The gang's all back together, and Carlos Santana couldn't be happier. Forty three years post-Woodstock and the original Santana band members are still making music.
"And there are people on this planet from the Woodstock," says Santana, 68. "We want every weekend to be a love-in with rainbows, children and grandparents. People say I'm tripping, but look where tripping has got me."
The band's new album, Santana IV, out Friday is proof of the band's staying power, Santana says.
"We are extremely vibrant and powerful," says Santana. "This CD is an affirmation that age is not affecting our vitality."
Here's a trip down memory lane with the original band members.
Neal Schon, guitarist
Now
Then
Schon, 62, who started with Santana at age 15 after Woodstock, recalls hanging with Carlos Santana non-stop in the early days.
“We went down to the grocery store and hung out. If we traveled from Italy to Paris by train we hung out. We’d get two rooms together and have a party,” Schon recalls.
Schon watched the London rock scene for some great '70s outfits. “There was nothing cooler than London in the '70s, with Cream and Hendrix, everything was spirited and psychedelic, loud and colorful.”
The hair was huge. “I’ve got a lot of fans who tell me to grow back the ‘fro,” says Schon. “I’m thinking it’s not going to work now.”
Gregg Rolie, keyboards
Now
Then
Rolie, 68, recalls not being over-awed by Woodstock because the crowd was simply too much to take in.
“It wasn’t frightening because it molded into this sea of brown hair. Miles of hair and teeth,” says Rolie. “I had no idea how big it was until we drove out through 500,000 people. It took forever. I’m glad we didn’t drive in. It would have scared me to death.”
Rolie, who still boasts long hair, rocked it even bigger then. "I had the first Norwegian afro," he says. "Women tell me they wish they had that hair. It was huge, thick and wavy."
Michael Carabello, percussion
Now
Then
Carabello, 68, recalls that the original Santana members were from vastly different sections of San Francisco, bringing differing backgrounds to the fusion band.
“Everyone brought their own neighborhood they grew up in and their taste of that,” says Carabello,
The group even lived together in leaner, formative days.
“I had to go through Gregg Rolie’s closet to get to the attic where my room was,” says Carabello. “At the time we were not thinking about money, it didn’t matter.”
Michael Shrieve, drummer
Now
Then
Shrieve, 66, whose drum solo during Soul Sacrifice is a Woodstock highlight, says living with the band in the early days — he slept on the couch — was key.
“Those were the best times. We were sharing so much music. Everybody had their own individual taste,” says Shrieve. “Carabello would listen to Latin music, Carlos to blues. I brought in jazz stuff. Gregg the British rock. Everyone was saying, ‘You’ve got to hear this!’ There was a lot of learning going on and exchanging.”
