Hello Hurricane
Encyclopedia
Hello Hurricane is the seventh studio album
by American alternative rock
band Switchfoot
. On February 13, 2011, the album won the award for Best Rock Gospel Album
at the 53rd Grammy Awards
. It was co-produced by the band and Mike Elizondo
, after initially self-producing their work, as well as test runs with producers such as Ken Andrews
and Charlie Peacock
. The album was recorded mainly in the band's Spot X Studio in their hometown of San Diego, California
. It was originally to be released on October 6, 2009, but was pushed back to a November 10, 2009 release on their independent record label, the Atlantic
-distributed lowercase people records
.
On December 1, 2010, Hello Hurricane was nominated for the Best Rock or Rap Gospel Album award for the 53rd Grammy Awards
. On February 13, 2011, the album was awarded the Grammy.
, who was the founder of the band's first independent label, Re:Think Records
. As an experiment, the band "set up all in one room" and tracked the songs live. These new song ideas were then indefinitely shelved when the band embarked on their fall Appetite for Construction Tour
with Relient K
, with drummer Chad Butler
later calling the sessions a "failed experiment".
The band does credit Peacock with encouraging them throughout that time period, positing that the band was "reaching for a horizon that's much larger" than anything they'd done before. The band walked away from their time with Peacock determined to keep "pushing for something we hadn't felt yet...just that desire to go back in and keep writing and keep pushing and looking".
/SonyBMG, and intended to independently release their follow-up to 2006's Oh! Gravity.
To usher in this new period of label independence, the band began construction of a recording studio in San Diego on October 12, 2007. Soon after, it was announced that they had founded an independent record label imprint called lowercase people records
, under which proceeding projects, including the as-yet-untitled new studio album, would be released.
In May 2008, Switchfoot moved into their new studio which they called Spot X, and recording for the record was kicked into high gear in June, with the band proceeding without a producer. "I feel like we've got a fairly firm grip on what we want to do and I feel like we can get there on our own", Switchfoot singer Jon Foreman
said at the time. Progress was halted briefly when the band embarked on the Music Builds Tour
in August, but was resumed soon after.
and Outkast
, had been working with Switchfoot in the studio for the new record, and later, producer Mike Elizondo
was brought on board for the last few months of recording.
Work on the record was once more halted in January 2009 when Foreman embarked on a national tour with Fiction Family
, a side project band involving Sean Watkins
of Nickel Creek
. No further news was heard from Switchfoot again until late February, when the band announced they had finished selecting the final song list.
In March, the band tracked a few sessions with engineer Ryan Petersen and drummer Chad Butler reported they were "rounding 3rd base" on the album and that it was near completion.
Final mixing began on April 7, and later on, the band announced that during the sessions, they had actually been at work on 4 albums-worth of material. The album's title was announced on the 24th, and on May 30, Switchfoot
sent out an email saying that "Hello Hurricane" was finished.
, newly appointed as Chief Creative Officer with Warner Music Group
and Atlantic Records
. Cavallo liked what he heard and contacted Switchfoot, eventually signing them on to a 360 Deal to distribute Hello Hurricane through Atlantic Records.
"We tracked the whole record completely on our own dime and basically just our own opinions what the record should be", said Jon Foreman. "And then Atlantic chased us down".
Shortly after signing on, the band held several sessions with Cavallo to rework some of the songs for radio.
after 2003's The Beautiful Letdown
. He describes the time period with their former label as one filled with personnel turnover, which eventually led to their departure from Sony because "we wanted to create an environment where we were going to be with the same people for a long time and trust is established."
During the early stages of production, Foreman said that the record was going to sound different sonically, initially "shaping up to be more acoustic AND more electronic". "You know, it’s one of those things where you get to a point where you kind of want to shock yourself again", said Foreman.
Later in August, Foreman said that "there are so many different directions we can go in. One of the songs has a (Led) Zeppelin feel. One of them has more of a Devo feel... I feel like the headspace we're in now, the glass ceiling's been shattered."
In January 2009, Foreman said that the sonic direction had been taken in three directions, with some songs being more "beat driven", some "punchy," and others "a little bit broader, ethereal," with the band ultimately deciding to go with an amalgam of the three elements.
The overall writing for the record was also varied, with shifts in style and production. Foreman attributes this to Thorp's input, crediting the engineer with creating a landscape in which "the darks are darker and the lights are brighter and the lows are lower and the highs are higher". The enlisting of Hip-hop/R&B producer Mike Elizondo
late in the process brought a "new synergy" to the sessions, with drummer Chad Butler describing Elizondo as "someone who's got such a rhythmic sensibility".
With all the artistic freedom came increasingly large amounts of material in what bassist Tim Foreman
calls "a very prolific season for us." The challenge for Switchfoot became a question of "how do you define yourself?" according to Butler. "You’ve got all these different songs and different styles and different musical experimentations. It becomes a big mess..." It quickly became clear that very few of the experimental tracks were going to make the record, with producer Elizondo telling the band to not "be afraid of what you've done for the past six records". In the end, the band decided to go in the direction of making "a statement" and defining who they are in an independent era, "and that’s when it came down to what are the songs saying and which ones mean the most to us."
