We were lucky to catch up with Salvador Pineda recently and have shared our conversation below.

Alright, Salvador thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. When did you first know you wanted to pursue a creative/artistic path professionally?

Freshman year of high school! I was already drumming at that point, but the day I finally got my own drum set and started a band with my neighborhood friends I was hooked. playing in out parents’ garage making our own songs inspired by everything we were listening to at] the time. Lots of punk rock I was listening to everything Travis Barker was playing, as well as other fusion drummers that my high school drum instructor got me hip to, Dennis Chambers, Dave Weckl, steve smith, and list goes on. Seeing all of those players is when I said to myself this is what I want to do.

Salvador , before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

I started playing drums early Jr high school, into high school where I joined marching band, did the whole drum line thing for a long time. Right after I graduated I continued competing in and organization WGI, which was like marching band but just the drum line and a front ensemble consisting of marimbas and other mallet instruments. While that was going on I was also teaching at a few different Arizona high schools as a drum tech. Thats when I first started my educator journey.

Around 2012 is when I made the big decision to go to Beklee College of Music in Boston Ma. where I majored in drum set performance and minored in music production and engineering. That era of my life was definitely the kick off to my career as a working musician. While I was still in my studies at Berklee, that’s when I met and artist by the name of Mighty Mystic. Shortly after we met I was then playing drums for him supporting massive reggae artist such as Freddie McGregor, The Wailers, Barrington Levy and many more. My first big tour with Mystic was supporting The Wailer on 2 week east coast run, where I experienced a lot first in my life. Being a kid from Arizona I knew very little about the east coast, so it was a big culture shock for me. Real fans out there know that Aston “Family man” Barrett is the god father of reggae bass. I was lucky and blessed to experience this legend night after night when on the road with these guys. I think that’s when my love for the reggae music and culture really flourished.

Playing with Mystic really gave me first hand experience on the life of a working musician. Not only having to learn music, but learn how to work with people and other creatives to make cohesive product for us to take on the road, but also the business side of everything, from booking, travel logistics, to making sure we got paid what the promoter had agreed to months before the show. The “rock star” life has a lot more logistics to handle then the actual performing part.

I would continue playing with Mystic up until the fall of 2019 when I decided to make the move to Long Beach, California. Perfect timing considering we all know how great 2020 was for us all. Getting into long beach I had a small community of people I already knew from either Boston or Arizona. Made a few connections and started playing with other reggae artist from the area, such as Kat Hall, Ms.B Royal, and Feddy Rutz.

Things really slowed March 2020, it was the start of a very long and quiet time for live music. That’s when I shifted my focus for a bit to more production. I had already had some experience but decided to start making beats/riddims for other artist. The first one being a tune called “Never Catch We” by friend of mine that goes by thee name of Shakamon. That one is on all streaming platforms. Followed by a few random sound cloud releases.

Fast forward to now I’m back to playing live music, mostly with the most recent group I joined Eureka Sound out of Long Beach. We play and record our own original music, with a new single and full length album dropping very soon in the coming months.
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Is there mission driving your creative journey?

You know as a young musician you just want to play music with your friends and have fun doing it! That starts to become harder as you get older. Life really starts to get in the way of that, so trying to keep that spirit alive within my playing is something I really strive for.

As for reggae music the mission has been the same as my predecessors in the genre. Love , unity, and equal rights for all. We all have the same beating heart, and music is one thing all cultures share. No more war against humanity. That’s why I play reggae music.

How about pivoting – can you share the story of a time you’ve had to pivot?

During my studies at Berklee I was still working full time bartending in the south end, and then Harvard Sq. This career path is not always the most consistent. The journey meant too much for me to completely change paths, so I made it happen by doing what i needed to do. I spent hours and years learning how to bartend to keep the bills paid while I continued my studies and career after. Still working in the restaurant to this day as well as teaching, to keep the dream alive

Contact Info:

• Website: https://linktr.ee/supahsal
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/supahsal/
• Twitter: https://x.com/supahsal
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@supahsal
• Other: https://linktr.ee/eurekasound

Image Credits

capturesbyliz

https://www.capturesbyliz.com/