Where I live, there's a lot of canyons. We're climbing constantly - we're like mountain goats. I'm just trying to get better at that.

Santiago later commented on Montgomery's influence: "And that's when I said 'Ah that's a hook. 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. In January 1986 Thompson formed the Pixies with Santiago.

After the band's breakup in 1993 Santiago produced musical scores for film and television documentaries and he formed The Martinis with his wife Linda Mallari. Joseph Alberto "Joey" Santiago (born June 10 1965) is a Filipino-American guitarist and composer. Santiago resumed his role as the Pixies' lead guitarist when they reunited in 2004.