Quotes by Jerome Fontamillas taken from interviews, concerts, conversations, DVD’s, & podcasts. We are constantly adding more quotes to these pages. Check back often!
FUNNY QUOTES
“When I joined the band, they said, ‘All right, let’s go surfing’. They took me out, and they were surfing these 6-foot waves, and I thought, ‘Oh my God, I’m going to die.’ But I’m still here.”
(On if the band wants to take over the world with their music) “That’s why they asked me to be in the band.”
“We’re fully caffeinated!”
(On joining Switchfoot) “I said to them, ‘I will be your syrup and you will be my pancakes’”
“Just to let you know I’m not supposed to be on this mic.”
“If you see anyone in fluorescent suits…run!”
“If you see me on stage tonight and you see me plastered on the screen…that’s not really me. That’s just a lot of makeup.”
“Whatever happens save yourself!”
Interviewer (Jerome’s old ‘Mortal’ buddy Alan): “We have to hide in the bushes so we can talk.”
Jerome: “I ran into a few people who recognized me but I wore a hat and glasses soo…”
Alan: “Dude wearing that Switchfoot t-shirt and the Switchfoot baseball cap isn’t hiding you very well.”
Jerome: “What do I need to do? Tell me!”
Alan: “And you know that batman type cape with the big SWF…”
Jerome: “Not going to do it?”
Alan: “No.”
Jerome: “Fine.”
“I quit my day job-I was working at the tallest building in LA for two days full-time. And then I quit the second day to join Switchfoot. That’s my job experience. Two days.”
GOD/CHRISTIANITY/FAITH QUOTES
“The concept of Hello Hurricane, the idea that there will be storms in your life, you will face – whether it’s relational or environmental, you know, the things that happened in Japan – you’re going to be able to face all that stuff. And the idea of Hello Hurricane is to be able to not run away from it but to face your hurricane. Those are the things God has been teaching me in the past few years.”
“Being a Christian and a believer, I’m passionate about my relationship with God. You know how I’m passionate about my relationship with my wife? We’ll I’d like to put that into the perspective of my faith. I’m very passionate about having a relationship with my Lord and savior. I would love to nurture that relationship just as I want to nurture my relationship with my wife. I think of it as the most important relationship in my life and I want it to be my priority. You really have to work at it and spend alot of time on it. And there is a big commitment factor to it, so in that sense, that is what drives me. My relationship with God is so important to me that today I’m going to spend a lot of time trying to learn about Him. I will do whatever it takes. I will wake up and learn about my God through whatever means are available.”
“Our faith is very important to us. It drives us, and it comes out in these ways, in our music.”
(On how teens can get involved with people in need) “It depends on where God calls you and what your spiritual gifts are. My parents go on missions trips to teach health classes because they’re educators. They help people with the expertise God has given them. You may not be able to teach a health class, but maybe you have musical abilities or some other talent. The bottom line is to get involved. Each young person needs to figure out how to use his gifts.”
“When you live a life of grace, you have somewhat of an understanding of the depth of the death of Christ. You’re in awe of it. You just live your life with appreciation and wonder and thankfulness. You may have an opportunity to share it with someone. Those are awesome moments.”
DEEP/INSPIRATIONAL QUOTES
“There are things in life that are bigger than ourselves. Life is short, live it well.”
“A lot of things I want to change are in myself, like how I deal with people. I think to myself ‘Maybe I shouldn’t have said that to that person.’ You go through life day-to-day bombarded with choices – and you choose a certain path to follow. And later you think, ‘Maybe I should have chosen the cheese pizza instead of the vegetarian,’ or ‘Maybe I should have taken that mile walk instead of driving.’ On a more global level, I would like to see change from the perspective of music. I know music is a global thing, but I would like to see more people listening to the type of music that I like to listen to and play.”
“I’m an advocate for all kinds of music only because I love music in general. Sometimes, you have to sift through a lot of music to find those gems. It’s worth it, though.”
MUSIC QUOTES
“There’s a song in Vice Verses called ‘Souvenir’. This song means a lot to me, it’s a song about remembering, remembering where you came from. I call it the ‘time-travel key-word line’, it’s a melody line that brings you back.”
“Vice Verse to me, is all about depth: go layer to layer, whether it’s in yourself, or you go deep into music – there’s so much room for emotions, so much room for feeling. I felt like this album is reaching new highs, new lows, new heights. And I’m really excited about it.”
