After the band's breakup in 1993, Santiago produced musical scores for film and television documentaries, and he formed The Martinis with his ex-wife, Linda Mallari.

Santiago has described his guitar technique as "angular and bent", and he cites Les Paul, George Harrison, Chet Atkins, Wes Montgomery, Joe Pass and Jimi Hendrix as major influences on his style.

[5] He participated in a cycle ride across the United States in aid of charity, but on completing it did not bother to collect the sponsor's money.

[14] The pair arrived at a name after Santiago selected the word randomly from a dictionary and liked the definition, "mischievous little elves.

"[9] 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."

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".

[18] The Pixies' first release, Come On Pilgrim, featured his trademark angular lead guitar on tracks such as "The Holiday Song" and "Vamos".

During their homecoming Boston concert, on the post-Doolittle "Fuck or Fight" tour, Santiago smashed up his instrument and stormed offstage.

[22] 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.

[25] He scored the 2003 film The Low Budget Time Machine and wrote two songs, "Birthday Video" and "Fake Purse", for the Showtime television series Weeds in 2005.

Their debut album, Smitten, took two years to write and was released in 2004; the pair collaborated with a number of musicians, including drummer Josh Freese, during the recording.

With his soundtrack experience, the band, in the words of Deal, "worked it up a bit in Joey's Pro Tools thing", before submitting it to the studio.

In a March 2006 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.

"[28] Santiago also played a benefit concert for drummer Wally Ingram in February 2007 as part of The Martinis; the band's first gig for six years.

[4] 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's "Dead" begins with Santiago's guitar "squawking" on an E-flat like "a wounded animal".

[30] Santiago, rather than listening to popular radio, borrowed rock and roll records from the public library as he was growing up; he first discovered Les Paul and Jimi Hendrix, who led to jazz guitarist Wes Montgomery.

He discovered jazz and country artists such as Joe Pass and Chet Atkins after studying the liner notes of albums.

[30] As a teenager, Santiago also listened to classic rock and proto-punk artists such as The Who, The Rolling Stones, The Velvet Underground and Iggy Pop.

Deal's husband, John Murphy, said that during performances of "Vamos", which features guitar feedback throughout, Santiago used to "whack the crap out of his amp", often picking up the amplifier and moving it around.