ASUSU brings Switchfoot to the Spectrum
Death Cab for Cutie, Maroon 5, Jimmy Eat World – these are all bands that have played on university campuses throughout Utah. But Utah State University has not brought a nationally recognized band since the Indigo Girls came in 1998.
That will all change Thursday when platinum-selling Switchfoot comes to the Spectrum.
Switchfoot’s arrival in Logan has little to do with competing against other universities, and instead is about providing better quality events to the students.
“Bringing Switchfoot to USU has nothing to do with competing with the other universities,” said Kathy Leslie, Associated Students of USU activities vice president. “It does have to do with wanting to put on activities that are even bigger and better than they have been.”
Even though few nationally recognized bands perform here, Logan does get its fair share of smaller, up-and-coming bands like Mêlée, Limbeck, Over It and Lucky Boys Confusion.
“There are plenty of kids that want to go to shows,” said Stephanie Winger, a junior majoring in family finance. “The problem is that they don’t know about them. I think the university needs to take an active role in promoting music. We’ve already taken a step by forming an independent music club.”
Leslie doesn’t see the lack of a following as a problem, but rather the location of Logan itself.
“It is hard to program large-scale entertainers to Logan because of routing,” Leslie said. “Not a lot of people want to play a show in Cache Valley. However, that doesn’t mean it is impossible. Also, it is a risk and requires a lot of time and energy to put a show like this on. To me, it is very worth it, and I hope that after Thursday, the student body feels the same.”
Another risk of bringing in a band is the financial cost.
“The funds are being fronted from my budget and will be replaced by ticket sales,” Leslie said. “I am not looking to make any money on this, just break even.”
With Switchfoot’s only stop in Utah being at the Spectrum, it’s doubtful that there will be a lack of an audience.
“Switchfoot is coming to USU because I wanted another activity that students could feel excited about,” Leslie said. “I set out during the summer to program a bigger name band. I worked through agents and made the connections to work it out. The dates and everything fell into place and so Switchfoot worked perfectly. Also, I wanted something big to happen because it was so unusual.”
Being on tour is not something unusual for Switchfoot. The band has been together for eight years and has released four albums. Their current album “The Beautiful Letdown,” has gone platinum.
The band, consisting of lead singer Jon Foreman, his bass-playing brother Tim Foreman, Jerome Fontamillas on guitar and Chad Butler on drums, knew pretty early on that the band would be a success.
“I think one of the points where we realized that the band was good was fairly early on in my bedroom when we were just kind of first starting out,” Jon Foreman said. “It just felt like there was something really special going on. There was just something that Chad added and Tim was adding that it felt like we were going to do something different, that’s kind of how we got the name Switchfoot, we liked the implication of change and the idea of doing something new.”
The band has been closely associated with the Christian rock movement received a Grammy nomination for that genre in 2001. But, Foreman said he likes to think of their music as all-inclusive.
“We’ve never called ourselves that,” Foreman said. “I’m a believer in a lot of our songs having a spiritual meaning, but the way I see it, I want everyone to be invited to the party. There’s people from all shapes and all colors that come to a Switchfoot show and that’s the way it should be. People want to put you in a box and you can call the music whatever you want. We’ll just keep making it the best we can.”
Even though their album has gone platinum and the band has been on every late night talk show and had the opportunity to work with U2’s Bono helping promote the DATA (Debt, AIDS, Trade for Africa) organization, Foreman has a level-head and still fondly remembers the band at the early beginning stages.
“You have this tendency to think that because it’s a bigger event, it’s going to be somehow more life-giving or meaningful and many times that’s not the case,” Foreman said. “A lot of my favorite shows have been played in my friend’s apartment. You know, it gets shut down by the cops half way through and it’s those shows that you remember, those are many times more meaningful than playing in front of a lot of people in a really reputable room.”
Although it’s not a friend’s apartment or a reputable room, Switchfoot will play in the Spectrum this Thursday. Tickets are $6 for USU students and $15 for non-students. The doors open at 6 p.m. with music at 7 p.m.
The opening bands are The Honorary Title and The Format.
The concert is sponsored by the Student Activities Board (STAB) and ASUSU.
-meagkrock@cc.usu.edu