Throwback Series - Legend Of Chin

Greetings!

This time at home has given us so much gratitude. What an amazing time to pause and reflect on our journey we've been on for the past 10 albums, the past 20 years. Over the next few weeks, we'll be releasing some re-recorded songs, videos, and even some throwback merch.

What better place to start than at the beginning? Jon kicks us off with a few thoughts on the first album we ever made, the Legend Of Chin, and our first music video, Chem 6A...

LEGEND OF CHIN

The other day a friend of mine asked me about the first SWITCHFOOT record we ever made. The year was 1997: my brother was still in high school, I hadn't dropped out of college yet, (and Chad hadn't grown his mustache!) We were three young kids writing songs in dorm rooms looking for answers. I still don't have all the answers, but I have such gratitude for the journey it's been along the way. When I look back at the Legend of Chin now, 20 years removed, I'm so thankful for my band, for the songs we've been able to sing, and for the folks who we've met along the way.

When we wrote "Legend of Chin" I felt like a fish out of water. I was a freshman surfer on the big concrete jungle of the UCSD campus, surrounded by a world that felt disenchanted and disconnected. A world that felt more focused on superficial comforts than living life to the fullest. I was finding my own feet in the world. Noticing things I hadn't seen before, realizing that truths I'd been brought up with still held true. I was also asking questions, and some big questions at that. What could I do to change things? What could I do to change myself? The place I went then and the place I go now is music: I would write a song. Start with the darkness and aim for the light.

That place of hope is where the album came from. Songs that recognize the battle we all fight against apathy. Songs that I had hoped would ignite myself and my friends to live for more than passive existence.

Now 20 plus years later, I'm even more aware than ever that life is short. That I want to make the most of it. Yes, the concrete jungle that felt so cold to me as a college kid has only grown darker. And yet, my understanding of beauty and hope and grace has grown even more. I'm still searching for words to say, and a melody that will move me. Thanks for singing along.

-jon