Elizondo asked the band, "What are the songs that only you can bring? What are the songs that only Switchfoot can deliver?" And it was with that lens that the band chose the final track listing for Hello Hurricane. The inspiration for the album title comes from the story of a woman the band worked with during post-Hurricane Katrina
who had lost her leg during the evacuation. "Her statement was, 'I walked out of my old house, I'm gonna walk into this new one,'" recalls Butler.
sessions, the band installed a webcam in the studio to give fans a "fly-on-the-wall" view of their progress. Instead of the refresh-still-images camera that was utilized for the Gravity sessions, this version of the webcam featured real-time video streaming. It was launched for the first time on July 1, 2008, and was chronicled periodically on the fan-made Switchfoot Webcam Blog 2008.
Later, the band switched over to their Twitter account to update fans on the final stages of production for the album.
Switchfoot began unveiling the new material throughout the Summer Festival tour season, beginning with "Mess of Me
", which was played live for the first time on June 18 at the Big Ticket Festival in Michigan. "Hello Hurricane," "Bullet Soul," "Needle and Haystack Life," and "The Sound (John M. Perkins' Blues)" were all debuted throughout the season as well.
Switchfoot also occasional listening parties across the United States to give fans a chance to hear the album in its entirety. Entrusting a master copy of the record to the YouTube
online video content provider, Corey Vidal
, fans got rare opportunities to hear Hello Hurricane during certain stops on Vidal's "Youtube Road Trip".
In September, Switchfoot released a music video for the lead single, "Mess of Me
", to YouTube. The band also played a short string of radio shows to promote the upcoming record, debuting a stripped version of "Free" at a 99x radio session on September 9. The next day, Switchfoot performed "Always" at a show in the Ft. Lauderdale Culture Room in Florida.
Songs from "Hello Hurricane" were featured in 2009 College Football games on ESPN
, with "Needle and Haystack Life", "The Sound", and "Bullet Soul" regularly playing before commercial breaks.
On October 16, before the American League Championship Series
Game 1 broadcast, a montage of baseball highlights was shown interspersed with live clips of Switchfoot and the song "Free" playing in the background.
On November 3, 2009, the album was premiered in streaming format on the popular social networking site MySpace
, giving fans a chance to listen to the new record a week before its release.
"Bullet Soul" was utilized as the theme song for WWE's "TLC: Tables, Ladders & Chairs" pay-per-view. and aired on ESPN broadcasts throughout the 2010 college football season along with "The Sound."
The band also played a string of late-night television shows after the album's release. They played "Mess of Me" on Jimmy Kimmel Live! November 12 and on The Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien
on December 2. Switchfoot then opened 2010 by performing "Always" on The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson
on January 4, 2010. They also made appearances on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon
and The Tonight Show with Jay Leno
The band was also tapped as one of two acts (the other being The Goo Goo Dolls) to play the ESPN National Championship Tailgate at the Rose Bowl
stadium before the BCS National Championship Game
on January 7, 2010. Switchfoot continued to receive promotion for the album from the sports world, performing as the house band during the 2010 ESPY Awards
pre-show. A few weeks later, they played a concert on the ESPN
campus in Bristol, CT.
Hello Hurricane also has gotten some TV show airplay. One Tree Hill played "Your Love Is A Song" during the ending of the episode "You Know I Love You, Don't You", on November 30, 2009 and "Enough to Let Me Go" was played on "Every Picture Tells A Story", on April 26, 2010. "Always" was used for an episode of Grey's Anatomy titled "The Time Warp" on February 18, 2010. The song "Yet" appeared on an a episode of The Vampire Diaries on November 5, 2009.
independently. Once this season was concluded, the band began shopping around for a distribution label, "looking for the best partner to give these songs a large platform that is respectful to the people that listen to our music." On August 7, 2009, Switchfoot announced that their independently-owned label, lowercase people records, would be partnering with Atlantic Records
to distribute Hello Hurricane globally. EMI CMG would meanwhile retain the rights to release Switchfoot's material to the Christian market.
There is also an iTunes deluxe package available, with exclusive acoustic versions and other tracks.
calculating an average rating of 74 out of 100. Alternative Press rated the album 3.5 of 5 stars, calling it "an uplifting, hope-giving affirmation of resurgence from a band who might have been down at one point but were definitely never out." Relevant Magazine
hailed it as "one of the best albums of Switchfoot’s career." Allmusic was also favorable, calling the album Switchfoot's "most natural, effortless outing to date," while Billboard
said Hello Hurricane is "a sleekly presented modern-rock album with no shortage of bruising guitars or catchy choruses." AbsolutePunk reviewer Gregory Robson was lukewarm in his assessment, giving the record a 77% rating, observing that it "flows with potential and disappointment, promise and filler, which makes for an entirely frustrating listen." But the Times of India's reviewer Nigel Britto was more optimistic. "Hello Hurricane presents a renewed optimism and vigour and a lot more musical experimentation."
Hello Hurricane debuted at number 13 on the Billboard 200
, with first-week sales of 39,000 copies. It has sold over 230,000 copies in the United States to date.
.
Studio album
A studio album is an album made up of tracks recorded in the controlled environment of a recording studio. A studio album contains newly written and recorded or previously unreleased or remixed material, distinguishing itself from a compilation or reissue album of previously recorded material, or...
by American alternative rock
Alternative rock
Alternative rock is a genre of rock music and a term used to describe a diverse musical movement that emerged from the independent music underground of the 1980s and became widely popular by the 1990s...
band Switchfoot
Switchfoot
Switchfoot is an American rock band from San Diego, California. The band's members are Jon Foreman , Tim Foreman , Chad Butler , Jerome Fontamillas , and Drew Shirley .After early successes in the Christian rock scene, Switchfoot first gained mainstream...
