Get ready to rock ... Christian rock, that is.

At 7 tonight, the Bryce Jordan Center will host the Appetite for Construction tour featuring Switchfoot, Relient K, Ruth and State College's own Cloverleaf.

And when they say construction, they mean it: Every dollar from every ticket sold on this tour will be donated to Habitat for Humanity.

"We wanted to tour for something bigger than ourselves," said Drew Shirley, lead guitarist for Switchfoot. "On this tour, we thought, 'what can we do in each community around the country that will leave a mark and it will do something lasting?' We had some experience with Habitat for Humanity in the past. The more we pursued it, the better and better it sounded."

Joining Switchfoot will be Relient K, a Grammy-nominated Christian rock band. The band's album, Two Lefts Don't Make a Right ... But Three Do, was nominated in 2003 for Best Rock Gospel Album, but the band's break into the mainstream occurred when the single "Be My Escape" hit the airwaves.

Relient K may not mind its Christian rock label, but Switchfoot is a different story.

"We're Christians by faith and not by genre," Shirley said.

Switchfoot gained a heavy following of fans after it released its album The Beautiful Letdown in February of 2003, which contained the hits, "Dare You to Move," and "Meant to Live." Although Switchfoot was labeled by some in its beginning stages as a "Christian rock" band, it has tried to shy away from the use of the term.

"I'm sure for everybody there's a stigma attached to that term," Shirley said. "For a lot of people, it seems very closed off and preachy, and it seems real exclusive. We like for our music to be for everyone. Sometimes we say that we make music for thinking people."

Andy Allan, an alumni and staff member for the Penn State chapter of Campus Crusade for Christ (Cru.), also said he believes there is a negative connotation with the term.

"When you put 'Christian' on anything, I think the danger is that people can feel like they're going to be preached at and they can feel like it's going to be cheesy, just in general," Allan said. "If a person who wasn't a Christian saw [the term] they might think, 'are these guys going to stop the song and do a sermon?' "

Philip Levitsky (junior-business management) is a fan of Copeland and Mae, two bands that are Christian affiliated but not necessarily "overbearing," Levitsky said.

He said it is hard for someone who is not a Christian to be interested in straight Christian rock.

"I'm not Christian or religious, so it would take a lot for me to get into it because it's not something I relate to," Levitsky said. "Most of the time, it's very overt and lacks subtlety. Subtlety is kind of a big deal for me."

T.J. Cornwall (junior-economics), lead singer and pianist for opening band Cloverleaf, said he doesn't take notice of specific labels for either Switchfoot or Relient K.

"I knew they were both Christian rock, but I never really thought about it much," Cornwall said.

"Technically, we could be considered a Christian band since we're all Christian, but we decide not to because people look at it differently. I don't understand why; they play rock music just like everyone else. I think it's kind of sad that people are so close-minded when it comes to that kind of thing."

Allan said non-Christians may immediately think of "praise music," which is used in worship.

"It's very overt, active worship when you're singing praise and worship music," Allan said.

"[Relient K] has some songs like that; most of them talk about Jesus, talk about God. They don't have as much as a place in a church service."

Ultimately, Allan said if a band is good, it shouldn't matter what their label is.

"Believe it or not, I like Relient K not because they're Christians," he said, "but because they're a great band."