By: Hollis Conners
In anticipation of its upcoming album “Fading West,” Switchfoot recently began its 43-city tour in St. Louis.
The band will not only be playing songs from its new album, but also premiering its personal documentary “Fading West” before the concert.
The documentary depicts the band’s journey through five countries, while the group searches for inspiration for their new album through surfing.
The drummer for the band, Chad Butler, was able to give the Newswire some information and insight about the tour, the Fading West documentary and his personal feelings about the journey.
Xavier Newswire: Why did the band decide to make a documentary?
Chad Butler (CB): It has been a dream of ours for years to do the soundtrack of a film, and what better way than to make the film yourself?
We got to visit all these incredible surf spots, do concerts and surf at those locations. The documentary looks at the band in a more personal way and I think people are going to be really surprised at how honest and open the film is about who we are as people off-stage.
It was an incredible opportunity to look for new inspiration (in San Diego, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa and Indonesia) and to come home with new songs for a new record.
XN: What prompted the band to show the documentary during the tour?
CB: We thought this would be an incredible way to premiere a film. It’s going to be exciting to show the film and then play some songs from the new album.
We are going to play different versions of older songs people are familiar with and talk about the music through an audience-driven Q-and-A.
Each night will be a little different. I think it will be a fun way to interact with our audience.
XN: What does this tour mean to you personally?
CB: It’s sort of like the birth of a child. We are proud parents at this point.
It’s an honest look at the band that the audience has never seen before.
There’s an element of real vulnerability that I think will surprise people.
We set out with the goal of playing concerts and surfing, but what we didn’t expect was that by bringing a film crew with us, we would be capturing these emotional highs and lows.
Typically we have been guarded about our personal lives, but in this setting it felt right to share some of the joys and struggles we go through as being husbands and fathers in a rock band.
XN: What do you hope fans will leave with after the concert?
CB: There’s something human about this film and the songs that came out of making the film that are relatable.
This film is a real story about our humanity and the things that connect us.
This unique concert experience will come Oct. 3 to Cincinnati at The Underground concert venue. Switchfoot’s EP, “Fading West,” is available for purchase on iTunes.