Sound and Soul
After attending a Switchfoot concert and interviewing keyboardist and guitarist Jerome Fontamillas, Aaron Fooks breaks down the band’s charm and success.
Jon Foreman, lead singer of Switchfoot, connects with the audience during one of their final songs at the show at Azusa Pacific University. | Aaron Fooks/THE CHIMES
November 4, 2014
Music moves. It moves large men to tears, small children to dance, a single person to hum and a large crowd to lift their hands. It connects with souls, speaks to the heart and cuts to the quick. A good band knows this. A great band loves this.
Switchfoot wants to use the movement of music for the betterment of their community. Their conception of the annual Bro-Am surf contest and concert almost ten years ago stemmed from an idea that used their voice of influence to bring awareness to the homeless, at-risk and street kids of their hometown San Diego, California. Jerome Fontamillas, keyboardist and guitarist for the band, described the beginning of the Bro-Am.
“When we first started like ten years ago it was small, it was one of those visions you had,” Fontamillas said. “We were part of the San Diego community, we were starting to get a voice in the community and we wanted to do something to give back.”
A VISION OF HOPE
This desire started them on a search to find a need and a way they could help their community. Fontamillas recounted the band’s idea in the beginning stages.
“We see a lot of homeless kids in the area, and the dream was to try to raise awareness to the community, as well as to link-up with a housing place, not just one but with a bunch of housing centers and to figure out how to connect more with these homeless kids, and maybe in a way how to help them,” Fontamillas said.
Their vision for movement and hope is evident in their music as well. They have produced songs throughout their career with hope in their centers. Anthems such as “Dare You to Move,” “Love is the Movement,” “Meant to Live,” “Hello Hurricane,” “Where I Belong” and “Let It Out” describe an understanding of the fullness of life.
With lyrics like, “We were meant to live for so much more / Have we lost ourselves?” “We don’t care who hears us now / Breathe it in and let it out” and “I dare you to lift yourself up off the floor / Like today never happened / Today never happened before,” the predominant voice in Switchfoot’s music encourages listeners to let go of life’s hardships and embrace the call to become more than society’s standard. Coursing through the veins of Switchfoot’s body of music lives their love for life, the west coast and a dose of reality that is not sugar-coated.
INSPIRING ZEAL
The band’s performance at their concert attests to the passion they have for the music they play. The energy and love for what they do comes out in their interactions with the audience and with the vigor and intensity in which they play. The zeal compels the fans to come to the concerts and even arrive at the doors four hours early. German Contreres, a fan waiting to meet the band at the concert at Azusa Pacific University, described when he first started to love Switchfoot.
“My friend was like, there’s this really cool song you should check it out, and it was ‘Dare You to Move,’ and I thought these guys are great! From then on I was hooked,” Contreres said. “The message of just pushing forward, just that you’re going to go through trials and life is going to suck sometimes, but you have to keep going. And the line where Jon says, ‘Like nothing ever happened,’ just, ‘Live like nothing ever happened,’ that touched me.”
From the annual nerf surf jousting exposition at the Bro-Am to the chanting and singing at their performances, the band understands that a little joy and fun can go a long way. Fontamillas described some responses to the work that they do at the Bro-Am.
“Sometimes, when we’re in the studio recording and then we get a phone call from someone saying, ‘Hey this is this kid and you gave me a shot, a chance, you gave me a place to stay, and some school supplies enough so I could finish high school.’ We get those stories throughout the year and it’s those stories that are really encouraging,” Fontamillas said.
The music they play and the love they give rubs off on the community around them. The sound and soul of Switchfoot reveals a group that loves to love.
