Chris Mountford caught up with best selling Christian rockers SWITCHFOOT

San Diego's Switchfoot continue to go from strength to strength with their latest album 'Vice Verses' reaching number 12 in America's mainstream album charts. This month's tour of the UK gave Cross Rhythms' programme controller Chris Mountford the opportunity to catch up with the band's Tim Foreman and Drew Shirley before their concert at Manchester's Academy 2. Here's what they told him.

Chris: Welcome to the UK once again.

Tim: I love it over here - we all do. Any chance to come over is good by me. I came a week early actually and did a little sightseeing, took in the fall leaves and that sort of thing.

Chris: You're here in Europe, you've got a new album out, tell us a bit about your plans for the next few weeks.

Tim: We're so excited about the new record 'Vice Verses'. It still feels new to us, it came out just over a month ago and to play it over here is really exciting. Tonight is the first show of the tour so there's a lot of excitement. It's a two week tour here and then we go back to the States then continue touring there. It's a busy time for us but it's an exciting type of busy with a lot of new energy.

Chris: Are you still doing a lot of touring throughout the year?

Tim: Yeah, we work so hard on making an album, we put so much into it and we're so passionate about what we do so we want to give the songs chance to get out there and be heard all around the world.

Chris: We really like your album at Cross Rhythms, we think it's very strongly produced and we're certainly going to play it a lot. My music editor did a bit of research today in terms of reviews and found that a number of websites were more critical of the album. When you come across reviews like that, what do you feel?

Tim: In the States there's been a flood of positivity about the record, but even then I don't like to read the reviews. We try to make a record that we're in love with and then it doesn't matter what anyone thinks - that's the goal. It's been nice that this record has received so many positive reviews and that it's been so well received but at the same time you shouldn't believe the hype.

Chris: In the US it's done well in the charts.

Tim: It's been incredible. The single went top 10 this week and there's been a lot of things to get excited about.

Chris: I understand that the single "Dark Horses" came from time you spent working with an organisation in San Diego called Stand Up For Kids. Tell us about the work there and how it inspired the song.

Tim: Every year we have an event on the beach in our hometown of San Diego, it's a surf contest and a concert and all the proceeds go towards Stand Up For Kids. They work with homeless kids in San Diego and across the US. They're an amazing organisation and in working with these kids year after year we're so inspired by their stories. These are kids that society has written off but they're the true dark horses, the underdogs, and we're inspired by the hope and strength that they have.

Chris: In terms of them being dark horses and the work that you're doing with them, what sort of inspiration are they giving to you as a band?