Early years

Trevor McNevan formed the band in his hometown of Peterborough, Ontario, a city northeast of Toronto, with his childhood friend Joel Bruyere and drummer Steve Augustine. McNevan's first band was Oddball, and featured Dave Smith on guitar, Tim Baxter on bass and McNevan's good friend, Three Days Grace's Neil Sanderson, on drums. Oddball recorded only one album, Shutterbug, which was released in 1995. The band's name was conceived by McNevan "symbolizing the point in our lives that we realize we can't make it on our own strength".^[10] He has written and released seven albums with Thousand Foot Krutch to date and another four with his side project FM Static.

Shutterbug was released by Trevor McNevan in 1995 under the band name Oddball. McNevan had friends Dave Smith (guitar), Tim Baxter (bass) and Neil Sanderson (drums), play on the album. There were 27 songs on the album, the first half rock, the second half hip-hop. McNevan recorded it at Barry Haggarty's studio in his home town of Peterborough, Ontario, Canada. He worked at McDonald's and other jobs to pay for the studio time. The song "Lift It" first appeared here and was later re-recorded for Thousand Foot Krutch's first release, That's What People Do, and appeared again on Set It Off.^[11][12]

That's What People Do was written the year McNevan started TFK in 1997. It was released independently in 1998 and is out of print. It sold over 5,000 copies. TFK climbed the ladder of local notoriety throughout Ontario and abroad. Reaching the ears of Ontario commercial radio, CKWF 101.5 FM in their home town of Peterborough added "Rhyme Animal", the band's first single from their independent recording, to their rotation. It clicked with listeners and within two months ended up being one of the five most requested songs of the year.

In 1999, TFK was chosen by 7 Ball Magazine as one of the top 25 bands in North America. They were also awarded "Best Indie Recording" and McNevan awarded "Vocalist of the Year" by the readers of The Wire Magazine. They were then awarded "Band of the Year" at the 2000 Wire Awards. They were also voted as the No. 1 band of the millennium on 100.3 FM in Barrie, Ontario.

Set It Off was released on November 14, 2000. It was the group's first indie label release. Though the sound of the album was distinct in its heavily hip-hop influenced nu metal, a few songs from the record (including "Puppet" and "Supafly") impacted at both secular and Christian radio. The band toured it extensively across North America and ended up garnering much label attention by selling 85,000 copies of the indie release out of their van.^[13] The band also printed a limited edition, "pre-release" version of Set It Off sold only at their release party at The Gordon Best Theatre in Peterborough, Ontario for their local fans. TFK toured with Finger Eleven, Econoline Crush, Treble Charger, the Tea Party, Matthew Good Band, Gob, Sum 41 and others. Three Days Grace, which was a cover band at that time, was TFK's regular support act. McNevan helped with recordings of Three Days Grace's demo album. He is also featured on their song "This Movie" from this album. Around this same time, Dave Smith left the group, making McNevan the only original member. Smith was replaced with Myke Harrison, who parted ways about a year later. After Dave Smith's departure, McNevan began writing all the guitar lines and the band has used a live guitar player instead of officially replacing him.

Track seven from this album, "Unbelievable" – a cover of the EMF song of the same name – appeared on the soundtrack for the 2010 film Just Wright.^[14]

Tooth & Nail years

Bassist Joel Bruyere

In 2003, the band signed with Seattle-based Tooth & Nail Records and released their second full-length album, Phenomenon. Though something of a departure from the rap-heavy sound of Set it Off, Phenomenon still relied on McNevan's rhythmic vocals, albeit with a solid modern hard rock sound. It was well received, and spawned four radio singles, including "Rawkfist". The album sold 200,000 units^[15][16] making it one of the best-selling albums in Tooth & Nail's history. They continued this success with the 2004 re-release of Set it Off through Tooth & Nail, allowing for a larger print run and adding six songs, including five from "That's What People Do", and one new song "Everyone Like Me", produced by Gavin Brown.

At this time, McNevan and Augustine started a side band called FM Static, which differentiated from TFK with its pop-punk/pop-rock sound, with the overall tone being more lighthearted. FM Static scored numerous No. 1 songs, including their songs "Crazy Mary", and "Something to Believe In". In 2004, TFK toured with Kutless on the "Sea of Faces" tour alongside Falling Up and as FM Static.

On July 19, 2005, they released their third full-length album The Art of Breaking, produced by Arnold Lanni. The album makes almost a complete break from the nu metal sound of Phenomenon, focusing more on heavy elements. It is the first album to feature short guitar solos. "Move" peaked at No. 16 on the Billboard Mainstream Rock chart early 2006. Other singles included "Absolute" and "Breathe You In", which was released to alternative radio and was one of the band's first slower songs. During this time the band toured extensively.

In 2006, McNevan became involved with TobyMac and helped him write the song "Ignition" found on Portable Sounds. The song has been used in media placements including Monday Night Football and NASCAR. Because of this, in the early 2007, the band was part of the TobyMac Portable Sounds tour. The tour was such a success that Toby asked them to do the year-end tour as well.^[17]

