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Baker's Dozen

Planets Of Sound: Joey Santiago Of Pixies' Favourite Albums
Laurie Tuffrey , May 22nd, 2014 10:43

With Indie Cindy out and their headline slot at Field Day on the horizon, Joseph Alberto Santiago, Pixies' lead guitarist-cum-noise implementer, rocks us with his 13 defining records

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David Bowie - Low
Oh man, that's just a classic record. I listen to it now when I'm composing, because it's very atmospheric. I think that's Brian Eno's shine. I like the lead guitars on it and the way Bowie plays the guitar. A one-of-a-kind I think - it doesn't really sound like a Bowie album.

I met him during a pre-break-up tour, and I asked him, "Do you play rhythm in 'Sound And Vision'?" because I love that rhythm. So I was on the side of the stage with his guitar tech and when he started playing the song, he lifted the guitar and looked at the guitar tech and me and went, "See!" The guitar tech turned up his guitar because he thought he needed to check if the guitars were in tune. But Bowie had this signal, he said, "Turn it up for Joey!" And I thought, "Shit, he is playing it!" That was very cool of him, such a nice guy.

What did it feel like when he covered 'Cactus'?

I thought it was great, y'know. He had these different guitar lines on it. It was like, "Goddamn it, now I just feel like an idiot!" I've got to spend time with it now! It's obviously very flattering and it solidified the fact that he did like us, he wasn't lying. It's great, it was a homage to us and I just love the fact that he did it.