Joey Santiago The Guitarist with alternative band The Pixies was born 10 June 1965. The Pixies were formed in Boston, Massachusetts in 1986. The group consists of Black Francis (vocals, rhythm guitar), Joey Santiago (lead guitar), Kim Deal (bass, vocals), and David Lovering (drums). The Pixies formed after Joey Santiago and Black Francis (born Charles Thompson IV) first met when they lived next to each other in a suite while attending the University of Massachusetts Amherst. Alhough Santiago was worried about distractions, he noticed Francis played music and the pair began to jam together. Francis then embarked on a student exchange trip to Puerto Rico to study Spanish. Six months later, he returned to Amherst and dropped out of the university. Francis and Santiago spent 1984 working in a warehouse, with Francis composing songs on his acoustic guitar and writing lyrics on the subway train.
In January 1986 Bass player Kim Deal joined Santiago and Francis after responding to a classified advertisement seeking a female bass player who liked both folk music icons Peter, Paul and Mary and the Hüsker Dü. the trio started rehearsing in Deal’s apartment. After recruiting Deal, the band tried unsuccessfully to get her sister, Kelley Deal, to join as its drummer. Kim’s husband suggested they hire drummer David Lovering, whom Kim had met at her wedding reception.The group arrived at a name after Santiago selected the word “pixies” meaning mischievous little elves? Once the band had settled on a name and stable line-up, They began to play shows at bars in and around the Boston area. While the Pixies were playing a concert with Throwing Muses, they were noticed by someone in the music business and.The band produced a 17-track demo at Fort Apache soon afterwards, known to fans as “The Purple Tape” funded by Francis’ father at the cost of $1000, the recording session was completed in three days. Local promoter Ken Goes became the band’s manager, and he passed the demo to Ivo Watts-Russell of the independent record label 4AD. Watts-Russell signed them at the persuasion of his girlfriend. eight tracks from the Purple Tape were selected for the Come On Pilgrim mini-LP, the band’s first release which also contained the songs “Vamos” and “Isla de Encanta “I’ve Been Tired”,”Nimrod’s Son” and “The Holiday Song”. Come On Pilgrim was followed by, Surfer Rosa. The album was recorded by Steve Albini ,completed in two weeks, and released in early 1988. Surfer Rosa gained the Pixies acclaim in Europe; both Melody Maker and Sounds gave Surfer Rosa their “Album of the Year” award. American critical response was also positive yet more muted. They also support Throwing Muses on the European “Sex and Death” tour. British producer Gil Norton produced the Pixies second full album, Doolittle, which was recorded in the last six weeks of 1988 and seen as a departure from the raw sound of Come On Pilgrim and Surfer Rosa. Doolittle had a much cleaner sound, And featured the songs “Here Comes Your Man” and “Monkey Gone to Heaven” .
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Sadly following the release of Doolittle tensions between Deal and Francis came to a head and Deal was almost fired from the band when she refused to play at a concert in Frankfurt. The band became increasingly tired during the post-Doolittle “Fuck or Fight” tour of the United States and fighting among members continued. After the tour’s final date in New York, the band was too exhausted to attend the end-of-tour party the following night and soon announced a hiatus. During this time, Santiago and Lovering went on vacation, while Francis performed a short solo tour, made up of a number of concerts to generate gas money as he traveled across the country. Deal formed a new band, The Breeders, with Tanya Donelly of Throwing Muses and bass player Josephine Wiggs of Perfect Disaster. Their debut album, Pod, was released in 1990. Black Francis wrote much of the Pixies next album Bossanova which was released 1990 and featured the singles “Velouria” and “Dig for Fire”, the Pixies also released a cover of the Paul Butterfield Blues Band’s “Born in Chicago” on the compilation album Rubáiyát: Elektra’s 40th Anniversary.VThe band continued to tour and released Trompe le Monde in 1991, their final album before their break-up. The album included “U-Mass” and also featured a cover of “Head On” by The Jesus and Mary Chain.Also that year, the band contributed a cover of “I Can’t Forget” to the Leonard Cohen tribute album I’m Your Fan,and began an international tour on which they played stadiums in Europe and smaller venues in the United States. They then embarked on an uncomfortable tour supporting U2 on their Zoo TV Tour in 1992.Tensions rose between band members, and, at the end of the year, the Pixies went on sabbatical and focused on separate projects.
