By Ally Doty
Grammy Award-winning Christian Rock band Switchfoot will be preforming at the Pensacola Interstate Fair Friday, Oct. 25 to promote the release of their new album and upcoming film.
The album, to be released in January, will go hand-in-hand with the film Fading West; a detailed perspective on the lives of the band members and their secrets to writing music.
“Fading West is a song on our EP that Jon Foreman wrote,” guitarist Drew Shirley. “It is about watching the sun go down and facing all of the problems and letting them wash away.”
During their upcoming Fading West tour, the band will have a new, unique stage set and also screen the upcoming film. They will not b
e showing film at the Fair, but will be promoting it here in Pensacola, as well as give a “concert experience that is more personal and interactive than anything Switchfoot has done before” according to the band’s publicist Sandee Fenton.
The set will include fan-favorites as well as three new songs from their upcoming album that will be performed live for the first time ever and released as an EP. Fans who buy a physical copy of the EP will also receive a four song preview before the album’s release.
After releasing eight albums and selling 5.5 million copies, including their Grammy Awarding winning album Hello Hurricane, the band decided it was time to take a new direction with their music. They took their 2012 world tour all over the world to their favorite surf spots to gain fresh inspiration for their new music and to satisfy their cravings for waves.
Switchfoot pushed themselves to find a sense of what their new music needed but ironically found themselves back at the beginning with the same sound they started with 17 years ago. That inspiration came from the waves. The very place they found the name for their band.
“Swicthfoot is a surfing term,” explained Shirley. “It’s where you switch your feet on the board to get a better balance on the waves.”
The band found that it was easy to be inspired by the ocean when it was something that has such a big impact on their lives.
“Surfing is inspiring. We go out there from all other distractions and it starts to clear your head,” said Shirley. “I remember how big the ocean is and it makes the problems wash away because they feel so small all of a sudden”.
Directed by Matt Katsolis, the film Fading West captures Switchfoot re-creating what they love most through inspiring foreign waters, capturing every detail with a mixture of music, family and crashing waves.
The film offers behind the scenes footage, as well as interviews from the band members sharing their experiences on the road, the balance between family and fortune and their secrets to writing music.
Swicthfoot is looking to continue to make music for the foreseeable future.
“We are hoping to produce a few more albums,” said Shirley. “There are a lot of songs waiting to be put out there,”
Swicthfoot will begin their tour in Andrews, TX on Sept. 19, 2013. Visit their website at http://www.switchfoot.com to find out more information on their tour dates and upcoming film and album Fading West.
To watch the trailer on the upcoming film, click the following link.