“An OCD through a Marshall is the Pixies sound”: Joey Santiago on why he’s a stompbox convert – but still hates the “coffee shop” chorus pedal

“Back in the day, I took pride in having no pedals. All I had was a tuner. Now I have a crapload of pedals! I was talking to Charles [Black Francis], and he said, 'Look, we’re playing different venues all the time…' and for me, the easiest way to carve out a sound for each venue was the pedals. But I do like the tones and the variety, and now I just enjoy collecting and using pedals.

“I have a crapload of distortion and boost pedals. I’m still looking for that sound, and I’ll have slots on my pedalboard that change maybe one or two times per tour. I’ll want another sonic thing to entertain myself on stage.

“Sometimes I’ll use a boost into an overdrive and maybe into another overdrive. I’ll have three things overdriving that thing; some might think that’s weird, but I have no qualms about it.

“The thing I don’t use is chorus. I just don’t like it. [Laughs] It reminds me of when I go into a coffee shop and someone is performing, and they put the chorus pedal on. It’s just not good in my ears; it sounds compromised.

“I like overdrive and gain because of the whole character of the sound… I find it interesting that none of them sound exactly alike. But if my pedalboard gets any bigger, I’d have to seek help!”

“After my tuner, I’ve got a Lehle [SGoS Amp Switcher with Tuner Out], a pink Maxon AD999 Delay, a Boss GE-7 Equalizer, an Atomic Boost OC 44 by Stewart Amplifier Company, which goes into my Fulltone OCD [overdrive].

“After that, I’ve got my Fatbee [overdrive] by Beetronics FX. I’ve got an old [two-knob] Keeley Compressor in the top corner of the pedalboard, along with an EHX Pitch Fork [pitch shifter] and an Eventide H9 [harmonizer, Dark Edition].”

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“At the lower area of the pedalboard, I have pedals for wah, which is my DOD and a Roland EV-5 Expression pedal. I love my wah. I can’t use other ones. I can’t do it. It sounds old-fashioned, and they don’t make them anymore.

“Aside from that, I’ve got a multi-effects station that’s color-coded, where I can activate the pedals on my ’board without having to find them. At the bottom of the pedalboard, I’ve got an EHX Holy Grail [reverb]; off-board, I’ve got pedals that I rotate in, like the Crowther Hot Cake [overdrive], the Boss FZ-2 Hyper Fuzz and Aclam’s The Mocker fuzz.”

If I had to choose only one pedal for a full show...

“Can I pick two? [Laughs] I like the Atomic Boost. It’s a good thing to put in front of my OCD pedal. I’d go with one of those two. But an OCD through a Marshall is the Pixies sound.”

• The Night the Zombies Came is out now via BMG.