In early 1993, the Pixies broke up, and the four members embarked on separate projects. Black Francis renamed himself Frank Black, and released several solo albums, including a string of releases with Frank Black and the Catholics. Deal returned to The Breeders, who scored a hit with “Cannonball” from that group’s platinum-selling Last Splash in 1993, and released two more albums several years later. Deal also formed and released one album with The Amps. Santiago played lead guitar on multiple Frank Black albums. He wrote theme music for the show Undeclared on Fox television and for Crime and Punishment in Suburbia. He formed a band called The Martinis with his wife, Linda Mallari, who released an album in 2004. In2004, he also played lead guitar on the album “Statecraft” by the novelist and musician Charles Douglas.Lovering went on to become a magician and made occasional appearances as “The Scientific Phenomenalist”, performing experiments on stage and occasionally opening for Frank Black and The Breeders. Lovering continued to do some drumming, playing with the band Cracker,as well as on one of Tanya Donelly’s solo albums,and on the Martinis’ song “Free”, which appeared on the Empire Records soundtrack.v4AD and Elektra Records continued to release Pixies material in the band’s absence. They released the best-of album Death to the Pixies (1997), the Peel-session compilation Pixies at the BBC (1998), and the Complete ‘B’ Sides compilation (2001). Then, in 2002 material from the band’s original 17-track demo tape was released as an EP, Pixies, on Cooking Vinyl in the U.K.and SpinArt Records in the U.S.; Black has also used these labels to release solo work and albums with The Catholics. In the 11 years following the break-up, Frank Black also began to incorporate an increasing number of Pixies songs in his sets with The Catholics, and occasionally included Santiago in his solo work and Lovering’s magic show as an opening act to concerts.
In February 2004, the Pixies reunited and toured and tickets for nearly all the initial tour dates sold out within minutes.t band’s four-night run at London’s Brixton Academy was the fastest selling in the venue’s 20-year history. The Pixies played their first reunion concert on April 13, 2004, at The Fine Line Music Cafe in Minneapolis, Minnesota. A tour through the U.S. and Canada was followed by an appearance at the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival. The band also toured Brazil, Europe, Japan, and the U.S won the Act-of-the-Year award in the 2004 Boston Music Awards. In June 2004, the band released a new song, “Bam Thwok” and 4AD released Wave of Mutilation: The Best of Pixies, along with a companion DVD, entitled Pixies. The band also contributed a rendition of “Ain’t That Pretty At All” to the Warren Zevon tribute album Enjoy Every Sandwich. In 2005, the band made appearances at festivals including Lollapalooza,”T on the Fringe”,and the Newport Folk Festival.They continued to make appearances through 2006 and2007. To celebrate the 20th anniversary of the release of Doolittle, the Pixies launched a tour in October 2009 where they performed the album track-for-track, including the associated B-sides. Touring Europe, United States, South America, Australia, New Zealand, with more European dates in spring 2010. and back to North America in fall 2010 and into spring 2011.In the autumn of 2011 the “Imaginary Cities” tour continued the “Doolittle Tour” as they played many venues for the first time.
In 2013 Kim Deal left the Pixies and the band released a new song, “Bagboy”, as a free download which features Jeremy Dubs on vocals in place of Deal. The Muffs and The Pandoras guitarist and vocalist Kim Shattuck, replaced Deal for the band’s 2013 European tour. On September 3, 2013 Pixies released a new EP simply titled EP1. In November, 2013, Shattuck announced that she had been dismissed from the band and replaced by Paz Lenchantin for the 2014 tour. The Pixies released their second EP, titled EP2, on January 3, 2014. The single released to radio was “Blue Eyed Hexe.” the 3 prior EPs were released as Indie Cindy in, 2014.
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