. On February 13, 2011, the album won the award for Best Rock Gospel Album
Grammy Award for Best Rock Gospel Album
The Grammy Award for Best Rock Gospel Album was awarded from 1991 to 2011. From 1991 to 1993 it was awarded as Best Rock/Contemporary Gospel Album. In 2011 the category was known as Best Rock or Rap Gospel Album....
at the 53rd Grammy Awards
53rd Grammy Awards
The 53rd annual Grammy Awards were held on February 13, 2011, at the Staples Center in Los Angeles. They were broadcast on CBS with a rating of 26.6 million viewers. Barbra Streisand was honored as the MusiCares Person of the Year two nights prior to the telecast on February 11. Nominations were...
. It was co-produced by the band and Mike Elizondo
Mike Elizondo
Michael "Mike" Elizondo is a well-known songwriter, bassist, keyboardist, and hip hop music producer.-Musical career:Mike Elizondo is especially known for his collaborations with internationally successful producer Dr. Dre and rapper Eminem. He has played the bass for many of Dr...
, after initially self-producing their work, as well as test runs with producers such as Ken Andrews
Ken Andrews
Ken Andrews is an American musician and producer, based out of Los Angeles, California.Andrews was born in Seattle, Washington, and attended film school in Los Angeles before his band Failure received a record deal from Slash Records.He was the co-founder, lead vocalist, guitarist, and...
and Charlie Peacock
Charlie Peacock
Charlie Peacock is an American singer-songwriter, pianist, record producer, session musician and author. While growing up in California Peacock was inspired by John Coltrane and began playing the piano. After completing his education, Peacock formed a band and began a career as a professional...
. The album was recorded mainly in the band's Spot X Studio in their hometown of San Diego, California
San Diego, California
San Diego is the eighth-largest city in the United States and second-largest city in California. The city is located on the coast of the Pacific Ocean in Southern California, immediately adjacent to the Mexican border. The birthplace of California, San Diego is known for its mild year-round...
. It was originally to be released on October 6, 2009, but was pushed back to a November 10, 2009 release on their independent record label, the Atlantic
Atlantic Records
Atlantic Records is an American record label best known for its many recordings of rhythm and blues, rock and roll, and jazz...
-distributed lowercase people records
Lowercase people records
lowercase people records is the record label founded and run by the members of the band Switchfoot. It was founded after the band split with their major label, Columbia/SonyBMG. The label's name was drawn from the lyrics of a song written early in the band's career, "Company Car" from 1999's New...
.
On December 1, 2010, Hello Hurricane was nominated for the Best Rock or Rap Gospel Album award for the 53rd Grammy Awards
53rd Grammy Awards
The 53rd annual Grammy Awards were held on February 13, 2011, at the Staples Center in Los Angeles. They were broadcast on CBS with a rating of 26.6 million viewers. Barbra Streisand was honored as the MusiCares Person of the Year two nights prior to the telecast on February 11. Nominations were...
. On February 13, 2011, the album was awarded the Grammy.
Recording sessions with Charlie Peacock
Pre-production for Hello Hurricane began during the first week of August 2007. That week, the band recorded 13 songs at Big Fish Studio under the guidance of producer Charlie PeacockCharlie Peacock
Charlie Peacock is an American singer-songwriter, pianist, record producer, session musician and author. While growing up in California Peacock was inspired by John Coltrane and began playing the piano. After completing his education, Peacock formed a band and began a career as a professional...
, who was the founder of the band's first independent label, Re:Think Records
Rethink (record label)
Re:think was an imprint label of under EMI. It signed several acts, including This World Fair, The Colour, Sarah Masen and Switchfoot. Re:think is well-known for supporting the ONE Campaign as well as the lowercase people Justice Fund.-History:...
. As an experiment, the band "set up all in one room" and tracked the songs live. These new song ideas were then indefinitely shelved when the band embarked on their fall Appetite for Construction Tour
Appetite For Construction Tour
The Appetite For Construction Tour was a three-month 2007 concert tour that was co-headlined by rock bands Switchfoot and Relient K, with special guests Ruth....
with Relient K
Relient K
Relient K is an American rock band formed in 1998 in Canton, Ohio by Matt Thiessen, Brian Pittman, and Matt Hoopes during the band's junior year in high school and their time at Malone University...
, with drummer Chad Butler
Chad Butler
Chad Matthew Butler is the drummer for the band Switchfoot which he co-founded along with Jon and Tim Foreman in 1996...
later calling the sessions a "failed experiment".
The band does credit Peacock with encouraging them throughout that time period, positing that the band was "reaching for a horizon that's much larger" than anything they'd done before. The band walked away from their time with Peacock determined to keep "pushing for something we hadn't felt yet...just that desire to go back in and keep writing and keep pushing and looking".
Major label independence
After the Peacock sessions, the band revealed on August 9 that they had left their Major record label, ColumbiaColumbia Records
Columbia Records is an American record label, owned by Japan's Sony Music Entertainment, operating under the Columbia Music Group with Aware Records. It was founded in 1888, evolving from an earlier enterprise, the American Graphophone Company — successor to the Volta Graphophone Company...
/SonyBMG, and intended to independently release their follow-up to 2006's Oh! Gravity.
Oh! Gravity.
