{"id":78,"date":"2011-06-21T08:00:23","date_gmt":"2011-06-21T12:00:23","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/wholenotes\/?p=78"},"modified":"2011-06-28T16:08:26","modified_gmt":"2011-06-28T20:08:26","slug":"switchfoots-jerome-fontamillas-on-his-lengthy-music-career-the-bands-independence-and-its-forthcoming-album","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/wholenotes\/2011\/06\/switchfoots-jerome-fontamillas-on-his-lengthy-music-career-the-bands-independence-and-its-forthcoming-album.html","title":{"rendered":"Interview with Switchfoot’s Jerome Fontamillas"},"content":{"rendered":"

Hit “Like” to share with your friends!<\/strong><\/p>\n

TUESDAY CONVERSATION: Jerome Fontamillas of Switchfoot<\/p>\n

He’s not an original member of Switchfoot, but with 11 years now as the band’s keyboardist and occasional guitarist, Jerome Fontamillas has become a staple in the San Diego outfit’s unique pop\/rock sound. But what many Switchfoot fans may not know is that Fontamillas has nearly another decade of music experience that preceded his time with Jon Foreman and company. In fact, he was part of such groundbreaking bands such as Mortal and Fold Zandura (both in which he teamed with Christian alternative pioneer Jyro Xhan).<\/p>\n

Whole Notes caught up with Fontamillas recently to discuss, among other things, his transition from independent band to major label artist and back to being independent again. Read more of what this talented musician had to say:<\/p>\n

Bonham: What kind of adjustment did you have to go through back when you went from playing in small independent bands to being a part of the Switchfoot phenomenon?<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Switchfoot (from L to R): Chad Butler, Jerome Fontamillas, Jon Foreman, Tim Foreman and Drew Shirley<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Fontamillas: It was actually really fun. When they asked me to join, they were just a three-piece band from San Diego too. My band and their band had played together at small clubs all around Southern California. When I joined, my band wasn\u2019t playing and they needed a keyboard player. They\u2019d become good friends of mine. So they said, \u201cWhy don\u2019t you join us and we\u2019ll see where it goes?\u201d It wasn\u2019t too long after that when a lot more people started coming out to the shows. The albums started doing really well. I was like, \u201cWow! I never knew it could get to this point.\u201d Before it was like, \u201cHey, I\u2019m playing with some friends of mine in some clubs.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bonham: Before joining Switchfoot, you had a lot of experience with independent production and small labels. Did that make it more comfortable for you to work on Hello Hurricane<\/em> and the new record Vice Verses<\/em>?<\/p>\n

Fontamillas: It reminded me a lot of my roots and where I first started. We have this blank canvas and we can do whatever we want with it. It\u2019s really exciting. It does remind me of back in the day when I first started out (in the music business).<\/p>\n

Bonham: Was the process of working on a second independent record as invigorating and creatively charged as the first time?<\/p>\n

Fontamillas: Now that we\u2019re kind of adjusted to having our own recording studio in San Diego, we have a lot of say. Being an independent band, we do partner with Atlantic Records for distribution but the idea that we can go to our own studio means we have more control. We get to decide who is going to produce us and engineer it. It\u2019s really cool to have control of a lot of that stuff because we are an independent band. The second time around doesn\u2019t feel any different than the first time around. We have this place. Let\u2019s do this. It\u2019s like clockwork now. It\u2019s a lot easier. It\u2019s your lifestyle now.<\/p>\n

Bonham: Is there an underlying message for the new album or is just a collection of songs you recorded at a certain point in time?<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Fontamillas: We recorded 90 songs for Hello Hurricane<\/em> and chose 12. On this album, we were a little more direct. We wanted to choose 12 to 15 songs and put everything into them. By doing that, we had a more focused recording. You\u2019ll see that in the new album. We\u2019re more focused and you can see that we put more time into each song. You could see that there\u2019s more directness in this recording.<\/p>\n

Bonham: How has the addition of both you and Drew Shirley (formerly of All Together Separate) changed Switchfoot\u2019s sound and aided Jon Foreman\u2019s role as the front man?<\/p>\n

Fontamillas: That\u2019s key. That\u2019s why it was so good that Drew came in to the band. I was tied down to the keys and there was this idea that we really wanted Jon to connect and bring the audience in to the music. We needed to free him up a little bit more and so it\u2019s so great to have Drew there to fill in (on guitar) when Jon goes out.<\/p>\n

Bonham: That was pretty evident when I saw you play on the Third Day tour. I don\u2019t think I\u2019ve seen Jon connect with a crowd better than he did that night.<\/p>\n

Fontamillas: Yeah. Yeah, it\u2019s really special when he can connect with the audience. You can see when he does draw them into the music. You can see the audience\u2019s eyes. It\u2019s really cool to see.<\/p>\n

