Interview . Switchfoot . w/ Chad Butler (drums) and Andrew "Drew" Shirley (guitar) .
Interviewer: Laura Schriefer . 08/06/2010 . Knust . Hamburg . Germany .
Message from Chad from Switchfoot
While their European tour I got the chance to meet Chad and Drew from Switchfoot. On a nice, sunny day in Hamburg I talked to them about surfing, their hometown and their charity projects. I honestly can say that Switchfoot are some of the most lovely, down to earth bands I've ever met. So if you ever get the chance to go to one of their concerts and/or talk to them, take it!
and please visit:
Official Switchfoot website
Bro Am
Habitat For Humanity
Stand Up For Kids
To Write Love On Her Arms
Punk76: Is it your first time in Hamburg? I know you've been to Germany before.
Drew: Second time in Hamburg.
Punk76: And do you like it?
Drew: Looove Hamburg. Very cool city.
Punk76: You arrived yesterday, right?
Chad: Yeah.
Punk76: So you had some time to walk around?
Chad: Well, yesterday we took a drive around where Warner Music is and where our record label was, down where they had all the supplies when they came in.
Drew: The Old warehouse and past the river.. it's a very scenic town.
Chad: Yeah and I heard it's a very artistic town I just walked around here for a bit and there are amazing butiques.
Drew: We heard there's a very cool local music scene, too.
Punk76: Yeah, that's right.
Drew: Lot of good local bands?
Punk76: Definitely!
Chad: I just met the guy downstairs at Hotel Pacific, the music store there and they were the first ones to import Fender guitars in the 50's.
Drew: Wow!
Chad: And Epiphone.. and the Beatles shopped there. And got equipment for their gigs..
Drew: That's amazing.
Chad: And stayed upstairs.
Drew: So you see, we're fascinated by the city.
Chad: Totally fascinated!
Drew: I should spend a week here just getting education..
Punk76: You should! And you should play every night then (smiling).
Chad (talking to Drew): You know, they are very interesed in the american Gibsons and Fenders those were their specialty. And I told him I know these guitars because we have them a lot but over here it's not that common because they are hard to find. So if I'd come here and sold my Fenders I could make like a million.
Drew (laughing)
Punk76: So everytime you're on tour you should bring a guitar and sell it.
Chad: For sure! I could pay for the trip that way.
Punk76: Your band name comes from a surfing term right? Do all of you surf?
Drew: Yeah, you know we all grew up in San Diego, it's a big surfing town and Switchfoot is a term when you're going in a different direction on the board, you switch your feet to the opposite direction you normally would. Soprt of like throwing with your weak hand.
Punk76: Alright, how long did it take you to become good surfers? 'Cause I tried once and I fell and fell and fell again.
Chad: Where did you surf?
Punk76: In Denmark
Chad: Oh there's surfing in Denmark?
Punk76: Yeah.
Drew: We're going there tomorrow.
Chad: Yeah we should go surfing tomorrow!
Punk76: Yeah but I think it's a little cold.
Chad: Well but I'm glad you tried to surf. I takes a very long time to become good.
Drew: I'm still not good (smiling).
Chad: But it is a lot of fun and actually we're doing an event every summer called the "Bro Am".
Punk76: Oh yeah, I wanted to ask you about that.
Chad: Well, it's about surfing. San Diego is a lot about surfing and so what we try to do is bring the music scene together with the surfing scene. To make a difference. And that event is a charity concert at the beach with a surf contest and it's a big day for us to seek, it's that the homeless people who have a lot of problems at home don't have that family support that we are able to give them some attention and raise and support some awareness for an organisation called "Stand Up For Kids". So that's what the whole day is about and when we leave Europe we're going right back to San Diego for our big Switchfoot Bro-Am. Very exciting for us.
Punk76: Do all of you live in San Diego?
Chad&Drew: Yeah.
Punk76: Because of the good waves or just because you like the area?
Drew: It's where I grew up.
Chad (smiling): We all went to school there and have families there but the waves are nice, too.
Punk76: We'll stick to the charity topic, what is "Lowercase People" all about?
Chad: Well Lowercase People was an effort to try to shine the spotlight on somebody else besides ourselves. You know we met a lot of wonderful people doing great things in their backyard to change the world so we would like to tell their stories. Whether it's kids that we met in Africa that are suffering because of HIV or being orphans and try to tell their story and get them going with their music. Or even back in the states we're working with different organisations like "To Write Love On Her Arms" or "Habitat For Humanity" so basically it was something that we started and that is growing now. And it's also a big part of our tour, whenever we do a tour we try to support a cause and an organisation that hopfeully will leave more of an impact than just one night of music.
Punk76: That's very good.
Punk76: Imagine you would have to listen to Michael Jackson's "Man In The Mirror" or Prince's "Purple Rain" over and over again, which song would you prefer?
