HOTTEST 2011: Aaron Gutierrez

Jocks and music don’t really go together, but singer and musician Aaron Gutierrez may just be the exception. Instead of shredding on the guitar in his teen years, the now 27-year-old spent his days staying fit by dominating three different sports: football, soccer and track.

“I was a fat kid when I was little, so I had to be in sports because I didn’t want to be fat for the rest of my life,” Aaron laughs.

And even though the all-district and all-area player spent his weekends driving his ‘91 Ford Ranger to parties every weekend, he still considered himself an outsider. Aaron said he mostly stuck to a tight group of friends that had connections to a variety of different cliques. There was much more beneath the surface of the jock stereotype.

The soft-spoken athlete may have been the school’s star kicker, but his real passion was in music. Pearl Jam became the Harlingen native’s favorite subject in high school.

After a Corpus Christi varsity game, he, his brother and his dad drove from Harlingen to Houston to see a show from the band’s Binaural Tour. Ticketless, the family purchased passes from a scalper.

“My father who hates everything we do bought tickets, went with us, and sat there the whole time as me and my brother got crazily excited,” Aaron chuckles. Since then, Aaron has seen the band 10 times.

A year after he graduated high school, he finally taught himself how to play the guitar.

“It was just something that wanted to come out … it was something I always wanted to do and I just did it.” And I found out I was semi-talented at it.”

Aaron has been the lead singer and guitarist for the Harlingen-based band Down and Out for three years, performing at nightclubs and bars all across the Valley.

He graduated from The University of Texas at Brownsville with a bachelor’s degree in criminal justice, and also currently works as a substitute teacher. However, his life will always have an original soundtrack.

“I’m always going to be playing and I’m always going to be singing.”

What was your most embarrassing moment?

In sports, I was the kicker and it was the last game in the playoffs and it was coming down to me. If I made it, we would have won the game and I just missed it by a long shot and I was a really good kicker. I went up there and completely choked. I bawled like a baby. I was on the front page of the Corpus Christi paper.

Did you have a theme song?

“In My Tree” by Pearl Jam

What was the worst thing you got in trouble for?

I think I was having a party at my house and my friend parked in front of my driveway to the point where I couldn’t see the front of his car. I backed my car out and slammed into his car. The cops had to be called and we had to do a whole report. My parents found out, and that was pretty bad.

What was your favorite movie in high school?

I’ve always been a huge fan of Star Wars, the original triology. I don’t know what it is, I’m still a fanatic ‘til this day — it’s like a warm blanket.

What albums were on repeat throughout your high school years?

“Vitalogy” by Pearl Jam, “Scar Tissue” by Red Hot Chili Peppers and a rarities (album) of Pearl Jam’s live performances of songs Eddie Vedder would cover. It had like The Who’s “Baba O’Reilly,” or he’d do a live concert with Pete Townshend. It had cameos here and there and I would listen to those.

What was something people didn’t now about you in high school?

The band. Whenever I run into people I went to high school with, they’re completely shocked I’m in a band. No one knew I could sing either and they’re always definitely surprised.

Worst year and best year?

Freshman year was the worst. Best was senior year. I know it’s so cliché to say it like that but just the fact I knew I was getting out meant the world to me. I felt like I could go anywhere. As a freshman you just feel like the lowest life form on the planet, socially, with girls. Even the girls you grew up with don’t want anything to do with you. They all date the older guys.