Lifehouse Discusses Summer Tour with Switchfoot and Latest Album Release

This summer, Lifehouse joined Switchfoot on the “Looking for Summer” tour along with Brynn Elliott. This is the first time Lifehouse has toured the U.S. in nearly six years, only having performed overseas shows before this comeback with Switchfoot. Next to Switchfoot asking if Lifehouse would want to join them on tour, Lifehouse recently released “Lifehouse: Greatest Hits,” and so the tour was the perfect chance to promote it.

“It wasn’t premeditated to take that long of a break,” Bryce Soderberg, Lifehouse bass-guitarist/vocals, stated. “It was just kind of circumstantial, and Switchfoot asked us to co-headline a tour with them and we thought it would be a great way to get back out to our fan base, and just kind of celebrate our ‘Greatest Hits’ release, and reconnect with fans that kind of got us here in the first place.”

When it comes to touring with Switchfoot, the band has nothing but high-praise for the fellow rock group.

“We’re really excited to tour with them,” Jason Wade, Lifehouse lead singer/guitarist, commented. “[We] have had the opportunity to spend some time with them, and they’re really down to earth, really humble, great dudes, so it should be a really fun summer.”

Wade mentioned that prior to this tour the only other time they performed alongside Switchfoot was for a college show 10 to 11 years ago. Lifehouse wanted to tour to promote the new “Greatest Hits” album when they were contacted to do the tour.

“We got a call from our manager, [who said] the Switchfoot guys reached out to us to do this co-headlining tour together,” Wade recounted. “It was just too good to pass up. The [two] bands, I feel, share a lot of the same fans; the music kind of melds very well together. It happened really organically; it was their band reaching out to our band, and we thought it was a great idea.”

The two groups’ chemistry is notable for their pre-tour promotions, including lead singer of Switchfoot, Jon Foreman, covering Lifehouse’s “Flight,” while Wade covered Switchfoot’s song “Dare You to Move.” Each band brings out the fellow lead singer when performing the songs on this tour.

The tour has covered various venues around the U.S., and still has a few more to go until Sept. 10. When asked what type of audience they prefer to perform in front of, Soderberg gave his honest analysis.

“We really appreciate the small, intimate shows. If you play a show in front of 10 to 20 people in a little tiny club as an acoustic, sometimes it can be even more nerve wracking than playing in front of 100,000 people,” Soderberg stated. “We’ve opened for Coldplay before, in front of 80,000 people, and that’s kind of a magical moment too where you have to be big with your movements and open up and there’s a lot of variables from show to show, and you just adapt, but the most important thing for us is having that connection with our audience. That’s what we got into music for, and this band is very much a catalyst of a connection, and that’s kind of the message we portray in our music and try to carry live.”

From radio hits “Hanging by a Moment” to “Halfway Gone,” performing with bands like Coldplay, having the chance to open for The Rolling Stones, and now doing a tour with Switchfoot, one would think that one of these moments would be the biggest accomplishment for the group. Wade, however, came up with a different answer; one that many groups should follow.

“Our biggest accomplishment is staying together, still getting excited to be back on tour, [and] playing music on stage together,” Wade stated. “A lot of bands break-up because it’s 10% on stage and 90% hanging out and not liking each other anymore. We’re just really lucky that we kind of have this familial quality to the band where we’re not just friends, but also brothers, and we all give each other space when we need it. We took time off, ready to refuel and get back out there for tour.”

As for what the band plans to do following the tour, they noted how they are excited for a few shows in Australia in November, as well as expressing excitement to keep playing as opposed to another tour hiatus.

“We’re just gonna keep playing and then next year we’ll seriously consider doing a new Lifehouse record,” Wade stated.

In the meantime, fans old and new are encouraged to check out their “Greatest Hits” record, whether for nostalgia or to get a feel for them. If planning to see them at one of the upcoming tour dates, the band recommended listening to the “Greatest Hits” to prepare for the show, as well as listen to bands such as Pearl Jam, The Killers, Coldplay, and another band as Soderberg subtly promoted.

“I’m really liking the new Phoenix record, I think that’s great,” he stated. “Put the Lifehouse Pandora station on, and you can kind of see who is similar.”

If interested in seeing Lifehouse at one of their upcoming tour dates, go to http://lifehousemusic.com/tour. Or, if interested in their music, purchase the band’s latest release, “Lifehouse: Greatest Hits,” here.