Christian rock band Switchfoot to perform at Capitol Theatre in Davenport

Just like the rest of the members of Switchfoot, drummer Chad Butler was raised in San Diego. Butler and his bandmates love spending hours on the Pacific Ocean riding waves so much that the name of their band comes from a surfing term. To switch your feet means to take a new stance facing the opposite direction while riding a wave.

The Christian rock band surfs as much as they create music. "We surf every day," Butler said while calling from his San Diego home. "I'm out there each morning when we're not on the road. I love to go out there. There's nothing like that feeling of being so small in a big ocean. I get out there to be immersed in beauty, nature and creation. It's a magical thing getting lost in the ocean."

However, there's another side for Butler, who has spent considerable time in Cedar Rapids since he was a little boy.

"Some of my earliest memories are visiting my uncle's farm just outside of Cedar Rapids," Butler said. "I still remember being a small boy looking up at the tall corn and the pigs. It was the great outdoors in Cedar Rapids but a different great outdoors than where I grew up near the beach in San Diego. It was an early education in the heartland of Iowa. I saw how our food was grown, and I experienced all of the hard work of farming communities. Iowa is half of who I am since that's my mother's side in Iowa, and that's why it's always special when I come back to Iowa."

It'll be a sort of homecoming for Butler when Switchfoot performs Tuesday at the Capitol Theatre in Davenport.

Switchfoot is working on new material, but don't expect the band to preview new tunes. "We're always writing and recording when the inspiration strikes us," Butler said. "It's been a good year for us to make music since we took a big break from touring (in 2024) and we can be at home in San Diego. We have some new songs."

Those tunes will be part of an album that will see the light of day in 2026. The band, which also includes vocalist-guitarist Jon Foreman, his brother bassist-songwriter Tim Foreman and keyboardist Jerome Fontamillas, will draw from its 12-album canon.

"We certainly have enough songs to draw from," Butler said. "What makes our live show different from a lot of bands is that the audience dictates the set list. Once we get onstage, we have a conversation with the audience. We respond to the energy of the crowd. If somebody makes a sign, we just might throw a song off of our set list. We like to be spontaneous. It's important to be in that moment and have fun as opposed to being rigid. We never want to stick to the same set list every night."

Switchfoot is one of those uncommon bands that welcomes the unexpected when things go awry. "What I love about rock and roll is that it's dangerous," Butler said. "The adventure begins when you break a string or a drumstick. The show must go on, and you have to adjust when things happen. We welcome having to adapt on the stage."

Since Switchfoot has been a band since 1996, the group is able to deal with whatever they've experienced onstage. It helps that the group is always optimistic.

"We have strong beliefs," Butler said. "What we try to exude is hope. There's always hope. There's even hope in dark places."

There is hope in Switchfoot songs. That's part of the appeal with the group's breakthrough album, 2003's "The Beautiful Letdown." The project, which explores the human condition, went double platinum thanks to such infectious tunes as "Meant to Live" and "Dare You to Move."

Hope is the common denominator on subsequent albums. "We always think it can get better," Butler said.

It has gotten better throughout Switchfoot's lengthy career. 2009's "Hello Hurricane" won the 2011 Grammy Award for Best Rock Gospel Album. The group has had one personnel change during its run.

"We're all very close," Butler said. "We're friends first, and I think that helps keep this band together. We still enjoy getting together to make music and going on tour. We want nothing more than to stay together since we have so much fun together."

Switchfoot is an altruistic band that has always been about humanitarian causes. Habitat for Humanity, Invisible Children and To Write Love on Her Arms are some of the programs Switchfoot has been behind throughout its career.

Switchfoot hosts an annual charity event in San Diego dubbed the "Bro Am," which was established in 2004. The event benefits local and national charitable organizations, including the band's own Bro Am foundation. The Bro Am event consists of surf contests in the morning and musical performances in the afternoon. The event is capped by a Switchfoot performance. The Bro Am has raised over $1 million for charitable causes.

"We're compelled to give back," Butler said. "We've been so blessed and so fortunate. How can we not help others?"