Drew: Man In The Mirror, hands down. Big Michael Jackson fan.
Punk76: Did you ever get the chance to see him play live?
Drew: Nope. I wish.
Punk76: I did.
Drew: You did?? You saw Michael Jackson? Where?
Punk76: In Germany, he played in Bremen when I was like 12 years old.
Drew: How many people where there?
Punk76: It was at the stadium, I can't really tell.
Drew: Which album was that?
Punk76: It was the History World Tour.
Drew: Oh my gosh, that was one of his last tours.. see, I'm a huge fan and I loved the movie "This Is It". So pretty jealous of you.
Chad: I like Prince,too but you know you can't take away Michael jackson from me.
Drew: That's also a very good song, Man In The Mirror.
Punk76: Yeah, I think so, too.
[Drew singing a part of Man In The Mirror]
Punk76: How did the movie "A Walk To Remember" affect your career?
Chad: I think it's an honour every time someone in another art form sees value in your song and they choose it to match up with their TV show or whatever they're doing and that was a movie that used our music and I do remember that that was an exciting thing to see on the big screen and to hear your song. For us, anytime we get an opportunity to get the songs out there, whether it's thorugh film or TV our Soundtrack or something we take it because so some people will hear the song who would never come to a concert like tonight. Or maybe they have never picked up our CD's so sometimes it can really be a great way to get the songs heard.
Punk76: And I think the songs fit very well to the movie and especially the scenes.
Chad: Cool.
Punk76: I know that some of you are married, are you?
Chad: Yeah. Well, not to eachother.
Punk76: No I mean to a woman.
Drew: Different ladies.
Punk76: Well, yeah to two different woman.
Chad: Beautiful ladies.
Punk76: Okay, the real question is which song did you chose to do your wedding dance to?
Drew: That was "Always" by Frank Sinatra..
Chad: I'm embarrased, I can't remember.
Drew: I'm gonna call your wife and tell her. "Hello Tina.."
Chad: I think it was "What A Wonderful World" either by Louis Armstrong or Sam Cook. There's different versions of the song.
Punk76: Compared to your older records, what is the most apparant difference between them and "Hello Hurricane"?
Chad: What do you think Drew?
Drew: I think we've focused in on the songs that crarry the soul of the band. We focused on the songs that we are most passionate about and really spent a lot of time figuring out what songs make us passionate. It's our 7th album so I think you reach a point where you are really searching for those songs that are the real and honest ones. And we've tried to put together an album full of them (smiling). Cause we've tended to choose from a lot of songs, we chose from over 80 songs on this one, we recorded demo's of like 80 songs and then picked 12. So we figured we'd pick the ones that the experience of life and this band has taught us most about.
Punk76: What's the meaning of the album title?
Chad: Well that came babout because of some work we did with rebuilding homes after Hurricane Katrina in the US. The organisation Habnitat For Humanity was helping rebuilding the home of this girl who had not only lost her home but she lost her leg in the evacuation and her story was that she didn't decided to be bitter and angry, instead she chose to face the storm that she had been through and to continue and not give up and to have hope. And basically that idea was something that inspired us, we're all gonna face different storms, they look different for everyone. And you can't avoid that but your part to play is your reaction to that and how you treat the people around you.
Punk76: If I would give you 100 Euros but you would have to spend them within the next 10 minutes, what would you buy?
Drew: I'd go down to the guitar store.
Punk76: But what can you get for 100 Euros?
Drew: A pedal, they had some cool vintage pedals. Or there were these vintage shoes around the street. The guy had original vintage Puma's with tags still on.
Chad: Drew likes vintage shoes.
Drew: The didn't have my size otherwise I'd have bought them.
Chad: I think I'd go and get a St. Pauli Jersey, the football club. You gotta represent when you're in Hamburg (smiling).
Punk76: And the last question: Please complete the sentence: If I could be anywhere in the world right now I'd like to be in..
Drew: Hamburg, Germany.
Punk76: Wow, that's unusual. Usually the bands say something like "home" or "in Australia"
Drew: There's no time like the present, right now this is where I'm supposed to be. You know, when you're home you wish that you were back in Germany and if you're on tour you wish you'd be back home.
Chad: You know, I'm trying to figure out how we bring all the people of the world to San Diego and we would set up just one place and play every night.
Punk76: That would be nice! I'd like to come to San Diego. And maybe I could learn how to surf?
Chad: Yeah, sure you could. I'd give you surf lessons and go to the concert.. we could spend every day at the beach and play a show in the evening. You could do interviews..
Punk76: That sounds very good!
Punk76: Thank you so much for taking the time, it was a pleasure to meet you!
Chad: Thank you for taking time, it was really nice.
Post a comment about Switchfoot on the board
Buy this CD at:
| Itunes.com | Itunes.de |
| Amazon.com | Amazon.de |
| Ebay.com | Ebay.de |
Switchfoot - Awakening
