Bands hope that some Habitat homes will be houses that rock built

Published 2:57 pm Thursday, November 29, 2007

About seven years ago, before he sold 5 million albums, Jon Foreman was in Kentucky, working in 102-degree heat on a Habitat for Humanity project.

As lead vocalist and chief songwriter for Switchfoot, the singer had crafted plenty of songs, but framing windows on a home for the nonprofit was a new challenge. Beyond the obvious differences, doing the work had a more concrete reward, one that was considerably less abstract than recording music.

“You look back and you see what has been completed, and you think, ‘What an honor to be a part of that,’ ” said Foreman, a San Diego resident.

With that in mind, on Monday, Switchfoot and Relient K will bring their Appetite for Construction Tour to Comcast Arena at Everett Events Center. The two groups are donating $1 from each ticket sold to Habitat for Humanity and have raised more than $67,000 on the 34-city tour.

“It’s a really gratifying thing to be a part of, trying to contribute something a little more than just rock and roll,” Relient K frontman Matt Thiessen said.

The charitable move may come as no surprise to fans. While both bands have broken into the mainstream, Switchfoot and Relient K share roots in the subgenre of Christian rock — one of the many parallels between the two groups.

The popularity of both bands took off around 2003, and they have collectively landed five albums in the Billboard Top 20. While Switchfoot’s straightforward rock, showcased on hit albums such as 2003’s “The Beautiful Letdown,” has earned the group higher sales, it hasn’t led to any sort of rivalry between the two bands.

Indeed, the two groups teamed up earlier this year to record “Rebuild,” a poppy, mid-tempo number co-written by Foreman and Thiessen. Although fans can download the song free after visiting www.switchfoot.com, they are encouraged to donate time or money to Habitat for Humanity in exchange for the song.

Both singers speak of their friendship, with Foreman saying his band has played a big-brother role to Relient K. And in a way, that makes sense: Switchfoot sort of sounds like Relient K’s big brother. Both five-man bands deploy the same basic artillery — guitars, keyboards, drums and hooks galore — but Switchfoot plays a more grown-up kind of rock, much more introspective than Relient K’s cheeky pop punk.

Take some of the acts’ newer songs: Switchfoot recorded a scream-punched rocker, “Oh! Gravity,” about how physics plays into human relationships. Relient K, by contrast, recorded the melodic “Faking My Own Suicide,” which takes its name from the classic 1971 comedy “Harold and Maude,” and a 12-second joke song called “Crayons Can Melt On Us For All I Care.”

During live shows, Switchfoot also seems to act a bit more grown-up. Foreman said he tries to have a conversation with the crowd.

“I feel like a lot of people go up on stage to try and become bigger than life and try to puff it up and become this big thing,” Foreman said. “For me, I attempt to shrink down into the songs and become just simply a part of the song.”

Relient K, meanwhile, may ring some bells as they trot out Christmas carols from their October release, “Let it Snow Baby … Let it Reindeer,” a collection of classics, such as “Sleigh Ride,” and originals, including “I Hate Christmas Parties.”

“We didn’t touch ‘O Holy Night,’ because I didn’t want to butcher it,” Thiessen said.

Despite their somewhat different approaches, the two both speak of the Christian rock genre with a slight degree of hesitancy. Neither fully shirks the label, but, as Foreman said, the term has its drawbacks. He framed it as a marketing ploy more than a mark of belief.

“I feel like the genre itself represents something much different than the faith of what I believe in,” Foreman said. ” Come hang out with me and then you can decide if we’re a Christian band or not. It can’t come from a desire to sell a commercial product.”

While the two groups are co-headlining the Everett show, Relient K has been playing first, with Switchfoot closing the show. To Thiessen, a fan of Switchfoot, the order made sense. He said Foreman’s band is simply a better live act.

Granted, playing first has its advantages.

“The kids aren’t burned out on hearing music at that point,” Thiessen said.

Reporter Andy Rathbun: 425-339-3455 or arathbun@heraldnet.com.