Oh! Gravity. is the sixth album by the San Diego based alternative rock band Switchfoot. It was released on December 26, 2006.To give fans a preview of the new material, Switchfoot released the downloadable single "Dirty Second Hands" to major online music stores on September 26...
To usher in this new period of label independence, the band began construction of a recording studio in San Diego on October 12, 2007. Soon after, it was announced that they had founded an independent record label imprint called lowercase people records
Lowercase people records
lowercase people records is the record label founded and run by the members of the band Switchfoot. It was founded after the band split with their major label, Columbia/SonyBMG. The label's name was drawn from the lyrics of a song written early in the band's career, "Company Car" from 1999's New...
, under which proceeding projects, including the as-yet-untitled new studio album, would be released.
In May 2008, Switchfoot moved into their new studio which they called Spot X, and recording for the record was kicked into high gear in June, with the band proceeding without a producer. "I feel like we've got a fairly firm grip on what we want to do and I feel like we can get there on our own", Switchfoot singer Jon Foreman
Jon Foreman
Jonathan Mark Foreman is the lead singer, lead guitarist, main songwriter and co-founder of the alternative rock band Switchfoot. He started Switchfoot in 1996 with drummer Chad Butler and bassist Tim Foreman ....
said at the time. Progress was halted briefly when the band embarked on the Music Builds Tour
Music Builds Tour
The Music Builds Tour was a 23-show Festival-style concert tour spanning three months in late 2008. Rock bands Switchfoot and Robert Randolph and the Family Band, along with Third Day and Jars of Clay co-headlined the event. - Switchfoot drummer Chad Butler...
in August, but was resumed soon after.
Sessions resume with Mike Elizondo and Darrell Thorp
On October 30, it was revealed that Grammy Award-winning engineer Darrell Thorp, who has worked with the likes of RadioheadRadiohead
Radiohead are an English rock band from Abingdon, Oxfordshire, formed in 1985. The band consists of Thom Yorke , Jonny Greenwood , Ed O'Brien , Colin Greenwood and Phil Selway .Radiohead released their debut single "Creep" in 1992...
and Outkast
OutKast
Outkast is an American hip hop duo based in East Point, Georgia, consisting of Atlanta native André "André 3000" Benjamin and Savannah, Georgia-born Antwan "Big Boi" Patton. They were originally known as Two Shades Deep but later changed the group's name to OutKast...
, had been working with Switchfoot in the studio for the new record, and later, producer Mike Elizondo
Mike Elizondo
Michael "Mike" Elizondo is a well-known songwriter, bassist, keyboardist, and hip hop music producer.-Musical career:Mike Elizondo is especially known for his collaborations with internationally successful producer Dr. Dre and rapper Eminem. He has played the bass for many of Dr...
was brought on board for the last few months of recording.
Work on the record was once more halted in January 2009 when Foreman embarked on a national tour with Fiction Family
Fiction Family
Fiction Family is a musical collaboration between Switchfoot frontman Jon Foreman and Nickel Creek guitarist Sean Watkins. The duo's self-titled, full-length album was released on January 20, 2009....
, a side project band involving Sean Watkins
Sean Watkins
Sean Charles Watkins is a guitarist, vocalist, and songwriter. He is a member of the contemporary folk band Nickel Creek, the duo Fiction Family and the supergroup Works Progress Administration.-Nickel Creek:...
of Nickel Creek
Nickel Creek
Nickel Creek was an American progressive acoustic music trio consisting of Chris Thile , Sara Watkins and Sean Watkins . The band was founded in 1989 and released 6 albums between 1993 and 2006...
. No further news was heard from Switchfoot again until late February, when the band announced they had finished selecting the final song list.
In March, the band tracked a few sessions with engineer Ryan Petersen and drummer Chad Butler reported they were "rounding 3rd base" on the album and that it was near completion.
Final mixing began on April 7, and later on, the band announced that during the sessions, they had actually been at work on 4 albums-worth of material. The album's title was announced on the 24th, and on May 30, Switchfoot
Switchfoot
Switchfoot is an American rock band from San Diego, California. The band's members are Jon Foreman , Tim Foreman , Chad Butler , Jerome Fontamillas , and Drew Shirley .After early successes in the Christian rock scene, Switchfoot first gained mainstream...
sent out an email saying that "Hello Hurricane" was finished.
Rob Cavallo and Atlantic Records
After its completion, the album found its way into the hands of Rob CavalloRob Cavallo
Rob Cavallo is a record producer and A&R, most famous for signing and producing Green Day. He is currently Chairman of Warner Bros. Records.- History :...
, newly appointed as Chief Creative Officer with Warner Music Group
Warner Music Group
Warner Music Group is the third largest business group and family of record labels in the recording industry, making it one of the big four record companies...
and Atlantic Records
Atlantic Records
Atlantic Records is an American record label best known for its many recordings of rhythm and blues, rock and roll, and jazz...
. Cavallo liked what he heard and contacted Switchfoot, eventually signing them on to a 360 Deal to distribute Hello Hurricane through Atlantic Records.
"We tracked the whole record completely on our own dime and basically just our own opinions what the record should be", said Jon Foreman. "And then Atlantic chased us down".
Shortly after signing on, the band held several sessions with Cavallo to rework some of the songs for radio.
