Santana reunion have 9 tracks recorded

The original Santana lineup have recorded nine tracks for their upcoming album, drummer Michael Shrieve has confirmed.

The Rock And Roll Hall of Fame sticksman hooked up with the guitar icon again in 2013 to record fresh material along with guitarist Neal Schon, percussionist Mike Carabello and keyboardist Gregg Rolie for the record. It will be their first together since 1972’s Santana III.

He tells Hit Channel: “We have recorded nine tracks and we are getting together in April for a couple of weeks and we will be able to finish that up as well. I think that it sounds great.

“It’s beautiful. It’s like putting on a pair of old jeans.”

The drummer also says late Santana promoter Bill Graham, who died in 1991, was like a family member who pushed the band to success.

He continues: “It’s immeasurable the value of Bill Graham to Santana. He took us on like a father. He got us at Woodstock and he always loved the band – he was always a music fan of the band. If it wasn’t for him, we wouldn’t have been at Woodstock and many other things. He was like a brother to like a father to us. All of us are incredibly grateful to Bill Graham and what he did for the band.”

Along with his work in the reunion, Michael Shrieve’s Spellbinder are working on the follow-up to their 2008 self-titled debut, while he continues to record with Trilion.

Last year, Santana revealed that Schon chased him like a “guided missile” for 18 months to kickstart the reunion. The band have lined up a show at London’s O2 Arena on July 25 in support of 22nd album Corazon which launched in 2014.

Scott Munro
Louder e-commerce editor

Scott has spent more than 30 years in newspapers, magazines and online as an editor, production editor, sub-editor, designer, writer and reviewer. Scott joined our news desk in the summer of 2014 before moving to the e-commerce team in 2020. Scott maintains Louder’s buyer’s guides, scouts out the best deals for music fans and reviews headphones, speakers, books and more. He's written more than 11,000 articles across Louder, Classic Rock, Metal Hammer and Prog and has previous written for publications including IGN, the Sunday Mirror, Daily Record and The Herald, covering everything from daily news and weekly features, to video games, travel and whisky. Scott's favourite bands are Fields Of The Nephilim, The Cure, New Model Army, All About Eve, The Mission, Cocteau Twins, Drab Majesty, Marillion and Rush.