SAN DIEGO — Sometimes, all it takes is a few sharp notes to create an era-defining guitar riff. Joey Santiago, lead guitarist for the Pixies, knows this well: his angular, melodic playing has defined some of the Promethean alt-rock band’s most memorable songs, from “Where Is My Mind” to “Monkey Gone to Heaven.”

Though frontman Charles Thompson (known on stage as Black Francis and Frank Black) is considered the Pixies’ creative powerhouse, Santiago has been a steady and vital ingredient to the band’s consistent success. Santiago and Black, once college roommates, founded the band nearly 40 years ago in Massachusetts (the Pixies’ 1993 to 2004 hiatus notwithstanding). Drummer David Lovering — a career magician on the side — has been with the band since the beginning. Original bassist and bac

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