Tommy Guerrero (born September 9, 1966) is an Indigenous American musician, composer, and professional skateboarder.

Early life

Guerrero was born in

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish for " Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the fourth most populous in California and 17t ...

California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the m ...

. He is of

Ohlone The Ohlone, formerly known as Costanoans (from Spanish meaning 'coast dweller'), are a Native American people of the Northern California coast. When Spanish explorers and missionaries arrived in the late 18th century, the Ohlone inhabited the ...

-native, Chilean, and Filipino descent from his father's side.

Career

Skateboarding

As a teenager, Guerrero was one of the prominent members of the Bones Brigade,

Powell Peralta Powell Peralta is an American skateboard company founded by George Powell and Stacy Peralta in 1978. The company rose to prominence in the 1980s as skateboarding began maturing as a sport. The company featured the Bones Brigade, a team featurin ...

's professional

skateboarding Skateboarding is an action sport originating in the United States that involves riding and performing tricks using a skateboard, as well as a recreational activity, an art form, an entertainment industry job, and a method of transportation ...

team that was successful during the 1980s. He was well known for his relaxed style of street skateboarding and his Bones Brigade footage was primarily filmed in his hometown of San Francisco—the videos ''Future Primitive'', ''

The Search for Animal Chin ''The Search for Animal Chin'' is a 1987 skateboarding film featuring the Bones Brigade. It is one of the first skateboarding films to have a plot, rather than simply a collection of skateboarding stunts and music videos. Plot summary The Bone ...

'', ''Public Domain'', and ''Ban This'' all featured the street skateboarding of Guerrero. After riding for Powell Peralta, Guerrero and

Jim Thiebaud Jim Thiebaud is an American skateboarder. Biography Thiebaud grew up in the San Francisco Bay Area and during the 1980s was part of the San Francisco skate scene. Thiebaud not only participated in skateboarding during the early 1980s, but he a ...

, a hometown friend and Powell Peralta teammate, started the skateboarding company "Real".

Music

After his success in the world of skateboarding, Guerrero decided to pursue his musical interests and was a member of the

skate rock Skate punk (also known as skatecore and skate rock) is a skater subculture and punk rock subgenre that developed in the 1980s. Originally a form of hardcore punk that had been closely associated with skate culture, skate punk evolved into a mo ...

band Free Beer and the instrumental post-rock group Jet Black Crayon, in addition to releasing many albums under his own name. Guerrero's music touches on multiple genres, including rock, hip hop,

funk Funk is a music genre that originated in African American communities in the mid-1960s when musicians created a rhythmic, danceable new form of music through a mixture of various music genres that were popular among African Americans in the mi ...

soul In many religious and philosophical traditions, there is a belief that a soul is "the immaterial aspect or essence of a human being". Etymology The Modern English noun '' soul'' is derived from Old English ''sāwol, sāwel''. The earliest att ...

, and

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a m ...

. The skateboarding video game ''

Skate Skate or Skates may refer to: Fish * Skate (fish), several genera of fish belonging to the family Rajidae * Pygmy skates, several genera of fish belonging to the family Gurgesiellidae * Smooth skates or leg skates, several genera of fish belongi ...

'' has featured numerous unreleased compositions that were written and recorded by Guerrero. One of Guerrero's songs, "Organism", was featured in the 2005 video game ''

Tony Hawk's American Wasteland ''Tony Hawk's American Wasteland'' is a skateboarding video game developed by Neversoft and published by Activision. It is the seventh entry in the ''Tony Hawk's'' series and was released initially for the GameCube, PlayStation 2 and Xbox in ...

''.

Awards and accolades

In 2004, ''

Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner, and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. It was first known for its ...

'' magazine named Guerrero's third studio album, ''

Soul Food Taqueria ''Soul Food Taqueria'' is the third studio album by American multi-instrumentalist and composer Tommy Guerrero. It was released on April 8, 2003, by Mo' Wax Records. The album was recorded during 2002 and 2003 in sessions at the Function 8 reco ...