Musical and lyrical content
The album from the outset was described to be different from any previous work the band has done. "We wanted to start with a clean slate because the last couple of records felt kind of compromised", said Foreman concerning the period the band had with Columbia RecordsColumbia Records
Columbia Records is an American record label, owned by Japan's Sony Music Entertainment, operating under the Columbia Music Group with Aware Records. It was founded in 1888, evolving from an earlier enterprise, the American Graphophone Company — successor to the Volta Graphophone Company...
after 2003's The Beautiful Letdown
The Beautiful Letdown
The Beautiful Letdown is the fourth studio album by alternative rock band Switchfoot. Released in early 2003, it launched the band into the mainstream on the strength of two top 20 singles: "Meant to Live" and "Dare You to Move." The album was hugely popular and remained a staple on the Billboard...
. He describes the time period with their former label as one filled with personnel turnover, which eventually led to their departure from Sony because "we wanted to create an environment where we were going to be with the same people for a long time and trust is established."
During the early stages of production, Foreman said that the record was going to sound different sonically, initially "shaping up to be more acoustic AND more electronic". "You know, it’s one of those things where you get to a point where you kind of want to shock yourself again", said Foreman.
Later in August, Foreman said that "there are so many different directions we can go in. One of the songs has a (Led) Zeppelin feel. One of them has more of a Devo feel... I feel like the headspace we're in now, the glass ceiling's been shattered."
In January 2009, Foreman said that the sonic direction had been taken in three directions, with some songs being more "beat driven", some "punchy," and others "a little bit broader, ethereal," with the band ultimately deciding to go with an amalgam of the three elements.
The overall writing for the record was also varied, with shifts in style and production. Foreman attributes this to Thorp's input, crediting the engineer with creating a landscape in which "the darks are darker and the lights are brighter and the lows are lower and the highs are higher". The enlisting of Hip-hop/R&B producer Mike Elizondo
Mike Elizondo
Michael "Mike" Elizondo is a well-known songwriter, bassist, keyboardist, and hip hop music producer.-Musical career:Mike Elizondo is especially known for his collaborations with internationally successful producer Dr. Dre and rapper Eminem. He has played the bass for many of Dr...
late in the process brought a "new synergy" to the sessions, with drummer Chad Butler describing Elizondo as "someone who's got such a rhythmic sensibility".
With all the artistic freedom came increasingly large amounts of material in what bassist Tim Foreman
Tim Foreman
Timothy David Foreman is the bassist for the band Switchfoot. He was born in Lake Arrowhead, California but grew up in Boston, Massachusetts and Virginia Beach, Virginia...
calls "a very prolific season for us." The challenge for Switchfoot became a question of "how do you define yourself?" according to Butler. "You’ve got all these different songs and different styles and different musical experimentations. It becomes a big mess..." It quickly became clear that very few of the experimental tracks were going to make the record, with producer Elizondo telling the band to not "be afraid of what you've done for the past six records". In the end, the band decided to go in the direction of making "a statement" and defining who they are in an independent era, "and that’s when it came down to what are the songs saying and which ones mean the most to us."
Elizondo asked the band, "What are the songs that only you can bring? What are the songs that only Switchfoot can deliver?" And it was with that lens that the band chose the final track listing for Hello Hurricane. The inspiration for the album title comes from the story of a woman the band worked with during post-Hurricane Katrina
Hurricane Katrina
Hurricane Katrina of the 2005 Atlantic hurricane season was a powerful Atlantic hurricane. It is the costliest natural disaster, as well as one of the five deadliest hurricanes, in the history of the United States. Among recorded Atlantic hurricanes, it was the sixth strongest overall...
who had lost her leg during the evacuation. "Her statement was, 'I walked out of my old house, I'm gonna walk into this new one,'" recalls Butler.
Studio webcam and Twitter
As in the Oh! Gravity.Oh! Gravity.
Oh! Gravity. is the sixth album by the San Diego based alternative rock band Switchfoot. It was released on December 26, 2006.To give fans a preview of the new material, Switchfoot released the downloadable single "Dirty Second Hands" to major online music stores on September 26...
sessions, the band installed a webcam in the studio to give fans a "fly-on-the-wall" view of their progress. Instead of the refresh-still-images camera that was utilized for the Gravity sessions, this version of the webcam featured real-time video streaming. It was launched for the first time on July 1, 2008, and was chronicled periodically on the fan-made Switchfoot Webcam Blog 2008.
Later, the band switched over to their Twitter account to update fans on the final stages of production for the album.
Promotion
The song "Hello Hurricane" was first debuted at a May 8, 2009 concert in Visalia, California when the band played a preview of the album version of the song through the PA system for fans to hear. One fan recorded the song and posted it online, providing listeners with the first taste of the band's new material.Switchfoot began unveiling the new material throughout the Summer Festival tour season, beginning with "Mess of Me
Mess of Me
"Mess of Me" is a song written and recorded by the alternative rock band Switchfoot and was the lead single off their seventh studio album, Hello Hurricane. It was shipped to Modern Rock/Alternative, Mainstream rock, and Active rock radio formats, while a music video was sent to all applicable...
", which was played live for the first time on June 18 at the Big Ticket Festival in Michigan. "Hello Hurricane," "Bullet Soul," "Needle and Haystack Life," and "The Sound (John M. Perkins' Blues)" were all debuted throughout the season as well.
Switchfoot also occasional listening parties across the United States to give fans a chance to hear the album in its entirety. Entrusting a master copy of the record to the YouTube
YouTube
YouTube is a video-sharing website, created by three former PayPal employees in February 2005, on which users can upload, view and share videos....
online video content provider, Corey Vidal
Corey Vidal
Corey Vidal is a Canadian online video content provider and digital media consultant. His YouTube videos have been seen over 50 million times, and he has over 175 videos, as of March 2011. He is ranked as one of Canada's "Most Viewed" Partners and "Most Subscribed" users of all time, and ranks in...