“Music to me is a voice, my voice, it’s my way of expressing what colours can I bring in, what emotions, what feel. What ideas can I bring out from these instruments that would make this song come alive.”
“When I first heard the song ‘Dare You To Move’ years ago when I first joined the band, I knew that song was special, and playing it every night, and seeing the impact it has always moves me every night. That is probably one of my most favorite songs to play as Switchfoot.”
“As far as us writing a Christian song or a rock song, it doesn’t matter. These songs are who we are.”
“We are going for more the hip-hop genre for this next album.”
“Playing keys is more than just knowing what notes to play. You have to know about the buttons too.”
“When we were recording that song (This is Your Life) we were surrounded by a lot of non Christians. And they would come up to us and go, ‘you know… I don’t know what I’m doing with my life.’ They had a lot of questions. Our producer John Fields, just stopped the session and goes, ‘You know… I don’t know’, and just walks away! It was a pretty powerful moment.”
“One thing that was touched on is that a lot of our songs are challenges. We have been thinking a lot lately about the idea that a lot of people are throwing out answers right now, and a lot of times they’re answers that no one is even asking a question for. We wanted to come out with an album that begs the questions. What is life about? What is this all about? What are the deeper issues? I think the sooner we start that dialog, the sooner truth can be found.”
“We need more music that is passionate and meaningful and honest.”
“We have obviously put our heart and souls in [The Beautiful Letdown].”
“We just love to write and play music. We never would measure our success by how many album sales we have. It’s about connecting to an individual, or a few people, or an arena. We feel the music is for everyone, and if more people are listening because they feel connected somehow to the music and the songs, that is more meaningful to us.”
BAND QUOTES
(On surfing) “It’s practically a requirement to be in the band. You don’t have to be good. But you do have to surf.”
(On the closeness of the band) “We’re family. That pretty much sums it all. We feel we can confide in anyone of us and find support there.”
(About the best thing about being in band) “To be able to write and perform music you are passionate about. That’s why I play music, and that’s why I’m in Switchfoot.”
“We as a band prayerfully try to follow where God is leading us.”
BRO-AM QUOTES
“We connect with a charity organization [...] called StandUp for Kids, which helps the kids that are in the streets of San Diego. For us it’s like, hey, we live in San Diego. We have this opportunity to open up people’s eyes to this charity that is helping all these kids.”
FANS/CONCERTS/TOUR QUOTES
“On tour, a great passion of mine is to walk to a local coffee shop and drink coffe – the local flavor.”
“I’ve been to pretty much all the Starbucks in the world.”
LOVE/FAMILY QUOTES
“I got married so I’m very passionate about being a husband. Relationships take a lot of work and commitment. When you put that much commitment into something, it becomes a big priority in your life. This is my wife and I want to take care of her. Every day is like a new adventure to be with her; it’s a joy.”
(On marriage and being away from home) “It helps that your wives and your families support what you are doing. They want you to be out here playing and stuff, so that helps a lot.”
MISCELLANEOUS QUOTES
“As a muscian, it’s great to perform every day and to have this job. But I also love listening to music. And I love to read books. My wife and I read a book we really enjoyed called ‘The Journey of Desire’ by John Eldredge. Other books I enjoyed are ‘The Faces of Jesus’ and ‘The Alphabet of Grace’ both by Fredrick Buechner.”
“I really value friendships. My whole life I have really enjoyed hanging out with close friends. Being in music, I’m gone alot, so I don’t get to see the people I enjoy hanging around with. When I’m home, I like to hang out, drink coffee and talk about life: everything from religion and football, to family.”
“I’m a Mac guy”
(On how to milk a cow) “First, you hose off the cow because it’s very dirty. So you get the hose and clean it off. Then, you gotta get the milk flowing so you (gesturing) chhh, chhh, chhh, chhh on the udder. And then when the milk starts flowing, press the on button, put the suction cups on, sucks it all out until it’s gone. And THEN you wipe up the cow, and put the iodine on there to make sure it’s clean, and then you let the cow go until later on in the evening. You do it twice a day. So if you need me to milk some cows for you… I don’t have many cows, but if I did, I’d be your guy.”
“I’ll expect your calls!”