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Jon Foreman & Sean Watkins

Ever since Switchfoot's Jon Foreman and Nickel Creek's Sean Watkins met, they've talked about writing songs together. It took almost five years for it to happen—in the form of Fiction Family, which recently released its first album. Recorded in their respective home studios, the self-titled debut features both men stretching one another's artistic imaginations in unexpected directions. Christian Music Today recently sat down with Foreman and Watkins to discuss the project, the creative process behind it, and where they go from here.

You both grew up in the San Diego area, but had you known one another before working together?

Sean Watkins: We actually just met when we started this record.

Jon Foreman: And we started the record like four or five years ago! Nickel Creek and Switchfoot were on the same bill at a street fest in San Diego. It was cool to say "hi" since we were both from the same town. After that, we said maybe we should write a song sometime and traded e-mail addresses.

Who was the first to follow up?

Foreman: A couple weeks later, we saw each other at a local coffee shop. I had a melody and a thought, and I gave it to Sean. The next day he finished the song, and that was the first taste of the fun to come. After that, we started writing more, then after a couple of songs, we thought an EP would be kind of cool to have. We literally went from three to five songs making up a cool EP, to adding a few more and thinking we could make this a real record.

Given your busy schedules, how did you hunker down in your studios to finalize these songs?

Foreman: There was no hunkering! It was whenever we felt like it or had the time. There wasn't a moment when I was like "oh man, I gotta do that song for Sean." It was very much like true recess for school when you can go out and play. That's the best way to make music—there's no one with a timeline, deadline, or telling you "that should sound like this because this is our marketing plan," which kills music. When you're doing it with a friend for fun, it feels like the songs can be exactly what they're supposed to be—nothing more, nothing less.

Watkins: Especially for us, it was the only way we could've done it. We weren't in a position to record in a real studio and spend money on the clock. We didn't really know what we were doing at all and that's why we had to do it at home. It became kind of a musical vacation to work on between this busy season of touring with our bands. There was a lot of corresponding, sending MP3s and ideas back and forth pretty consistently throughout the last few years.

Did you set out with any specific musical goals in mind?

Foreman: I wanted to dive into a different world. As a musician, I still feel like there are areas of music I'm still lacking and want to improve in, that I want to explore. This is the vehicle to get there, both in the studio and live.

How different is the dynamic of recording as a duo versus your respective solo stuff?

Foreman: When you're by yourself, there's not a sparring partner. Sean would take the songs to places I wouldn't. It's amazing to think how we both put on two hats—the producer hat and the artist hat, and we both traded. It's allowed both people to be very artistic and free, but while keeping each other in check too.

Watkins: We know how to balance. Both of us have both of those sides, and we can switch. When one of us is being one way, the other one can balance it out.

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