Switchfoot
Announcing The 2009 Free Christian Music Awards Winners
It’s time! The votes are all in, and it’s time to announce the winners in the first annual Free Christian Music Awards! You helped picked the nominees, and you voted on the winners – so read on to find out how your favorites did!
Free Song of the Year:
- Switchfoot – “Mess of Me”
- Owl City – “Fireflies”
- Tie: Thousand Foot Krutch – “Bring Me to Life” / Relient K – “Forget and Not Slow Down”
With 41% of the vote, Switchfoot is clear winner in free song of the year, which really isn’t a surprise – Switchfoot’s dedicated fans gave “Mess of Me” a lead from the start, and the fact that it was a radio smash for the band didn’t hurt any. Taking second place with 34% of the vote, Owl City’s wonderfully-popular “Fireflies”, followed by a surprise tie for third between Thousand Foot Krutch & Relient K.
Free Album of the Year:
- We Shot The Moon – “Fear and Love”
- Esterlyn – “Lamps”
- MercyMe – “10 Live”
The award for “Free Album of the Year” was the closest of all the races this year, with We Shot The Moon’s Fear and Love beating Esterlyn’s Lamps for the title by only 1%, and MercyMe’s digital-only live album 10 Live only 3% behind Esterlyn for a respectable third place finish.
Free Christmas Song of the Year:
- Relient K – “I Celebrate the Day”
- Thousand Foot Krutch – “Jingle Bell Rock”
- TobyMac – “This Christmas”
Relient K may have tied for third for “Free Song of the Year”, but they dominated “Free Christmas Song of the Year” from the start, with “I Celebrate the Day” finishing with 1/3 of the vote. Not far behind, with 22%, Thousand Foot Krutch’s rocking rendition of “Jingle Bell Rock” takes second place, and TobyMac’s “This Christmas” takes third.
Free EP of the Year:
- House of Heroes – “The End Is Not The End EP”
- B.Reith – “The B.Reith EP”
- Esterlyn – “Mending The Meaning EP”
2009 was a good year to be House of Heroes – not only was their The End Is Not The End EP the undisputed winner of “Free EP of the Year” with a whopping 49% of the vote, but the same EP was also the most-nominated of any of the songs or albums in the running. B.Reith picks up a strong second place finish with 25% of the vote, followed by Esterlyn at third with 20%.
Free Sampler/Compilation of the Year:
- Tooth & Nail Records – “Fuel Sampler 2009″
- Huntington University – “Picks”
- Creation Festival – “Creation Festival 2009 iTunes Sampler”
Taking first place in the coveted “Free Sampler/Compilation of the Year” category by a wide margin is the 2009 version of Tooth & Nail Record’s Fuel sampler, with the underdog and my personal favorite, Huntington University’s free compilation Picks taking second place, followed by Creation Festival’s 2009 iTunes sampler in third.
Most Giving Artist of 2009:
- House of Heroes
- Esterlyn
- MercyMe
“Most Giving Artist of 2009″ is a special category – rather then being nominated by fans, those in the running earned a spot by being exceptionally generous with free music this year. In an impressive (and much deserved) second #1 victory, the title goes to House of Heroes, with Esterlyn in second, and MercyMe taking rounding out the category in third.
Well, that’s it for this year – what are your thought on the results? I don’t know about you, but I’m sure looking forward to seeing what’s in store for 2010. Also, if you’d like to see the full results of the voting, feel free to check out this page for a full list of nominees & how they did.
Free Switchfoot, Family Force 5, Leeland, & More!
I’ve got some very exciting free music news to share today… “Mess of Me” anyone? That’s right, Switchfoot’s latest hit “Mess of Me” is available for free, plus several other great songs. The list:
- Leeland – “Count Me In”
- Underoath – “Writing On The Walls”
- Rapture Ruckus – “One”
- Hillsong United – “No Reason to Hide”
- Parachute Band – “Shout It Out”
- Family Force 5 – “Dance or Die (The Secret Handshake Remix)”
- Falling Up – “Streams of Woe at Acheron”
- And of course, Switchfoot’s “Mess of Me”
All eight songs can be yours, for free, thanks to Parachute Festival (the New Zealand equivalent of Creation or Cornerstone Festival.) You do need to sign up for the Parachute Festival’s website to download the songs, and you can only download each song once, but the music is great, and it’s free. Definitely worth checking out. Enjoy!
Switchfoot – “Mess of Me” (The Official Video!)
This is the brand new, official, music video for Switchfoot’s new song and single, “Mess of Me”, and it pretty much rocks. It’s one of the best live music videos I’ve ever seen, and the song is pretty awesome too.
Even though I do really like the video, though, that’s not why I’m writing this post. It turns out, Land of Broken Hearts (a Switchfoot fan site), has put together a list of objectives for Switchfoot fans everywhere, to help promote the new video. They’ve done an amazing job so far, the video has hit the top of Digg, been featured on YouTube’s homepage, and several other very cool accomplishments. Despite the progress, though, there’s always room for more fans, so if helping Switchfoot conquer the world musically sounds like fun to you, check out the Land of Broken Hearts website for information on how you can get involved. Rock on!
Switchfoot – “Mess of Me”
November 10. Hello Hurricane. It’s coming.
Free Song From Fiction Family
Just so you know, Matt apparently has some sort of internet problem and hasn’t been able to post anything, and I’ve been busy with classes starting this week, so I haven’t been able to post anything until now. Anyway…
As many of you know, Jon Foreman (of Switchfoot) recently put out solo work. Now, in addition to Switchfoot and his solo work come Fiction Family, a side project he has started alongside Sean Watkins of Nickel Creek. Over a period of two years they worked on their new self-titled album, recording parts of songs and sending them back and forth until perfected. Now they are offering their new single “When She’s Near” for free. This week, it is the free download at iTickets, and it is also available for a limited time on the Fiction Family website. I’m giving you both links because I’m not sure how long the download on their website will last.
