Tommy Guerrero Indierock | Alternative 7 Items

- Part of Be With x Tommy Guerrero Reissue Campaign - 2024 first time vinyl reissue - 140g vinyl Yes! Tommy Guerrero’s revered Return Of The Bastard gets its first ever vinyl reissue. Endearingly simple but beautifully beguiling, it's lo-fi dusty break business with the most elegant guitars this side of Vine Reilly and Gabor Szabo. Tommy's breezy drum-machine guitar-soul should be prescribed to soothe an aching world. By rights, he should also be a Balearic god. Here's 14 tracks of drop-dead laconic beauty, all of them combining to create this unheralded masterpiece. Working with Tommy directly, the LP has been fully remastered and sounds as dazzlingly, heartbreakingly beautiful as it did back in 2007.

Coolly opening the album, "And The Folklore Continues" can be said to be both a titular and actual nod to his past work. As ever, there's heavenly Latin guitar stylings that make you swoon and the melancholic vibe is accentuated by the addition of some melodic wordless vocals from Tommy. Just divine. The sparkling "La Califas Perdido" follows, all dreamy melodic guitars and twinkling vibes over dusty drums and a fine bassline. The shuffling, conga-assisted "I Would Go With You" is a gentle, romantic gem whilst the brief but beautiful "No Time For Time" feels in a hurry to let us know that Tommy can work with more propulsive rhythms. In this case, they underpin Tommy's gorgeous, shimmering guitars wonderfully well.

The head-nod funk of "Calling For Ya!" (get it?) features Curumin delivering the clever title as a hypnotic vocal refrain peppered throughout, all hung around some buried spoken word vocals and gorgeous cello work from Lenny Gonzalez. "Bloodinthemud" is a low-down gritty funk workout whilst "Zapata's Boots" is a total low-key groover, all Latin percussion and Morricone muscle aided by a whistled Spaghetti Western melody. The startling instrumental "Mosaic Man" closes out the side with a lean slice of mellifluous, virtuoso guitar bliss.

The reflective "What Have I Been Doing Since I Was Gone?" opens the B-side in glorious fashion, the type of melancholic melodic head music that should soundtrack a bright walk on a cold winter's day. The hypnotic groover "Paper Switchblade" is a razor-sharp fuzz-funk whilst the beautifully downbeat "Never Forget To Remember" is a kaleidoscopic kalimba-koolout. Galloping cop-funk breaks workout "Run With The Hunted" is a rollicking ride and it's followed by the fresh chiming guitar funk of "New Terrain".

The upbeat and bright "40 Summers", featuring congas from Alfredo Ortiz, is as clean and poppy as Tommy gets and it really is a look he wears incredibly well. Just straight up guitar pop. "The Simple Man" a gorgeous, melancholic ballad, closes out the record with deeply yearning vocals from Tommy, a rarity and a treasured one at that.

Meticulously remastered and cut by both Simon Francis and Cicely Balston respectively, it has been pressed to the highest possibly quality at Record Industry in Holland. The original and iconic sleeve, designed by Natas Kaupas, has been restored here at Be With HQ as the finishing touch to this long overdue re-issue.

Brand new album, released digitally in September of 2023 - now on vinyl. Black vinyl.

"The idea was to make something that would diminish the heavy times we were all experiencing in 2020/21.
Something perhaps uplifting with a hint of beauty... or at least a respite from the ugliness outside.
Not sure any of this was achieved but it’s a bit of a departure from my normal mode/style… which is necessary from time to time.

70’s drum machines, tremmed-out baritone guitars, verbed-out synth pads, warbly keys, and a slight 80’s sensibility add up to what I have coined, “Surf Goth”.

Yes, I joke but it might be on point. Who knows?
Thank you all for the continued support!!
Big Love"
TG

Brand new album by Tommy Guerrero.

Celebrating Tommy Guerreros work and his upcoming world wide tour, Too Good Records and HHV present a new colored run of 500 copies of his "Perpetual" album. Only available at HHV.

Tommy Guerrero continues to expand his horizons while upholding his San Francisco Bay heritage.Starting from the Bones Brigade skate team in the 80’s, he has gone on to make movie appearances, design for Levi’s in Japan, Vans shoes worldwide, Sutro eyewear (among others), sign a skateboard contract with Converse, co-found Real Skateboards and 40’s Clothing and become art director for Krooked Skateboarding, along with maintaining a prolific recording schedule. Tommy’s concerts have packed houses across the country from Café Du Nord in SF to The Knitting Factory in N.Y.C. and continue across the globe from The Underworld in London to the Fujirock Festival in his yearly tours in Japan. In 2014, Tommy performed a 15-city tour of Europe sponsored by Levi’s and plans to return again to support this new release - Perpetual. A continuation to Perpetuum, an album exclusively released in Japan in 2014, Tommy’s intent for Perpetual is “to strip the tunes down and create more of an atmosphere than being concerned with writing ‘songs’... The other idea [is] to abandon the damn computron and record everything on my Tascam 388 1/4" 8 track tape machine. The limitations with an old tape deck were welcomed with open arms - … I gotta say this is one of my faves and hope people will connect with what I [am] trying to convey. Music is all about an emotional response for me... I hope it resonates with you in a
positive way.” From Mission District punkers to Shibuya-ku hipsters- Tommy’s music does resonate in a positive way. His melodies dance lightly around your head while the rhythms build under your feet and move your hips. His is SOUL music, made by a street kid raised on Santana and Bill Withers (with more than a little nod to the Clash and Public Enemy in there, too) who – through Perpetual – continues to share that life is “about the journey not the destination.”

Celebrating Tommy Guerreros work and his upcoming world wide tour, Too Good Records and HHV present a new colored run of 500 copies of his latest album. Only available at HHV.

HHV and Too Good are happy to present this exclusive color run of 1000 red copies of Tommy Guerreros 2014 album "No Mans Land". Back in print for the first time. Only at HHV. As a special treat you can pick up the poster with the artwork of this album in our bonus section.