wrestling with why we’re here on the planet, and big, existential questions."Switchfoot drummer Chad Butler
“Jon, Chad and I surf every day," Foreman said. "And there’s a comparison [with music] in that we don’t go surfing because we’re trying to win a world title or something. It’s because it’s fun.
“And we try and carry that approach over into the studio. So, not just because it gets us better results, but because it’s just more enjoyable that way.
“And then we’ll come up for air in a year or so and then we’ll see if there’s anything that resembles the beginning of an album.”
But he and Butler said the songs on "The Beautiful Letdown" still touch them in significant ways, even after 20 years.
“It’s a real gift," Butler said. "These are some of our biggest songs, and a lot of artists kind of regret their hit songs — it’s about a girl that they don’t have a relationship with anymore, you know, whatever.
“And I’m really thankful for us that these songs still speak to me, and I think they do to all of us. I think they’ve grown, and they mean something even bigger than they did when we wrote them, because they have all these memories attached to them now.
“But they’re songs about life, about wrestling with why we’re here on the planet, and big, existential questions. I don’t think the questions get smaller as you get older. I think they hit harder now than they did when I was in my 20s.”
