Last Monday night, Switchfoot returned to Birmingham to the Workplay Theatre.

The band has had hits in the past with songs that include “Meant to Live” and “Dare You to Move,” and are now in tour to support their most recent and seventh studio album, “Hello Hurricane.”

It’s another record, but a whole new adventure. “Hello Hurricane” is a labor of love, a product that took two years to create, a completely independent album. Switchfoot did everything themselves, no label, no management company, just the guys writing and recording what they wanted, no restraints, in a studio they built themselves in San Diego.

This was a step that drummer, Chad Butler said was “the first tangible step in rebuilding the band.” Drew Shirley recollects in a recent interview that having endless possibilities is the most difficult feat in recording.

“It could go anywhere and there is no one to tell you to hurry up or stop or I don’t like this, change that,” Shirley said. “We had lists that were a mile long with song names and stuff we had worked on. Looking at it sometimes was like, there are too many options!”

Switchfoot had about 90 songs to choose from. The question was how to choose just 12 songs for the new record. The solution, courtesy of bassist Tim Foreman, was coming up with the title for the album before going through the songs. His idea was “Hello Hurricane,” the storm symbolizing their journey.

“We did the album title and then it meant something to us,” Shirley said. “The songs just kind of started to fit; the title that Tim came up with really helped us do that. It symbolized a feeling about the message and about the heart behind the album that helped us choose the songs.”

Fans got a chance to hear how well the songs faired live as the majority of Monday night’s set list consisted of songs from “Hello Hurricane” along with classic hits.
Shirley added that the tracks on the album are songs only they could sing.

“Being able to track that many songs enabled us to look in lots of different places and find the songs that only we could sing,” he said.

While producing these songs came with conflict, there were no signs of it on stage last week, just perfect harmony.

“Conflicts are part of the creative process and bands have to have them so they can get through them,” Shirley said.

When it came to writing and recording, Shirley credits Foreman with being the best editor because he is brutally honest, which is good because it brings about the best result.

Switchfoot wanted a positive reaction from fans, and they have definitely gotten it.

“At the end of the day, you just have to make something that you are proud of, that you are honest with,” Shirley said. “I think the best music is where everyone is playing from their hearts.”

For more on the band, visit switchfoot.com.