Switchfoot

Switchfoot's name derives from surfing jargon, but that's about where their relationship to The Beach Boys or Jack Johnson ends. The San Diego group has been knocking about since 1997, growing from a three-person lineup with a rawer sound to its current quintet format and more sonically layered approach to tuneful, often anthemic, sometimes aggressive alt-rock. Since 2003's The Beautiful Letdown and its pop-radio hits "Dare You to Move" and "Meant to Live," the band has amassed a large audience. Soundtrack appearances on movies including Mandy Moore's A Walk to Remember and The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian and continued play on commercial modern-rock radio, especially with singles from their 2009 album, Hello Hurricane, have kept their socially and spiritually conscious rock music in high profile. Switchfoot's vocal associations with charities for sufferers of natural disasters, poverty and other misfortunes affirm their do-unto-others bona fides, too. (Jamie Lee Rake)