Chad Butler , left, Jon Foreman, Jerome Fontamillas, Tim Foreman, Drew Shirley

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"Switchfoot" is a surfing term for switching one's stance to face the opposite direction. It's also an appropriate name for a band that takes a wholly different approach to the rock 'n' roll lifestyle.

The band's fifth album, 2005's "Nothing Is Sound," debuted at No. 3 on the Billboard 200 chart, and 2004's double-platinum "The Beautiful Letdown" spawned hits such as "Meant to Live" and "Dare You to Move," but Switchfoot continues to be as down to earth as its San Diego surfing roots suggest.

"We've never been about the numbers," drummer Chad Butler said in a phone interview while driving around his hometown. "Good or bad, they're just numbers."

Butler prefers to measure Switchfoot's success another way — that the band members are still the same laid-back beach guys they were when they started the band about a decade ago.

These days, Switchfoot, which plays in Tucson Friday, has both feet firmly planted in mainstream music, but in the past the band's wholesome image and thought-provoking lyrics made it the darling of the cool Christian music scene.

"I've never understood that title or label," Butler said of being called a Christian band. "We've always just called ourselves a rock band. If you're exclusive like that, you're kind of limiting your audience, and that's never what we've been about. I love the fact that there are people of all different faiths and musical backgrounds that like our music, that are listening. It's an amazing thing after a show to talk to people and meet people from all over the world and all different backgrounds. To us, that's success — to be making music for thinking people."

Despite leaving labels behind, Switchfoot has held on to its good-boy persona. The band has been involved in Bono's DATA (Debt, AIDS, Trade and Africa) project, started its own annual "Bro-Am" surf benefit for homeless kids and launched www.lowercasepeople.com, an online magazine that highlights art, music, literature and social justice.

These projects on top of touring behind "The Beautiful Letdown" kept the band plenty busy, but when it came to write and record "Nothing Is Sound," Switchfoot didn't miss a beat. Some bands take every precaution to prevent music from leaking before an album release, but Switchfoot once again took the opposite approach. The band brought a second set of instruments on tour and set up in the dressing room before shows to write new tunes, which it would then test live.

"While the opening bands were playing, we'd be working on music back stage and then go try it our in front of the audience every night," Butler said. "It's a great way to get feedback. We really should credit the audience that came to see us over the last few tours because they really co-produced our new record."

The live-tested, audience-approved approach seems to have worked. "Nothing Is Sound" contains crashing hooks, reverb-dripped guitars and stimulating sing-along lyrics. Switchfoot only seems to be getting bigger with each release, but don't expect these good-boy rockers to get caught up in the hype.

"We've grown to be like brothers, and when you spend that much time on the road together there's no way one guy is going to get a big head about things and not be brought down to reality by the other guys," Butler said. "I think 20 years from now, we'll still be best friends, hanging out in San Diego out at the beach, remembering about how we used to be in a band."