Switchfoot, Lifehouse to perform in Orlando
Sometimes, combinations seem so ideal that it’s a wonder no one put them together sooner. Take the current tour of rockers with faith Switchfoot and Lifehouse. “We’ve known about Lifehouse for a long time,” said Switchfoot guitarist Drew Shirley. “We’ve had similar careers in a way.
“We’re finding that it’s a really special tour,” he said on the road from New Hampshire. “We have so much in common with them, including a fan base that we share.”
The similarities are plentiful for the two alternative bands headed Saturday to the Central Florida Fairgrounds in Orlando. (Show starts at 7 p.m. at the Orlando Amphitheater. Tickets, $25-$60, available at universe.com.)
Both groups were founded in Southern California in 1996, with Lifehouse representing Los Angeles and Switchfoot in San Diego. Both started achieving radio play in the early 2000s.
Both bands also were labeled as Christian by the media, which each of them have rejected. “We’ve always said that we’re Christians by faith and not genre,” said Shirley.
Switchfoot never shied from including their beliefs in their lyrics. Two of their albums, 2001’s “Learning to Breathe” and 2011’s “Hello Hurricane,” were nominated for gospel-related Grammy Awards. The problem was that being classified as strictly faith-based would often limit who got to hear them. “We want to play music for everybody and have an open mind, too. And we hope people have an open mind for us,” Shirley said.
But nowadays, Shirley noted, struggling with that label is not such a big deal. “We started off walking a line, and then it turned into a path, and then it turned into a sidewalk, and then it turned into a road,” he said. “Now it’s a full-on freeway for other bands to drive down.
“We have faith and we make rock music. It’s all good.”
Acceptance isn’t the only thing that’s changed in Switchfoot’s 20-year career. Music itself has gone through some major shifts.
“We were very fortunate to have come through [in the ’90s] because Switchfoot became a household name and we sold a lot of records back when the music industry used to sell records,” said Shirley, 43.
Shirley said Switchfoot has had to update how they sell themselves with social media and streaming services. “In some ways, we’re the old model because we’ve come through so much ... but at the same time, we’re helping to reshape a moldable music industry,” he said.
Not all of Shirley’s struggles in his career have dealt with the media. “There is a confidence that you gain with experience that took me a long time to find,” he said. If he could start from the beginning, he’d “hone in on my own vision for myself and just do that from the start.”
Still, some things have never changed. “The travel gets old,” said Shirley. “But the travel is just a means to an end. What we’re getting there to do is important.
“The live music experience is something that has been around since the beginning of time. We really value that connection.”