Free Switchfoot Bootlegs
Last year, a band called Switchfoot released a CD called Oh! Gravity. You may have heard of it. When the CD came out, Switchfoot went on the Oh! Gravity tour to promote the CD. While they were on tour, they recorded every show and sold the live bootlegs to every single performance after the show. Later, on the Switchfoot website, this band called Switchfoot gave fans the right to freely share the bootlegs they bought.
Overnight, Switchfoot Bootlegs was born.
Basically, Switchfoot Bootlegs asked every fan to upload their bootlegs so any and all Switchfoot fans can enjoy the live shows wherever they are. The sheer amount of music blows me away. It is a Switchfoot fan’s dream land. Definitely worth checking out.
While I don’t think it was anything I did, the site is off-line for some reason, so you’ll have to wait till it’s back to enjoy the free music. Bummer.11 Bands to Watch for in 2008
11. Stellar Kart. If we really can Expect the Impossible, it must be pretty cool.
10. Inhabited. Their new album Love has been getting good reviews already, and looks to be an great CD.
9. Inhale Exhale. After a great debut, their sophomore disk looks to be great as well.
8. Pillar. With the apparent return to their older style, For the Love of the Game looks to be a worth squeal continuation to the Pillar legacy.
7. Hawk Nelson. If past awesome-ness is a sign of future awesome-ness, they are in great shape.
6. The Afters. After, what, three years, the band return with their second album, which looks to be as good or better then then I Wish We All Could Win.
5. P.O.D. (Payable on Death). Overlooking there new CD, When Angels and Serpents Dance, would be a serious mistake.
4. Showbread. Is a so crazy. They are releasing two different CDs on the same day. Who know what will happen? For sheer unpredictability, you need to keep an eye on them.
3. Kutless. With a new CD supposedly on the way, the massively popular band will definitely be one to watch for.
2. Underoath. The hardcore phenomenon. The mere fact that they are doing a new CD has music fans around the world in desperate anticipation.
1. Family Force 5. In two years, they went from unknowns to one of the hottest bands in Christian music. With a new, untitled CD on the way, the dance party that is FF5 will likely continue to spread.
Honorably Mentions:
A Rotterdam November. Despite being unsigned and unknown, they landed a hit with “City Without a Heart” and look to be a promising band.
Fireflight. Looks Unbreakable.
Leeland. Blindside. Switchfoot. Anberlin. John Reuben. Krystal Meyers. Deserved to fit in the top 11, only I ran out of room.
Free Music from Ivoryline, Jon Foreman of Switchfoot, and More!
Fuse.tv has just put up a new sampler with some new songs from Ivoryline, MxPx, Secret & Whisper, Jon Foreman from Switchfoot, and Far-less. It’s called the “Fuse Dozen Days of Downloads”. Most of the songs are available else where, but a couple are so new that I’ve never even heard them.
Though you have to scroll down through maybe ten or so mainstream songs to find it, the first song on the thing is Far-less, “Toast to Bad Taste”. After that is Ivoryline’s new song “Be Still and Breathe”, followed by a song from Jon Foreman’s new solo EP, Fall. The song is called “The Cure for Pain”. After that is MxPx’s “Secret Weapon” and Secret & Whisper’s “XOXOXO”. I’m not familiar with Secret & Whisper, besides knowing that they are new to Tooth & Nail Records and have a CD called The Great White Whale coming out.
Unreleased Switchfoot Song!
Remember the Switchfoot song “Rebuild” I posted about a week or two ago? Well, this is the predecessor. It’s called “Daylight to Break”, and you can download it free by signing up for Switchfoot’s mailing list. If you have enough emails to handle now, that fine too. Just sign-up and unsubscribe when the first email comes in.
Enjoy everyone!
Switchfoot Releasing New Song
“Howdy,
My name is jon foreman- I play guitar in a band called switchfoot. Many of our songs have deeply personal stories behind them. This one, “Rebuild” has a story that grew even bigger after the song was written.
This summer, Matt Thiessen and I began to write a song specifically for our fall tour, the “Appetite for Construction” tour where a dollar from each ticket sold will go to Habitat for Humanity. The song, (written with Habitat in mind) was called “Rebuild.” Afterwards, we said our goodbyes and both bands parted ways and drove on down the road. Hours later his bus burned down. After the flames died down, the song and the tour had a much deeper meaning.
Now, as our hometown of San Diego recovers from the worst fires we’ve ever been through, this song has a deeper meaning still. I’ve spent the last week on tour trying to find out if friends and family are ok. It’s been an incredibly helpless feeling. And though we’re far from home, we’ve been trying to figure out ways that we can help.
So we came up with this idea, more than just giving a dollar a ticket this tour we’ve decided to give a song away. We love giving things away whenever we can, our hope is that you do too.
Download the song, “rebuild” and give your money or your time directly to Habitat for Humanity. That way you don’t need to even live in california, you can still help in your own backyard. If you’ve got extra cash, cool. If not, donate your time instead. Habitat is an incredible organization that has built houses from New Orleans to New Delhi for deserving individuals. After the fires die down we’ll need a lot of help in San Diego.
The song features someone from all three bands on tour: ourselves, Matt T. from Relient K and Dustin from Ruth on harmonica. The song means a lot to me and I hope you enjoy it. Now is the time to rebuild. Please join us.
Here’s your choices:
thanks,
jon”
–From Switchfoot.com
Enjoy everyone!
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