Jerome Fontamillas (born June 20, 1967) is an American musician. Fontamillas has played in several bands, notably with

industrial rock Industrial rock is a fusion genre that fuses industrial music and rock music. It initially originated in the 1970s, and drew influence from early experimental and industrial acts such as Cromagnon, Throbbing Gristle, Einstürzende Neubauten a ...

band

Mortal Mortal means susceptible to death; the opposite of immortality, immortal. Mortal may also refer to: * Mortal (band), a Christian industrial band * The Mortal, Sakurai Atsushi's project band * Mortal (novel), ''Mortal'' (novel), a science fiction ...

and alternative rock band

Fold Zandura Fold Zandura is an alternative rock band from California. They released four albums between 1995 and 1999, plus one white 7" vinyl. Each album was released under a different label. The two premier members also founded the industrial band Mortal. ...

, with longtime musical partner

Jyro Xhan Jyro Xhan is the stage/pen name of Filipino American musician GD La Villa. He lives in California. He is a singer, songwriter, producer, guitarist and keyboard player. He has been in several bands such as Jyradelix, Cush, Juggernautz, but mos ...

. Since 2003, he has played the keyboards, the guitar, and other instruments, as well as sung backing vocals in

Switchfoot Switchfoot is an American rock band from San Diego, California. The band's members are Jon Foreman (lead vocals, guitar), Tim Foreman (bass guitar, backing vocals), Chad Butler (drums, percussion), and Jerome Fontamillas (guitar, keyboards, back ...

, with which he has released eight studio albums.

Early life and education

Fontamillas was born on June 20, 1967, in

Pasay Pasay, officially the City of Pasay ( fil, Lungsod ng Pasay; ), is a 1st class Cities of the Philippines#Legal classification, highly urbanized city in the Metro Manila, National Capital Region of the Philippines. According to the 2020 census, i ...

in the Philippines. When he was three years old, his family moved to the United States, where they lived in Chicago and then California. He started taking piano lessons when he was a child. In 1985, Fontamillas graduated from

Monterey Bay Academy Monterey Bay Academy (MBA) is a private school in Santa Cruz County, California. It is a part of the Seventh-day Adventist education, Seventh-day Adventist education system, the world's second largest Christian school system. Description Mont ...

in Watsonville, California.

Career

In 1988, Fontamillas, Jyro Xhan, Ray Tongpo and Wilson Peralta released a six-song demo tape, titled ''Wish Fifteen'', on Blue Genius Music as Mortal Wish. Four years later, they signed with

Intense Records Intense Records was an independent record label whose releases were mostly in the metal genre. Intense was bought out in 1989 by Frontline Records and became an imprint of that company. The bands in their roster were some of the premiere Christia ...

and changed their name to Mortal. Fontamillas would continue to play with Mortal until 1996 and played in Fold Zandura, also with Xhan, between 1995 and 1999. In 2000, Fontamillas quit his day job and started touring with

shortly before the release of their third album, '' Learning to Breathe''. He became an official member of the band in 2003. His first release with Switchfoot was their 2003 break-through album ''

The Beautiful Letdown ''The Beautiful Letdown'' is the fourth studio album by alternative rock band Switchfoot. Released on February 25, 2003, it launched the band into the mainstream on the strength of two top 20 singles: "Meant to Live" and "Dare You to Move." The a ...

''. In 2002, Jyro and Fontamillas released a Mortal reunion album, ''Nu-En-Jin''. Fontamillas is also a producer for the following independent acts: *

The Echoing Green "The Echoing Green" (''The Ecchoing Green'') is a poem by William Blake published in ''Songs of Innocence'' in 1789. The poem talks about merry sounds and images which accompany the children playing outdoors. Then, an old man happily remembers ...

, ''Echoing Green'' (1998) *

Starflyer 59 Starflyer 59 is an American alternative rock band from Riverside, California that was founded in 1993 by Jason Martin, brother of Ronnie Martin of Joy Electric. While Jason Martin has written nearly all of Starflyer 59's songs, the band has ...

, '' I Predict A Clone'' (1994) * March, Velvet Blue Music, (1999)

Personal life

Fontamillas is a Seventh-day Adventist. He married his wife Kristi, who is a photographer, in December 2005. The couple have two sons, Parker Lennon (born in January 2010) and Jackson (born on October 2, 2013). On December 20, 2018, Switchfoot announced that Fontamillas had cancer and nine days later they stated that a tumor has been removed and it had not spread or attached to any organs.

