Joey Santiago (born Joseph Alberto Santiago on June 11, 1965) is a Filipino-American guitarist and composer, best known as the lead guitarist for the American alternative rock band Pixies. After the band's breakup in 1993, Santiago produced musical scores for film and television documentaries, and formed The Martinis with his wife, Linda Mallari. He also contributed to albums by Charles Douglas and bandmate Frank Black. Santiago resumed his role as the Pixies' lead guitarist when they reunited in 2004.

Santiago has described his guitar technique as "angular and bent," and cites Les Paul, Chet Atkins, Joe Pass and Jimi Hendrix as major influences on his technique. His guitar technique, as part of the Pixies' sound, was held in high regard by critics; MTV<nowiki>'</nowiki>s Laurel Bowman commented that Santiago's "sonic plow was the key element in the Pixies' monstrous presence." However, after leaving the Pixies and forming The Martinis, Santiago received less critical acclaim for his musical output.

Joey Santiago was born in Manila, Philippines on June 11 1965, the third of six sons of an anesthesiologist. The Santiago family was one of the wealthiest and most powerful in the Philippines; when the first three Mercedes arrived on the island, Santiago's uncle received two, with the third going to President Marcos. However, in 1972, as Marcos declared martial law, the Santiago family emigrated to the United States when Santiago was seven. After two years in , the family moved to . His first experience with a musical instrument was playing a Hammond organ at the age of eight; Santiago never took the instrument seriously, as he shared the organ with five brothers. Santiago first played a guitar after noticing a classical guitar hung on his oldest brother's wall for decoration. The first song he learned to play was the Velvet Underground's "Rock and Roll".

After graduating from high school in 1983, Santiago studied at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. He remained without a major as long as the university would permit him to, but eventually chose economics. He met Charles Thompson, an anthropology student and the future Pixies frontman, after he heard Thompson and his roommate playing their guitars. Santiago rushed back home to collect his guitar, and soon him and Thompson were playing "non-blues-scale, non-cover-song rock."

Santiago and Thompson shared a room at the start of the second semester; Santiago soon introduced Thompson to 1970s punk and the music of David Bowie. Santiago later recalled his time in college: "Charles and I had a suite at the college dorm. We'd go to shows, I remember seeing Black Flag and Angst. Initially, I think we just liked each other. I did notice right away that he was playing music. I didn't want any more distractions, but I took my guitar up and we started fooling around with it. He'd write 'em, and I'd throw my ideas on the guitar." In their second year of college, Thompson travelled to Puerto Rico as an exchange student. After six months of living in an apartment with a "weird, psycho, gay roommate," he sent Santiago a letter with the words "We gotta do it, now is the time, Joe, we gotta chase our dreams"; Santiago replied, saying "Yes, now's the time." Upon receiving his reply, Thompson decided to return to Amherst to start a rock band with Santiago.

Upon Thompson's return to Massachusetts, the pair dropped out of university and moved to Boston. They both gained temporary jobs working in a warehouse, with Santiago managing wood for a butcher block company. In January 1985, Thompson formed the Pixies with Santiago. Francis 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 took a liking to the definition, "mischievous little elves." Bassist Kim Deal was recruited a week later via a classified advert placed in a Boston paper, which requested a bassist "into Hüsker Dü and Peter, Paul and Mary." Drummer Dave Lovering was later hired on recommendation from Deal's husband.

Santiago met his future wife, Linda Mallari, when he sat beside her after a 1987 tour with the Pixies at the Rathskellar. She noted their shared Filipino ancestry, and suggested they write music together. Mallari 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 did not release any material. According to Santiago, they "broke up a couple of times" during the early parts of 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. Their first release, Come on Pilgrim, featured his trademark erratic lead guitar on tracks such as "The Holiday Song" and "Vamos".

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 had released three albums in two years, as well as constantly touring. During their homecoming Boston concert, on the post-Doolittle "Fuck or Fight" tour, Santiago smashed up his instrument and stormed off-stage. The band announced a hiatus soon afterwards. During this time, Santiago travelled to the Grand Canyon to "find himself." After the band reconvened in 1990, Santiago's lead guitar became less prominent in the band's later releases, 1990's Bossanova and 1991's Trompe le Monde. The Pixies eventually broke up in 1992 mostly due to tensions between Francis and Deal, although the breakup was not publicly announced until 1993.