, fans got rare opportunities to hear Hello Hurricane during certain stops on Vidal's "Youtube Road Trip".
In September, Switchfoot released a music video for the lead single, "Mess of Me
Mess of Me
"Mess of Me" is a song written and recorded by the alternative rock band Switchfoot and was the lead single off their seventh studio album, Hello Hurricane. It was shipped to Modern Rock/Alternative, Mainstream rock, and Active rock radio formats, while a music video was sent to all applicable...
", to YouTube. The band also played a short string of radio shows to promote the upcoming record, debuting a stripped version of "Free" at a 99x radio session on September 9. The next day, Switchfoot performed "Always" at a show in the Ft. Lauderdale Culture Room in Florida.
Songs from "Hello Hurricane" were featured in 2009 College Football games on ESPN
ESPN
Entertainment and Sports Programming Network, commonly known as ESPN, is an American global cable television network focusing on sports-related programming including live and pre-taped event telecasts, sports talk shows, and other original programming....
, with "Needle and Haystack Life", "The Sound", and "Bullet Soul" regularly playing before commercial breaks.
On October 16, before the American League Championship Series
American League Championship Series
In Major League Baseball, the American League Championship Series , played in October, is a round in the postseason that determines the winner of the American League pennant...
Game 1 broadcast, a montage of baseball highlights was shown interspersed with live clips of Switchfoot and the song "Free" playing in the background.
On November 3, 2009, the album was premiered in streaming format on the popular social networking site MySpace
MySpace
Myspace is a social networking service owned by Specific Media LLC and pop star Justin Timberlake. Myspace launched in August 2003 and is headquartered in Beverly Hills, California. In August 2011, Myspace had 33.1 million unique U.S. visitors....
, giving fans a chance to listen to the new record a week before its release.
"Bullet Soul" was utilized as the theme song for WWE's "TLC: Tables, Ladders & Chairs" pay-per-view. and aired on ESPN broadcasts throughout the 2010 college football season along with "The Sound."
The band also played a string of late-night television shows after the album's release. They played "Mess of Me" on Jimmy Kimmel Live! November 12 and on The Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien
The Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien
The Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien is an American late-night talk show that featured Conan O'Brien as host from June 1, 2009 to January 22, 2010 as part of NBC's long-running Tonight Show franchise...
on December 2. Switchfoot then opened 2010 by performing "Always" on The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson
The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson
The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson is a Peabody Award-winning American late-night talk show hosted by Scottish American comedian Craig Ferguson. Ferguson, the third regular host of the Late Late Show franchise, follows Late Show with David Letterman in the CBS late-night lineup...
on January 4, 2010. They also made appearances on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon
Late Night with Jimmy Fallon
Late Night with Jimmy Fallon is an American late-night talk show hosted by Jimmy Fallon on NBC. The show premiered on March 2, 2009, as the third incarnation of the Late Night franchise originated by David Letterman....
and The Tonight Show with Jay Leno
The Tonight Show with Jay Leno
The Tonight Show with Jay Leno is an American late-night talk show hosted by Jay Leno that initially aired from May 25, 1992 to May 29, 2009, and resumed production on March 1, 2010. The fourth incarnation of the Tonight Show franchise made its debut on May 25, 1992, three days following Johnny...
The band was also tapped as one of two acts (the other being The Goo Goo Dolls) to play the ESPN National Championship Tailgate at the Rose Bowl
Rose Bowl (stadium)
The Rose Bowl is an outdoor athletic stadium in Pasadena, California, U.S., in Los Angeles County. The stadium is the site of the annual college football bowl game, the Rose Bowl, held on New Year's Day. In 1982, it became the home field of the UCLA Bruins college football team of the Pac-12...
stadium before the BCS National Championship Game
2010 BCS National Championship Game
The 2010 Citi BCS National Championship Game was the finale of the 2009 NCAA Division I FBS football season, and was played between the Texas Longhorns and the Alabama Crimson Tide. It was hosted by the Pasadena Tournament of Roses Association at the Rose Bowl Stadium in Pasadena, California,...
on January 7, 2010. Switchfoot continued to receive promotion for the album from the sports world, performing as the house band during the 2010 ESPY Awards
ESPY Awards
An ESPY Award is an accolade presented by the American cable television network ESPN to recognize individual and team athletic achievement and other sports-related performance during the calendar year preceding a given annual ceremony. The first ESPYs were awarded in 1993...
pre-show. A few weeks later, they played a concert on the ESPN
ESPN
Entertainment and Sports Programming Network, commonly known as ESPN, is an American global cable television network focusing on sports-related programming including live and pre-taped event telecasts, sports talk shows, and other original programming....
campus in Bristol, CT.
Hello Hurricane also has gotten some TV show airplay. One Tree Hill played "Your Love Is A Song" during the ending of the episode "You Know I Love You, Don't You", on November 30, 2009 and "Enough to Let Me Go" was played on "Every Picture Tells A Story", on April 26, 2010. "Always" was used for an episode of Grey's Anatomy titled "The Time Warp" on February 18, 2010. The song "Yet" appeared on an a episode of The Vampire Diaries on November 5, 2009.
