.Interview: Salvador Santana Puts Hip-Hop in the Latin Rock Mix, Plays Avalon

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x9b-5i6DQ-c[/youtube]
Ironically, in choosing not to follow in his father’s footsteps on guitar, he was…following in his father’s footsteps.
“A lot of people don’t know this, but before he kind of stumbled onto guitar, my dad was actually a violinist in his father’s band,” says Santana.
In 2008, Santana released the album SSB under the moniker Salvador Santana Band. But he really came into his own on his solo debut Keyboard City last year. He got schooled on his writing by Del the Funky Homosapien, and worked in the studio with Beastie Boys favorite Money Mark. GZA was featured on the remix of the title track, which was then remixed again by Dan Deacon.
“I was like a kid in a candy shop,” he says of getting to work with some of his hip-hop idols.
In a way, all this hearkens back to the number one lesson he says he learned from his musician father and author mother: “Always welcome new ideas and experiences.” He doesn’t see himself losing his love of experimentation anytime soon.
“It’s gotten me this far,” he says.
Salvador Santana performs at the Avalon in Santa Clara with El Chicano on Friday, April 20., 8pm; $20/$25.