After the breakup of the Pixies, Santiago went into a depression for the first couple of years, but remained on good terms with bandmate Black Francis (who soon adopted the name Frank Black). Black, who was recording his 1993 debut album Frank Black, contacted Santiago to ask whether he would contribute lead guitar. Santiago agreed, and he and Mallari drove from Florida to Los Angeles. The couple ended up moving into Black's old apartment in L.A. on a whim. Santiago played lead guitar on a number of Frank Black's solo albums, including 1994's Teenager of the Year. He also formed The Martinis that year with Mallari. Their output by the end of the 1990s comprised a single self-recorded song in 1995, "Free", that appeared on the film soundtrack of Empire Records.

In the mid-1990s, Santiago began to explore audio editing software. After composing for several independent films, including Crime and Punishment in Suburbia in 2000 (where he collaborated again with Black), Santiago co-scored the Fox Network TV series Undeclared with Michael Andrews. He continued to contribute lead guitar to albums, collaborating with Charles Douglas on his 2004 album Statecraft. He scored the 2003 film The Low Budget Time Machine and wrote a number of songs, including "Birthday Video" and "Fake Purse," for the Showtime television series Weeds in 2005.

Mallari and Santiago continued to write new material as part of The Martinis. Their debut album, Smitten, took two years to write and was released in 2004; the pair collaborated with a number of musicians, such as drummer Josh Freese, during the recording. Santiago described the album as "a lot poppier and quirker" compared to the band's previous material.

After the Pixies had broken up in 1993, Santiago had stayed in touch with every band member. In the summer of 2003, Black decided to begin reuniting the Pixies, and called Santiago first. Santiago later explained: "He called me on my cellphone and I was in Cape Cod visiting family. He said in this coy voice, 'Hey Joey, uh, you been hearin' these rumours that we're getting back together? Gee, I wonder who started it?' I go, 'Charles, did you do that?' and he goes, 'Yeah.'" Santiago then contacted Lovering and Deal to inform them of Black's decision and by the summer of 2004 the band had reunited. DreamWorks asked the band in early 2004 to compose a song for the Shrek 2 soundtrack. Early versions of this new song were demoed in Santiago's basement. With Santiago's soundtrack experience, the band, in the words of Deal, "worked it up a bit in Joey's Pro Tools thing". DreamWorks rejected the song, so the band released it as a single, "Bam Thwok".

Aside from the Pixies and The Martinis, Santiago scored the soundtrack of the television series Weeds in 2005 and the documentary Radiant City the following year. He signed with the commercial sound agency Elias Arts in 2006, and focused on composing music for television commercials. In a Billboard.com interview, he dismissed the possibility of a new Pixies album for the time being: "I'd only be interested if it happens in an organic manner; if all our schedules are aligned and we're all feeling it. That's the only reason to do it."

Santiago describes his guitar playing as "angular and bent," "all derived from guitar moments that perk my ears up". He attributes much of his style to songs he enjoyed when first learning the guitar such as The Beatles' "Savoy Truffle", where "George Harrison played that bent note that I fell in love with and later milked it for all it was worth." He used such techniques with the Pixies; Doolittle<nowiki>'</nowiki>s "Dead" begins with Santiago's guitar "squawking" on a D-flat like "a wounded animal". Santiago often still speaks of a lack of confidence on the guitar; as he was learning the instrument, he saw himself as a self-conscious amateur.

Santiago, rather than listening to popular radio, loaned rock and roll records from the public library as he was growing up; he first discovered Les Paul and Jimi Hendrix, who lead to jazz guitarist Wes Montgomery. Santiago later commented on Montgomery's influence: "And that's when I said, 'Ah, that's a hook. That's some hooky stuff in the jazz world'"; he discovered jazz artists such as Joe Pass and Chet Atkins after studying the liner notes of albums. Santiago was directly influenced by Hendrix's use of the Hendrix chord, that, in the words of author Ben Sisario, "tapped a hidden rage that matched the horror of Thompson's scream".

The stage antics of Santiago often contrasted with his general demeanour; he often experimented with his guitar and equipment during songs. Deal's husband, John Murphy, said that during performances of "Vamos" Santiago used to "whack the crap out of his amp", often picking up the amplifier and moving it around. Santiago would often pull the guitar up to his mouth and break guitar strings with his teeth.

*Frank, Josh; Ganz, Caryn. "Fool the World: The Oral History of a Band Called Pixies." (2005). ISBN 0-312-34007-9 *Sisario, Ben. "Doolittle." Continuum, 2006 (33⅓ series). ISBN 0-8264-1774-4.

*The Martinis official site * *