SWITCHFOOT will kick off 2010 with a performance on “The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson” on Monday, January 4. Later that week, the band will be one of two groups playing the ESPN National Championship Tailgate, which will take place at the Rose Bowl Stadium just before the Alabama Crimson Tide face the Texas Longhorns in the Citi BCS National Championship Game on January 7.

The band has been playing sold-out shows since November, coinciding with the release of its latest album, Hello Hurricane, which debuted in the Top 15 of The Billboard 200. The North American tour, which has been extended through January, features SWITCHFOOT playing Hello Hurricane in its entirety, followed by an assortment of fan favorites from its previous albums. SWITCHFOOT will continue to collect donations for local food banks along the way, so fans are encouraged to bring non-perishable items to the concerts. (See below for the itinerary and a list of food banks that will receive donations.)

“Mess Of Me,” the lead single from Hello Hurricane, is used in the trailer and television commercials for Samuel Goldwyn’s Films’ “To Save A Life,” which will be released on January 22. You can check out the trailer at: http://tosavealifemovie.com/index.php

The track has also been tapped for use by NHL Music Nights on Fox Sports Net and by ESPN for college football bumpers. Numerous other tracks from Hello Hurricane have been licensed – “The Sound (John M. Perkins’ Blues)” was used in the recent Verizon Wireless ad campaign for the BlackBerry® Storm™ 2 while “Bullet Soul” was selected for WWE’s “TLC: Tables, Ladders & Chairs” pay-per-view. “Yet” was heard in The CW’s new hit show, “The Vampire Diaries,” while the network’s “One Tree Hill” used six minutes of the epic “Your Love Is A Song” to close a recent episode.

Recorded with producer/bassist Mike Elizondo (Dr. Dre, Rilo Kiley, Eminem, and Pink), Hello Hurricane is SWITCHFOOT’s seventh full-length and its first on Atlantic Records. The band was featured in a Rolling Stone “In The Studio” piece and on the cover of Relevant Magazine while the new album was a critic’s pick in USA Today’s Fall Music feature. “On ‘Needle and Haystack Life,’ singer Jon Foreman works his breathy croon over surging pop-punk guitars; ‘This Is the Sound’ has a brutish, heavy-metal vibe; ‘Enough’ rides a percolating art-folk groove; and ‘Bullet Soul’ could be something by Swedish garage rock band the Hives,” said Billboard while Alternative Press hailed the title track as “an uplifting, hope-giving affirmation of resurgence.”

Band members Jon Foreman (vocals/guitar), Tim Foreman (bass), Chad Butler (drums), Jerome Fontamillas (keys/guitar) and Drew Shirley (guitar) are continually seeking new ways to convey that message of hope. In that spirit, that they are launching a new website, http://www.theworldyouwant.com, which will spotlight goodness, beauty and truth in everyday life. Fans are invited to contribute stories about people they know who are making this world a better place. With the holidays quickly approaching, Jon Foreman addressed the timely topic of “Compassion vs. Consumption” in the second of two articles he penned for The Huffington Post:  www.huffingtonpost.com.

Upcoming tour dates are as follows: 

Date  City/State  Venue   Food Bank
12/19  San Bernardino, CA  The Coussoulis Arena, Cal State San Bernardino  CAPSBC
1/7  Pasadena, CA  Rose Bowl (ESPN show, no food bank attached.)
1/8  Reno, NV  Knitting Factory  Assistance League Reno-Sparks
1/9  San Francisco, CA  Regency Ballroom  San Francisco Food Bank
1/10  Medford, OR  Main 1 Arts Center  ACCES Food Services
1/11  Portland, OR  Crystal Ballroom  Oregon Food Bank
1/12  Seattle, WA  Showbox  Northwest Harvest Food Bank
1/13  Vancouver, BC  Commodore Ballroom  Greater Vancouver Food Bank
1/15  Edmonton, AB  The Starlite Room  Edmonton Food Bank
1/16  Calgary, AB  Macewan Hall  Calgary Inter-Faith Food Bank
1/17  Saskatoon, SK  Louis’ Pub  Saskatoon Food Bank
1/18  Winnipeg, MB  Garrick Centre  Winnipeg Harvest
1/21  Kitchener, ON  Elements  The Foodbank of Waterloo Region
1/22  Toronto, ON  Phoenix Theatre  Daily Bread Food Bank
1/23  Montreal, QC  Studio Jpr  Moisson Montreal Food Bank