'' (2003), #2 on its 2003 "Best of" list. At the 2013 15th Annual Transworld SKATEboarding Awards, Guerrero was the recipient of the "Legend" award—on the red carpet preceding the awards event, Guerrero stated:

"I'm super grateful, that anyone really cares, to be honest. Um ... conflicted; I'm not one to rest on my laurels and it's hard to accept accolades for something you did thirty years ago, you know? I'd rather be appreciated for what I do now, but I ... I ... I'm super grateful ... I can't believe it treet skateboarding in the 21st century I mean the technical aspect, and the consistency, combined with that, is mind-blowing ... but just where it's at now, is, is insane; I mean, what Rodney ullensort of started, with the technical aspect, to a whole another level, you know? Making it extremely gnarly, extremely technical ... I'd hate to be growing up skating now ..."

Following his receipt of the Transworld "Legend" award, Guerrero invited all "street skaters" onto the stage to stand alongside him at the Avalon Theater in

Hollywood Hollywood usually refers to: * Hollywood, Los Angeles, a neighborhood in California * Hollywood, a metonym for the cinema of the United States Hollywood may also refer to: Places United States * Hollywood District (disambiguation) * Hollywoo ...

, US.

Discography

Albums

*''Loose Grooves & Bastard Blues'' (1998) *''A Little Bit of Somethin (2000) *''

'' (2003) *''From the Soil to the Soul'' (2006) *''Return of the Bastard'' (2008) *''Lifeboats & Follies '' (2011) * ''No Man's Land '' (2012) - released in Japan *''The Composer Series – Vol. 4'' (2xCD) (unknown) *''Perpetual '' (2015) - digital release *''Road to Knowhere '' (2018) *''Dub Session '' (2019) *''Sunshine Radio '' (2021)

Singles

*"Backintheday" (1995) *"Junk Collector" (2001) *"Rusty Gears Lonely Years" / "Organism" (2001) *"

Gettin' It Together "Gettin' It Together" is a song by former professional skateboarder and Quannum Projects-member Tommy Guerrero, released March 22, 2004 on the independent label Galaxia Records.

" (2004)

EPs

*''backintheDay+fotraque 7inch '' (2002) *''Year of the Monkey - EP'' (2005)

Concept albums

*''Living Dirt'' (2010)

Collaborations

*''Hoy Yen Ass'n'' (collaboration with former Jet Black Crayon member Gadget) (2000) * ''Guerrero y Gonzales – (What It Isn't)'' (collaboration with Mark Gonzales, released in Japan) (2001) *Guerrero also compiled and mixed a DJ mix album for the

Azuli Records Azuli Records was a British independent record label, focusing mainly on house music and other forms of electronic dance music. The label was founded by DJ Dave Piccioni in London, England in 1991 but went into liquidation in April 2009. Some ...

' Late Night Tales / Another Late Night series in 2002, '' Another Late Night: Tommy Guerrero''. *BLKTOP PROJECT - ''Blktop Project'' (collaboration with

Ray Barbee Ray Barbee (born October 5, 1971) is an American skateboarder, photographer, and musician from San Jose, California. Skateboarding Barbee was one of the first skateboarders to bring freestyle/flatland tricks to street, technical ollie combinat ...

, Matt Rodriguez,

Doug Scharin Douglas Arthur Scharin is an American drummer and percussionist. He has served as a member of a multitude of bands, including Codeine, Rex, HiM, Enablers, June of 44, Loftus and Mice Parade. He currently resides in San Diego, California. ...

and Chuck Treece) (2007) *''Lord Newborn and The Magic Skulls'' (collaboration with

Money Mark Mark Ramos Nishita (born February 10, 1960), known professionally as Money Mark, is an American producer and musician, best known for his collaborations with the Beastie Boys from 1992 until 2011. Early life Born in Detroit to a Japanese-Hawai ...

and Shawn Lee)(2009). *BLKTOP PROJECT ''- Lane Change'' (collaboration with

, Matt Rodriguez, Doug Scharin and Chuck Treece) (2009) *BLKTOP PROJECT ''- Concrete Jungle'' (2016)

References

External links

Tommy Guerrero official site
*
Web page on Beggars GroupTommy Guerrero discography at Discogs
{{DEFAULTSORT:Guerrero, Tommy American rock guitarists American male guitarists American skateboarders Living people Guitarists from San Francisco Sportspeople from San Francisco Quannum Projects artists 1966 births Alternative Tentacles artists American people of Chilean descent 20th-century American guitarists 20th-century American male musicians Sportspeople from the San Francisco Bay Area Hispanic and Latino American sportspeople Artist skateboarders American sportspeople of Filipino descent