After working in the studio with producer Ken Andrews they released The Flame in All of Us on September 18, 2007, with a move to a more mainstream rock sound, with some heavy influences from bands such as fellow Canadian artists Our Lady Peace and other metal bands of the time. The album includes the singles "Falls Apart", "What do we Know?", "Favorite Disease" and "The Flame in All of Us". On January 20, 2008, "The Flame in All of Us" became the 1000th song to make it on the ChristianRock.Net Top 30 Chart. The next tour was in early 2008 with Skillet and Decyfer Down. After a lengthy summer playing festivals and one-offs, they were included in the first Creation Festival: The Tour that consisted of nine bands: Kutless, Pillar, KJ-52, Fireflight, Worth Dying For, Run Kid Run, Esterlyn, Capital Lights and themselves. They were asked to headline three tour dates, but declined.^[18] They also recorded the Christmas song "Jingle Bell Rawk" for the X Christmas compilation Christmas album, compiled by Tooth & Nail Records. For Welcome to the Masquerade, the band reunited with Aaron Sprinkle to co-produce this album, with Emery's Matt Carter assisting and Randy Staub mixing. The song "Fire It Up" was included in video games such as EA Sports NHL 10, and in the G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra film trailer.^[19] The album was released on September 8, 2009 and peaked at No. 35 on the Billboard 200.^[20] In mid-2009, McNevan underwent emergency surgery on his appendix, causing the band to cancel at Creation West Festival.^[21] He returned to play shows a week later. The band appeared at other festivals that year, including their debut appearance at Soulfest. They announced a year-end tour to support the new album. They also appeared on Creation Festival: The Tour again, this time with Jars of Clay, Audio Unplugged, B.Reith, FM Static and This Beautiful Republic.^[22] They were later involved with a Christmas holiday show with Thirty Seconds to Mars, Flyleaf, After Midnight Project and The Veer Union. On September 8, 2009, TFK's three albums, Phenomenon, The Art of Breaking, and The Flame in All of Us were re-released as a three-CD set: Deja Vu: The Thousand Foot Krutch Anthology.^[23] They toured with Breaking Benjamin, Chevelle and Red in March 2010.

TFK on the Music Boat 2010

In a concert video posted on February 1, 2010, the band was seen with a new guitarist, Ty Dietzler, who replaced Nick Baumhardt as the touring guitarist. He has also played rhythm guitar for the Letter Black.^[24] In the first week of April 2010, "Fire it Up" was released in the Rock Band music store to be used in Rock Band 2. On April 19, The Detroit Red Wings used "The Invitation" and "Welcome to the Masquerade" during the pre-game introduction.^[25] On May 11, 2010, McNevan announced on his personal Facebook page: "We [TFK] covered "The Heat Miser Song" from the old classic Christmas special, gonna do one with FM too, but that's a surprise..." referring to their upcoming appearance on the album X-Christmas 2 by Tooth & Nail Records. He also stated that a live DVD was planned for the very near future and was to be recorded at the May 28 at YC Alberta event at Rexall Place.^[26] During the 2010 NBA playoffs, "Move" was used by ABC. In 2010, TFK performed at Creation Festival: The Tour Presents the Welcome to the Masquerade Fall Tour. They headlined the tour, which also featured Disciple and Ivoryline,^[27] with Decyfer Down replacing Disciple during the last week of the tour.^[22] The band also stated that they started writing tracks for a new record.

In January 2011 TFK joined the Rock and Worship Roadshow national tour headlined by MercyMe.^[28] On March 2, 2011, Dietzler announced that he would be leaving the band at the end of the month.^[29] The band searched for a replacement guitarist,^[30] but on March 30, 2011 the band announced that Dietzler would remain with the band, and cancelled the search for a replacement.^[31] On June 7, 2011, they released a live album and DVD: Live at the Masquerade.^[32] On September 10, 2011, they headlined at the First Love Festival in Buena Vista, New Jersey along with Decyfer Down, Remedy Drive, Addison Road, Dave Pettigrew and Compelled.^[33]

Post-label, hiatus and return

TFK in Minneapolis, Mill City Nights, October 8, 2014

The End Is Where We Begin was released on April 17, 2012.^[34]

On November 29, 2011, they announced that they would be leaving Tooth & Nail Records to release The End Is Where We Begin independently^[35] and turned to crowdfunding to release the album.^[36] The song "War of Change" was made available for free download in early December.^[37]

"War of Change" was the theme song for the 2012 edition of WWE Over the Limit.^[38]

On October 15, 2013, the band released Made in Canada: The 1998-2010 Collection, a fourteen-track collection featuring two new songs, "Searchlight" and "Complicate You".^[39]

The band launched another crowdfunding campaign to raise funds for OXYGEN:INHALE in May 2014.^[40] The first single from the album, "Born This Way", was released on July 22.^[41] The second single, "Untraveled Road", was released on August 6 on YouTube.^[42]

For live performances in September and October 2015, Joshua Sturm, husband of former Flyleaf vocalist Lacey Sturm, filled-in for Joel Bruyere who had been hospitalized due to a collapsed lung.^[43]

Three singles were released in advance of the release of their follow-up, Exhale: "Born Again" on December 11, 2015,^[44] "Incomplete" on February 1, 2016,^[45] and "Running with Giants" on February 25, 2016.^[46] The album itself was released on June 17, 2016 and debuted at No. 34 on the US Billboard 200, selling 14,000 copies.^[47] On September 15, 2017, The band released a second live album, Untraveled Roads, as a CD and DVD combo pack.^[48] After releasing the live album in 2017, TFK entered an indefinite hiatus to focus more on their families, with Trevor McNevan working on a hip-hop project in the meantime.^[49][50][51]

In 2023, the band announced their return from hiatus and their first new project since 2017, which is set to be a newly re-recorded version of their 2012 album The End Is Where We Begin entitled "The End Is Where We Begin: Reignited" while collaborating with several of their musical peers, releasing the single "War Of Change" with Adelitas Way in July 2023, "Down" with New Medicine in August 2023, and "So Far Gone" with Art of Dying in October 2023.^[52][53]