Discography

Mortal

* ''

Lusis ''Lusis'' is the debut album by Christian industrial band Mortal. Though not the first Christian industrial music album, it helped to popularize the genre. Contemporary Christian music single "Mytho X" became a hit on the Christian metal charts, ...

'' (1992) * ''

Fathom A fathom is a unit of length in the imperial and the U.S. customary systems equal to , used especially for measuring the depth of water. The fathom is neither an International Standard (SI) unit, nor an internationally-accepted non-SI unit. Hi ...

'' (1993) * '' Intense Live Series Vol. 5'' (1993) * ''

Wake Wake or The Wake may refer to: Culture *Wake (ceremony), a ritual which takes place during some funeral ceremonies *Wakes week, an English holiday tradition * Parish Wake, another name of the Welsh ', the fairs held on the local parish's patron s ...

'' (1994) * ''

Pura Pura may refer to: Places * Pura, Kushtagi, a village in Koppal district, Karnataka, India * Pura, Iran, a village in Mazandaran Province, Iran * Pura, Tarlac, a municipality in the Philippines * Pura, Switzerland, a municipality in Ticino, Swit ...

'' (1995) * ''Mortal'' (1996) * ''

Nu-En-Jin ''Nu-En-Jin'' is a 2002 album by Christian industrial band Mortal, and was recorded by the band after a six-year hiatus. Track listing #tenn0 (4:39) #Mr Ar0chet (3:46) #Dymenshan R-Krik-P0p! (4:05) #muj0 ncertainty mx(4:56) #Vilan Corp py ...

'' (2002)

Fold Zandura

* ''Fold Zandura'' (1995) * ''Return'' (1997) * ''The White 7"'' (1997) * ''Ultraforever'' (1997) * ''King Planet'' EP (1999)

Switchfoot

* ''

'' (2003) * ''

Nothing Is Sound ''Nothing Is Sound'' is the fifth studio album by American alternative rock band Switchfoot. It was released on September 13, 2005 and debuted at number three on the ''Billboard'' 200. The first single from the album was "Stars," which was the n ...

'' (2005) * ''

Oh! Gravity. ''Oh! Gravity.'' is the sixth album by the San Diego, California, San Diego based alternative rock band Switchfoot. It was released on December 26, 2006. It was Switchfoot's last album released through Columbia Records and Sony BMG (Their next a ...

'' (2006) * ''

Hello Hurricane ''Hello Hurricane'' is the seventh studio album by American alternative rock band Switchfoot, released on November 10, 2009. It was co-produced by the band and Mike Elizondo, after initially self-producing their work, as well as test runs with pro ...

'' (2009) * ''

Vice Verses ''Vice Verses'' is the eighth studio album by American alternative rock band Switchfoot. It was released on September 27, 2011.Fading West ''Fading West'' is the ninth studio album by the American alternative rock band Switchfoot, released on January 14, 2014 through Atlantic. The album was promoted by four singles: " Who We Are" and "Love Alone Is Worth the Fight", released in Sep ...

'' (2013) * "

The Edge Of The Earth ''The Edge of the Earth'' is an extended play by American rock band Switchfoot, released digitally on September 9, 2014 through lowercase people/Atlantic. It consists of previously unreleased songs from Switchfoot's rock documentary film '' Fa ...

" (2014) *''

Where the Light Shines Through ''Where the Light Shines Through'' is the tenth studio album by American rock band Switchfoot, released on July 8, 2016. The album was recorded in the band's recording studio Spot X in their hometown San Diego, and produced by Switchfoot and J ...

'' (2016) *'' Native Tongue'' (2019) * " Covers" (2021) *"

interrobang The interrobang (), also known as the interabang (often represented by any of ?!, !?, ?!? or !?!), is an unconventional punctuation mark used in various written languages and intended to combine the functions of the question mark, or interro ...

" (2021)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Fontamillas, Jerome 1967 births American rock guitarists American male guitarists American keyboardists American record producers American musicians of Filipino descent Living people American Seventh-day Adventists Switchfoot members Grammy Award winners 20th-century American guitarists