Grupo Fantasma performing live at The Belmont in Austin, Texas. Photo by Mari Hernandez.
Grupo Fantasma is a Grammy Award winning Latin fusion collective that formed in 2000 here in Austin. The biggest and baddest Latin band in the land, the group has worked or recorded with Maceo Parker, Sheila-E, Curt Kirkwood of the Meat Puppets, Ruben Ramos, GZA of the Wu-Tang Clan and indie-singer songwriter Daniel Johnston. They even served as the back up band for Prince on numerous occasions.
While this info is pretty well known amongst fans, many still are not familiar with the beginnings of the band or how they got to play with large musical acts such as Prince. While at The Belmont in late June, our Editor-in-Chief caught up with members Greg Gonzalez (bass) and Jose Galeano (percussion, vocals) to shoot a video interview with Blastro2. In the video interview the two discuss their band origins, how they hooked up with Prince and how they have stayed together for over ten years.
