Interview: Chad Butler from Switchfoot
Since their conception, Grammy-award winning alt-rock legends Switchfoot have devoted their music to encouraging the brokenhearted, challenging the status quo, and analysing life’s most difficult questions. In their 10th studio album the quest for hope came during one of the darkest moments in frontman Jon Foreman’s life, which is why this record is aptly named ‘Where The Light Shines Through.’ We caught up with moustached drummer Chad Butler to discuss the new album, the drawback of being labelled “a Christian band”, and life for the quartet as they reach their 20th Anniversary.
You’re currently touring the states, how’s it going?
We’ll be on tour in the US for the rest of the year and hopefully getting to Australia early next year!
This is your 20th year as a band! What’s your secret to sticking together for so long?
Wow! Yeah, that’s crazy. We never dreamed that we’d get the opportunity to play music as a career, to be able to travel the world with best friends and make 10 records. It’s phenomenal! It’s something I don’t take for granted. As far as the secret, I don’t know. We don’t have it all figured out but it’s great to play music you love with the people you love.
Congratulations on ‘Where The Light Shines Through’! Can you explain the title of this album?
Yeah, absolutely. I think that song is speaking about the idea of how we all go through pain and struggles, and we all have scars and wounds that remind us of our past. Yet even through the midst of going through a difficult time, there is hope and it’s important to remember that. This record really came for us in a tough year, a tough season. We were really struggling with big questions of why, faith and doubt – all those things we as humans go through. I think the songs are an attempt to wrestle with those things and to find life even in those darkest places. One of the things we realised along the way was that hope deserves an anthem.
Musically, how does this album compare to your previous album ‘Fading West’?
Well we worked with producer John Fields who did ‘Beautiful Letdown’ and ‘Nothing Is Sound’ with us years ago, and one of the things that inspired the decision to work together again was that John works very quickly. He doesn’t labour too long in finding the best version of the song. Often times I think our tendency as a band after nine records is to work very hard to make things perfect to a fault, and sometimes you need that human element of spontaneous energy that happens when you have five guys in a room just playing a song for the first time and are excited about it. We really tried to capture that energy on this record!
What was the recording process like this time around?
We started off just like we’re on stage – the five of us being in a room playing live together. We went through the arrangements of the songs and then began to tweak on that and sometimes too much. There’s a couple of songs on the record that we worked on for many days and ended up just going back to the first take, the first version of it when it’s just 5 of us in a room playing live. You know there’s something special, something magical in the initial ideas and interaction – that kind of live energy.
Your new music video for Float was filmed when you were in Manilla. Can you explain a little bit about the trip and how it impacted the new album?
Yeah, we love the Philippines! The people there are incredible and the keyboard player Jerome (Fontamillas) was born there. We’ve toured there many times, and we were over there a few months ago and had the opportunity to work with some local filmmakers to film a video for Float. The idea for the song was how music can take you out of present circumstances and lift you’re spirit and mind.
I feel the visuals there in the city and streets. It’s a very poor place, kind of a heartbreaking situation when you see kids who are living in the slums and picking into garbage looking for the next meal, and yet there’s a beauty and a hope shining in their eyes. We were able to set up and play the song in this village while families and kids came out and danced with us in the street. It was a really joyful moment, something I’ll never forget.
I know this comes up a lot in interviews but I just want to say I admire how you don’t define yourselves as a Christian band and how by doing so encourages anyone to relate to the messages in your music!
I appreciate that! I think categories and labels can limit the art and we’ve never wanted to put a box around our songs. We want our songs to relate to as many people as possible. We’ve always said we make honest music and I don’t want to put up a barrier with any kind of background somebody might bring to listening to the music. I look out at our concerts and see people from all different ethnicities, beliefs and backgrounds, and they’re all singing the same song and I think that’s the power of music.
As you don’t like to be labelled a ‘Christian band’, what is essentially the heart of Switchfoot?
For us the goal has always been to communicate hope. I think music is a powerful way to get past the watchful dragons of our minds and hearts and really talk about things that matter. You have a licence in a song to talk about things you can’t easily talk about in everyday conversation. But it’s okay to discuss these things, to be open and real and vulnerable about life within the context of the song.
Which Switchfoot song best describes you at the moment?
We’ve always had a mantra as a band – ‘life is short, live it well.’ There’s a song on this new record called that and it really speaks to me at this point in my life where I feel like the years are going fast, the days are going fast and before we know it it will all be gone. We’ll look back at our lives and I don’t know if we’ll care about things we care about now. I think as time goes on we’ll look back and care about the people around us, the relationships and making a difference in each others’ lives. I think that’s the sort of perspective I’m reaching for at this point in my life.
How would you describe a Switchfoot show?
It’s always been about sweaty rock n’ roll. We throw it all down on stage and don’t leave any gas in the tank. We want to just put our all into it and I think the most memorable moments for me are when the crowd is singing louder than the band. We can just stop and let the voices in the room carry the song.
Do you have any rituals before you go on stage?
We’ll talk through our setlist but it always changes when we get out on stage anyway. It’s an interactive experience. That’s what I love about live music. It’s never the same one night to the next. Our show are never the same. Someone in the crowd might call out a song we haven’t played in years and if we’re feeling it we’ll switch up the setlist and play that one instead.
Do you have a message for your Aussie fans?
We love Australia! I’ll never forget our first tour over there. Just the energy and the people and the beauty of the country. We love your beaches, we love surfing there – the flat whites (laughs). We can’t wait to be back and we’ll be back next year!
Switchfoot’s new album ‘Where The Light Shines Through’ is set for release on Friday, 8th of July.