Bonham: Of course, I\u2019ve seen you smiling while playing for 50 people and I\u2019ve seen that same smile when you\u2019re playing for 5,000 people. It doesn’t seem to matter to you.<\/p>\n

Fontamillas: (Laughs) You know, I really love doing music. I\u2019ve been doing it now for almost 20 years. I can\u2019t believe I\u2019m able to do this. It\u2019s just a blessing. God\u2019s been really good.<\/p>\n

Bonham: I always felt like your previous bands, especially Fold Zandura, were too creatively advanced at the time for the Christian music industry. Would you agree with that?<\/p>\n

Fontamillas: I felt that too, but the idea that you\u2019re pushing your limits creatively, that\u2019s more important to me. It was something we really wanted to do. People will like it or they won\u2019t. It\u2019s more about creating music that you enjoy.<\/p>\n

Bonham: And don’t you get that same flexibility playing with Switchfoot?<\/p>\n

Fontamillas: Yeah. They\u2019ve been really good to say, \u201cJerome, you\u2019ve gotta do your thing. You know what to do.\u201d They give me a lot of freedom.<\/p>\n

Join Whole Notes tomorrow for music news featuring Sanctus Real lead singer Matt Hammitt.<\/em><\/p>\n

Want to read more from Chad? Check out his sports blog “Inspiring Athletes”<\/a> or go directly to some of his high-profile interviews and features by clicking on the names below:<\/strong><\/p>\n

Kevin Durant (Oklahoma City Thunder)<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

Richard Petty (NASCAR Hall of Fame legend)<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

Andy Pettitte (Retired New York Yankees pitcher)<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

Albert Pujols (St. Louis Cardinals)<\/a>
\n<\/strong><\/p>\n

John Wooden Tribute<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

Darrell Waltrip (NASCAR Hall of Fame legend)<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

Michael Chang (Former French Open Champion)<\/a>
\n<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Hit “Like” to share with your friends! TUESDAY CONVERSATION: Jerome Fontamillas of Switchfoot He’s not an original member of Switchfoot, but with 11 years now as the band’s keyboardist and occasional guitarist, Jerome Fontamillas has become a staple in the San Diego outfit’s unique pop\/rock sound. But what many Switchfoot fans may not know is…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":418,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,70,120],"tags":[88,92,90,84,123,69,89,68,87,80,91,85,86,79,7],"class_list":["post-78","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-christian-music","category-music-feature","category-qa","tag-albert-pujols","tag-andy-pettitte","tag-darrell-waltrip","tag-fold-zandura","tag-interview-with-switchfoots-jerome-fontamillas","tag-jerome-fontamillas","tag-john-wooden","tag-jon-foreman","tag-kevin-durant","tag-matt-hammitt","tag-michael-chang","tag-mortal","tag-richard-petty","tag-sanctus-real","tag-switchfoot"],"yoast_head":"\nInterview with Switchfoot's Jerome Fontamillas - Whole Notes<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, nofollow\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Interview with Switchfoot's Jerome Fontamillas - Whole Notes\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Hit “Like” to share with your friends! 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Chad\u2019s professional journey began at the University of Tulsa where he graduated with a Bachelor of Arts (1993) while working extensively in athletic media relations and serving as a sports editor for The Collegian. Since then, he has written extensively for such publications as Relevant, CCM, Christian Retailing, New Man, Charisma, Today\u2019s Christian, Ministries Today, Breakaway, Brio, Sports Spectrum, Christian Single, Faith & Friends, Sharing the Victory and Gospel Today. He has authored, co-authored or ghost written and edited 13 books including Life in the Fairway (New Leaf Press), Glory of the Games (Cross Training), Wrestling with God (River Oak), Spiritual Journeys (Relevant) and the four-part Fellowship of Christian Athletes Core Value Series; Excellence, Teamwork, Serving and Integrity (Regal Books). Chad is currently working on five new books including Sooner Legacy, Husker Legacy and Lessons From Sooner Football (Cross Training) as well as The Faith of Stock Car Racing (Judson Press). When he's not writing, Chad lends his efforts to various independent television and film projects. He was the coordinating producer for Choosing Life (2010) and Life Happens (2011). Chad is currently serving as producer on a forthcoming documentary about Super Bowl champion Brian Kinchen. Chad and his wife Amy live in Broken Arrow, Okla., with sons Lance (September 2003), Cole (February 2008) and Quinn (February 2011).","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/wholenotes\/author\/cbonham"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/wholenotes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/78","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/wholenotes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/wholenotes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/wholenotes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/418"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/wholenotes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=78"}],"version-history":[{"count":14,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/wholenotes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/78\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":92,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/wholenotes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/78\/revisions\/92"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/wholenotes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=78"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/wholenotes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=78"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/wholenotes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=78"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}