Distribution
Upon completion of Hello Hurricane, the band had concluded a season of independence and artistic freedom that hadn't been experienced since the band recorded The Beautiful LetdownThe Beautiful Letdown
The Beautiful Letdown is the fourth studio album by alternative rock band Switchfoot. Released in early 2003, it launched the band into the mainstream on the strength of two top 20 singles: "Meant to Live" and "Dare You to Move." The album was hugely popular and remained a staple on the Billboard...
independently. Once this season was concluded, the band began shopping around for a distribution label, "looking for the best partner to give these songs a large platform that is respectful to the people that listen to our music." On August 7, 2009, Switchfoot announced that their independently-owned label, lowercase people records, would be partnering with Atlantic Records
Atlantic Records
Atlantic Records is an American record label best known for its many recordings of rhythm and blues, rock and roll, and jazz...
to distribute Hello Hurricane globally. EMI CMG would meanwhile retain the rights to release Switchfoot's material to the Christian market.
Formats
Hello Hurricane was distributed in several different formats and packages, as announced on switchfoot.com. Official pre-sales for the packages began on September 16, 2009.- Digital Download
- Standard CD Edition
- Vinyl (with physical CD)
- Deluxe CD/DVD Edition
- Collector's Deluxe Edition (includes CD/DVD/Bonus disc, a hardbound 84-page photo book, an exclusive poster, and extra bonus content)
There is also an iTunes deluxe package available, with exclusive acoustic versions and other tracks.
Reception
Hello Hurricane has received generally favorable reviews, with reviews aggregation website MetacriticMetacritic
Metacritic.com is a website that collates reviews of music albums, games, movies, TV shows and DVDs. For each product, a numerical score from each review is obtained and the total is averaged. An excerpt of each review is provided along with a hyperlink to the source. Three colour codes of Green,...
calculating an average rating of 74 out of 100. Alternative Press rated the album 3.5 of 5 stars, calling it "an uplifting, hope-giving affirmation of resurgence from a band who might have been down at one point but were definitely never out." Relevant Magazine
Relevant Magazine
RELEVANT Magazine is a bimonthly magazine providing content on “God, life, and progressive culture”. It is published by RELEVANT Media Group and a circulation of 56,667. Its companion web presence, RELEVANTmagazine.com, launched in 2002 with the email newsletter, 850 Words of RELEVANT...
hailed it as "one of the best albums of Switchfoot’s career." Allmusic was also favorable, calling the album Switchfoot's "most natural, effortless outing to date," while Billboard
Billboard (magazine)
Billboard is a weekly American magazine devoted to the music industry, and is one of the oldest trade magazines in the world. It maintains several internationally recognized music charts that track the most popular songs and albums in various categories on a weekly basis...
said Hello Hurricane is "a sleekly presented modern-rock album with no shortage of bruising guitars or catchy choruses." AbsolutePunk reviewer Gregory Robson was lukewarm in his assessment, giving the record a 77% rating, observing that it "flows with potential and disappointment, promise and filler, which makes for an entirely frustrating listen." But the Times of India's reviewer Nigel Britto was more optimistic. "Hello Hurricane presents a renewed optimism and vigour and a lot more musical experimentation."
Hello Hurricane debuted at number 13 on the Billboard 200
Billboard 200
The Billboard 200 is a ranking of the 200 highest-selling music albums and EPs in the United States, published weekly by Billboard magazine. It is frequently used to convey the popularity of an artist or groups of artists...
, with first-week sales of 39,000 copies. It has sold over 230,000 copies in the United States to date.
Track listing
- All songs written by Jon Foreman and Tim Foreman, except for "Needle and Haystack Life", "Always", and "Free" by Jon Foreman, and "Your Love Is a Song" by Jon Foreman and Mike Elizondo.
- "Needle and Haystack Life" – 3:46
- "Mess of MeMess of Me"Mess of Me" is a song written and recorded by the alternative rock band Switchfoot and was the lead single off their seventh studio album, Hello Hurricane. It was shipped to Modern Rock/Alternative, Mainstream rock, and Active rock radio formats, while a music video was sent to all applicable...
" – 3:28 - "Your Love Is a SongYour Love Is a Song"Your Love Is a Song" was written and recorded by the alternative rock band Switchfoot. It was first released as a single to the iTunes Store in Australia, and became the third radio single off of the band's seventh studio album, Hello Hurricane....
" – 4:19 - "The Sound (John M. Perkins' Blues)" – 3:46
- "Enough to Let Me Go" – 3:52
- "Free" – 4:02
- "Hello Hurricane" – 4:04
- "AlwaysAlways (Switchfoot song)"Always" is a song written and recorded by the alternative rock band Switchfoot. It was released in conjunction with "Mess of Me" as one of two lead singles from their seventh studio album, Hello Hurricane. While "Mess of Me" was worked to modern and mainstream rock formats, "Always" was worked to...
" – 4:19 - "Bullet SoulBullet Soul"Bullet Soul" is the fourth single from the American alternative rock band Switchfoot's seventh studio album Hello Hurricane. It was released on November 16, 2010 to Modern Rock/Alternative format radio stations.-In popular culture:...
" – 3:24 - "Yet" – 3:53
- "Sing It Out" – 5:17
- "Red Eyes" – 4:49
iTunes bonus tracks
- "Mess of Me (Acoustic)" – 3:22
- "Always (Alternate Acoustic Version)" – 4:22
- "Stitches" – 3:07
- From the Eastern Hymns for Western Shores EP.
