"GTR sounds great. The guitar interface is the best DI I've heard and works flawlessly with GTR. There are so many great combination of amps, cabinets and mics at your disposal. Think of a tone and dial it in. Tones for days. The stomp boxes are amazing. Being able to save your sound forever is just magic."
Joey Santiago is best known as the lead guitarist for the seminal American alternative rock band Pixies. Among his major influences, Santiago cites Jimi Hendrix as well as such surprising players as Les Paul, Wes Montgomery. Chet Atkins, and Joe Pass. As a teen, Santiago also immersed himself in the classic rock sounds of The Who and The Rolling Stones as well as progenitors of punk like The Velvet Underground and Iggy Pop.
In January 1985, Santiago and college buddy Charles Thompson (better known first as Black Francis, then Frank Black) formed the Pixies. Thompson gave Santiago the choice of bass or lead guitar; Santiago chose to play lead. After a couple years spent rehearsing and performing in the Boston area, the band signed to British label 4AD in 1987, quickly garnering widespread critical and commercial success, and as a result, an entire generation of alternative rock bands counts the Pixies among their primary influences.
After the Pixies disbanded, Santiago played lead guitar on a number of Frank Black's solo albums, including 1994's Teenager of the Year, and contributed lead guitar to Steve Westfield's 1994 album Mangled. He formed The Martinis a year later with his wife Linda Mallari, and in 1997 played on Holly McNarland's Juno Award-winning Stuff. After composing for several independent films, including Crime and Punishment in Suburbia in 2000 (where he contributed additional scores), Santiago scored the Fox TV series Undeclared.
He later resumed his role as the Pixies' lead guitarist when they reunited in 2004. Santiago scored the first season of the Showtime television series Weeds in 2005, as well as the soundtrack of 2006's Radiant City, which won a Canadian Genie Award for Best Documentary. He signed with the commercial sound agency Elias Arts in the same year, and currently focuses on composing music for film, TV, and commercials.
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