Jon Foreman

Jon Foreman, the frontman for the multi-platinum band, Switchfoot is returning to his indie-scene roots by releasing four solo EPs over the coming months. These EPs, individually titled Fall, Winter, Spring, and Summer, evoke vivid images of each season, making the collection a likely soundtrack to the year ahead. All four EPs will be released prior to the upcoming Switchfoot release in late 2008.

"Because of the autobiographical nature of these songs, they became a self portrait that was far too personal for a band to release," says Foreman. "Tim, Chad and the rest of the band have been pushing me to get these types of songs out there for years. So I decided to let them go."

According to Foreman the songwriting and production of these EPs were creatively intertwined. "Most of these songs were written and recorded the same night," said Foreman. "I would sing and play my guitar late at night until I got a take that captured what the song meant to me. From there I would add instruments to the vocal to see what would be appropriate. It was a very therapeutic, lonely, cleansing process."

The Fall EP stirs up just this sort of sentiment—its stripped-down arrangements put Jon's earnest voice and raw lyrics at the forefront of this personal set of songs.

The frequent solo sets Jon has recently been performing in many ways inspired these solo EPs. "For the past few tours we've done as a band, I've made a habit of playing a set after the show. Many of these ‘after shows' have been incredible experiences, a chance for spontaneous acoustic music that is completely juxtaposed to the rock band environment: no booking agent, no light show, no amps or guitar techs – just Dylan covers, some sing-a-longs, and honest stories," said Foreman. "These projects are an attempt to create a musical conversation that mirrors that experience."

Singer/songwriter Jon Foreman is the frontman of several bands, most notably the platinum-selling rock outfit Switchfoot. Although born in California on October 22, 1976, he moved with his family to Massachusetts and Virginia Beach during his childhood years. Foreman was back living in California by junior high school, eventually graduating from Torrey Pines High School in Carmel Valley and then briefly attended UC San Diego. With help from his brother Tim Foreman on bass and Chad Butler on drums, he formed the band Chin Up in 1996; the trio soon changed the name to Switchfoot (a surfing term).

The band recorded a debut LP, 1997's The Legend of Chin, for Charlie Peacock's re:Think imprint. The follow-up, 1999's New Way to Be Human, was a huge commercial success in Christian markets, with the title track garnering a 1999 Dove Award for Song of the Year. Released in 2000, Learning to Breathe found Switchfoot moving more toward mainstream modern rock, and its success, along with the band's inclusion on the soundtrack to the 2002 Mandy Moore film A Walk to Remember, brought Switchfoot a major-label run. The Beautiful Letdown, their first release for Columbia/RED, appeared in 2003. Thanks to the radio hits "Dare You to Move" and "Meant to Live," the album went double platinum and hit number one on Billboard's Christian Albums chart.

Switchfoot's fifth album, Nothing Is Sound, appeared in 2005 and almost immediately went gold. The album's radio hit, "Stars," included the work of additional guitarist Andrew Shirley, formerly of the CCM group All Together Separate. A sixth album, Oh! Gravity, appeared in 2006. That year saw Foreman branch out a bit as he formed an acoustic duo with Nickel Creek member Sean Watkins, the Real SeanJon, as a side project. Since some of his new songs didn't fit well within the Switchfoot formula, Foreman also began working on solo material, releasing a series of four linked EPs of six songs each called Fall, Winter, Spring, and Summer in 2008. The first two were then packaged together for a release entitled Fall and Winter that same year, and 2009 saw the Real SeanJon issuing an album under a new name, Fiction Family. ~ Steve Leggett, All Music Guide