- "The Sound (John M. Perkins' Blues)" – 4:47
- Music video
Japan bonus tracks
- "Lucky Man (The Verve Cover)" - 3:14
- "The Sound (John M. Perkins' Blues) [Acoustic]" - 3:47
Charts
| Chart (2009) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| New Zealand RIANZ Albums Chart Recording Industry Association of New Zealand The Recording Industry Association of New Zealand is a non-profit trade association of record producers, distributors and recording artists who sell music in New Zealand... |
13 |
| US Billboard 200 Billboard 200 The Billboard 200 is a ranking of the 200 highest-selling music albums and EPs in the United States, published weekly by Billboard magazine. It is frequently used to convey the popularity of an artist or groups of artists... |
13 |
| Billboard Billboard (magazine) Billboard is a weekly American magazine devoted to the music industry, and is one of the oldest trade magazines in the world. It maintains several internationally recognized music charts that track the most popular songs and albums in various categories on a weekly basis... Alternative Albums Billboard charts The Billboard charts tabulate the relative weekly popularity of songs or albums in the United States. The results are published in Billboard magazine... |
3 |
| Billboard Christian Albums | 2 |
| Billboard Rock Albums | 4 |
Year-end charts
| End of year chart (2010) | Position |
|---|---|
| Billboard Christian Albums | 7 |
Personnel
- Mike ElizondoMike ElizondoMichael "Mike" Elizondo is a well-known songwriter, bassist, keyboardist, and hip hop music producer.-Musical career:Mike Elizondo is especially known for his collaborations with internationally successful producer Dr. Dre and rapper Eminem. He has played the bass for many of Dr...
– producerRecord producerA record producer is an individual working within the music industry, whose job is to oversee and manage the recording of an artist's music... - Adam Hawkins – engineerAudio engineeringAn audio engineer, also called audio technician, audio technologist or sound technician, is a specialist in a skilled trade that deals with the use of machinery and equipment for the recording, mixing and reproduction of sounds. The field draws on many artistic and vocational areas, including...
, mixingAudio mixing (recorded music)In audio recording, audio mixing is the process by which multiple recorded sounds are combined into one or more channels, most commonly two-channel stereo. In the process, the source signals' level, frequency content, dynamics, and panoramic position are manipulated and effects such as reverb may... - Ted JensenTed JensenTed Jensen is an American recording engineer. Jensen is the chief mastering engineer at Sterling Sound. He started his career as a mastering engineer in 1976 and is currently the most active Mastering Engineer in the industry...
– mastering - Darrell Thorp – engineer
- Alan SandersonAlan SandersonAlan Sanderson is a Grammy Winning recording engineer, mixing engineer and record producer. Alan Sanderson is credited with working on some of the most successful albums during the 1990s while working as an engineer at Cello and Ocean Way Studios in Hollywood, California...
– engineer - Shane D. Wilson – engineer
- Craig Zarkos – engineer
- Ryan Petersen - engineer
Building a Hurricane
The collector's deluxe edition of Hello Hurricane came packaged with a B-sides album called Building a Hurricane. It features alternate versions of the album tracks, as well as outtakes and demos culled from the studio sessions for Hello Hurricane. This was available via pre-orders only. This deluxe edition was nominated for a Dove Award for Recorded Music Packaging of the Year at the 42nd GMA Dove Awards42nd GMA Dove Awards
The 42nd Annual GMA Dove Awards were held on April 20, 2011 at the Fox Theatre in Atlanta, Georgia. The show will be broadcast on gmc on April 24, 2011. It will be hosted by Sherri Shepherd from The Newlywed Game....
.
Track listing
- "Needle (Writing Sessions, San Diego, Spring '08)" – 1:50
- "Needle (July '08 – Take 7)" – 4:16
- "Mess of Me (Charlie Peacock Sessions, Aug. '07)" – 3:05
- "Red Eyes (Jan. 12, 2009 – Take 1)" – 3:24
- "Sing It Out (Writing Session, Raleigh, NC, Fall '08)" – 0:44
- "Sing It Out (Dark Version, Nov. 22 '08 – Take 6)" – 1:46
- "The-Voice-Inside-Your-Head Interlude" – 0:06
- "Your Love Is a Gun (Bullet Soul Early Version)" – 3:31
- "Enough Reprise" – 0:32
- "Yet (Dressing Room Demo, Fall '07)" – 1:36
- "Yet (Nov. 4 '08 – Take 07)" – 3:53
- "Tambo-Cave-at-Gmail-Dot-Com Interlude" – 0:14
- "Sing It Out (Demo, Oct. '09, Prog Drums)" – 4:35
- "Red Eyes (Demo, Early '05)" – 2:15
- "Always Yours (Nov. 13, '08 – Take 9)" – 4:22
- "Always Yours, Tim's Unused Bridge" – 0:50
- "Mess of Me (Demo, Aug. '08 – Take 2, Full Band)" – 3:49
- "Nicaraguan-Maracas Interlude" – 0:25
- "Mess of Me (Early Demos)" – 2:01
- "Your Love Is A Gun (Bullet Soul Laptop Demo)" – 3:25
- "Hello Hurricane (Early Demos)" – 2:22
- "Distortion Interlude" – 0:06
- "Needle (Nov. 18, '08 – Take 12)" – 3:33
- "Sing It Out (Mar. 19, '09)" – 5:29