Joey Santiago - Pixies

Pixies

Upon Thompson's return to Massachusetts, the pair dropped out of college and moved to Boston. They both took temporary jobs in warehouses, with Santiago working for a butcher block company. In January 1986, Thompson formed the Pixies with Santiago. Thompson gave Santiago the choice of bass or lead guitar; Santiago chose to play lead. The pair arrived at a name after Santiago selected the word randomly from a dictionary and liked the definition, "mischievous little elves." They recruited Kim Deal a week later after placing a classified ad in a Boston paper for a bassist "into Hüsker Dü and Peter, Paul and Mary." Drummer David Lovering was later hired on recommendation from Deal's husband.

The Pixies rehearsed throughout 1986, and began performing around Boston in late 1986 and during 1987. Santiago met his future wife, Linda Mallari, when he sat beside her after a 1987 Pixies show at The Rat. Mallari noted their shared Filipino ancestry and suggested they write music together. She then offered to join the Pixies, but Santiago replied, "We already have a chick in the band." Throughout Santiago's time with the Pixies, the two often met up to write songs and drink martinis, but they did not release any material. According to Santiago, they "broke up a couple of times" early in their relationship.

The Pixies signed to the English independent record label 4AD in 1987. On meeting the head of the label, Ivo Watts-Russell, Santiago remarked: "All I care about is that you make me famous in the Philippines because all the chicks are really pretty". Watts-Russell later said "that's probably all I ever heard Joey really say," and by that time, Santiago's quietness had been noted by those close to the band. The Pixies' first release, Come On Pilgrim, featured his trademark angular lead guitar on tracks such as "The Holiday Song" and "Vamos". For the release of the album, Thompson adopted the alias "Black Francis".

After the band's next two albums, 1988's Surfer Rosa and 1989's Doolittle, the relationship between the band members became strained; the Pixies were constantly touring and had released three albums in two years. During their homecoming Boston concert, on the post-Doolittle "Fuck or Fight" tour, Santiago smashed up his instrument and stormed offstage. The band announced a break soon afterwards. During this time, Santiago visited the Grand Canyon to "find himself." After the band reconvened in 1990, Santiago contributed to the band's later releases, 1990's Bossanova and 1991's Trompe le Monde, adopting a surf guitar style in the former. The Pixies eventually broke up in 1992, mostly due to tensions between Francis and Deal, although the breakup was not publicly announced until 1993.