THE year was 2002 and Switchfoot had just launched onto the mainstream charts after their music featured on the film A Walk to Remember.
Dare You to Move spent 11 weeks in the Australian charts and 20 weeks in the American charts.
It was a time bass player Tim Foreman described in an interview with Mashable as “like jumping on a rocket” as the band grew rapidly in popularity.
Now with nine albums under their belt, the San Diego band is still touring and still predominantly known for that first mainstream hit.
You think a band would be sick of playing that one song at every performance, but talking ahead of this month’s show, guitarist Drew Shirley said they wouldn’t have it any other way.
“We can’t get away from a show without playing Dare You to Move, and Meant to Live,” he said. “There’s something cool about that. Some people get sick of playing certain songs but we still enjoy playing our older stuff. We’re still excited to play it as well which is a bonus.
“We don’t make a set list until 30 minutes before a show but we know we’ll play that one.”
Switchfoot is known for their emotionally intelligent tracks, with themes continually about looking for inspiration.
This is something Shirley puts down to the band’s songwriters and brothers Jon and Tim Foreman.
“They’re the kind of songs which cut right to the heart,” he said. “There’s a lot of soul behind them and they create the soundtrack for people’s lives.
“We’ve had people married to our songs and buried to our songs. It’s an honour to be able to create something which does that.”
In their only Western Australian show, Shirley promises “good old-fashioned rock and roll” and a lot of new music that they haven’t had the chance of playing in Australia yet.
The band set out on a project in 2013 gave a behind the scenes look at their 2012 world tour – the last time they came to Australia.
The result was Fading West, described as part band documentary, part surf film and part travelogue.
Accompanying the film was an album of the same name which featured all the tracks written during the tour.
“The theme relates to the events which happened while we were on tour,” Shirley said. “Jon in particular went through a tough time while were in Sydney actually so that inspired one of the songs.”
Switchfoot will be at The Lakes Theatre on March 30.
For more information go to thelakestheatre.com.au
