“I was recording with Jerry Garcia, but I still had to ride my bike to school and keep my grades up, or else my parents would throw my guitar in the trash”: Starship trooper Craig Chaquico on “corporate rock”, and life as a teenage guitar whiz

Craig Chaquico performs during the Bay Area Music Awards at Bill Graham Civic Auditorium on March 6, 1993.

At age 16, Craig Chaquico was living a double life: high school student by day, session guitarist by night. The gifted young Bay Area guitarist had already been playing in a band called Steelwind, led by his English teacher, who introduced him to Jefferson Airplane founder Paul Kantner. Soon, Chaquico was tapped to play on solo albums by Kantner and his Jefferson Airplane partner, singer Grace Slick.

“It was pretty crazy,” Chaquico says. “I was recording songs with Jerry Garcia and some of my Bay Area heroes, but it wasn’t automatic rock-star fame because I’d still have to go home, ride my bicycle to school, and keep my grades up, or else my parents would throw my guitar in the trash.”