"My father played flamenco guitar as a hobby and used to listen to a lot of Santana. It was the early 70s, I was probably around nine years old, but I knew that I wanted Abraxas - so I went with my mother to the store and I got it.
“Abraxas had Black Magic Woman on it. I was drawn to the latin flair of this great rock song. I felt Santana had a very dynamic range. He’d bring in heavy guitars for the riff to get everyone excited, and with the use of percussion there was this indigenous quality to the beat, the rhythm, the flow of the music he was producing - not to mention all those nice, beautiful instrumental moments.
“The album cover was really fascinating too. His artwork was psychedelic and trippy with beautiful women in it that made you look and go ‘wow’. There were many emotions stirred with that record.
“The second album I bought, my second love, was Kool And The Gang’s Wild And Peaceful! It had Jungle Boogie on it, and you can’t argue with that for a groove!
“Santana’s in my film Jaco (a documentary on bass virtuoso Jaco Pastorius, due out November) and I’ve seen him play a few times. The first time I saw him was with my father, in about 1980. My dad passed his love on to me, and I’m keeping it going.”
Metallica play the 10th MusiCares MAP Fund at Club Nokia in LA on May 12 before hitting Europe from May 28 and Sonisphere Festival at Knebworth on July 6.
