SmartLess – "Pixies"

Hosts: Jason Bateman, Sean Hayes, Will Arnett
Guests: Charles Thompson (Black Francis) & Joey Santiago (Pixies)
Release Date: January 19, 2026

Episode Overview

This special SmartLess episode welcomes two legendary guests: Charles Thompson (aka Black Francis) and Joey Santiago, founding members of the alternative rock band Pixies. The hosts—Jason Bateman, Sean Hayes (off mic this week), and Will Arnett—delve into the origins of the Pixies, their long-standing influence on modern music, their original breakup and reunion, and their ongoing creative evolution. Expect deeply candid memories, stories of serendipity, music history in the making, and the usual SmartLess rapid-fire wit.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

The Birth of Pixies: College Days and Serendipity

• UMass Amherst Origins

  • Charles and Joey met in the cinderblock dormitories of UMass Amherst in the early 1980s ([11:10]):

    “We were in the same suite at our freshman year… It’s kind of like a prison, you know, like, without bars, but it’s really, you know, rudimentary.”
    – Charles ([11:29])

  • First musical interactions were casual, not seeking an audience—just jamming on guitars and looking for something to do.
    • Joey recalls Charles playing “annoying songs around the dormitory” as he “plunked along” ([12:52]).

• Dropping Out & Forming the Band

  • Charles takes a trip to Puerto Rico, writes Joey an old-fashioned letter:

    “Let’s meet in Boston and we’ll start the band finally.”
    – Charles ([15:19])

  • Joey still has the actual letter ([15:58]).
  • Joey describes how the band started in part because "school didn't really ring the bell" for either of them ([17:58]).

Early Days in Boston & Becoming ‘Pixies’

• Naming the Band

  • Joey was flipping through a dictionary and landed on "Pixies":

    “It just looked good, you know, it had an X in the middle.” – Joey ([23:28]) “Definition? Mischievous little elf. I love that.” ([23:36])

• First Gigs & Finding the Scene

  • The aim was never to fit in locally—instead, inspiration came from Beatles mythology:

    “When you finally get to go on tour… sometimes... it matches right up with your heroes... that’s satisfying, you know, to be out on the map somewhere far from where you’re from and be like, yep. But I’m doing the same thing that... the Fab Four did.”
    – Charles ([29:20])

  • They began opening for Throwing Muses and learned by observing other bands in legendary clubs:

    “We used to time how long the sets were for the bands because we had to figure out, well, how do we do that?”
    – Charles ([20:22])

Approach to Songwriting, Sound, and Rejection of "Pigeonholes"

• On Songwriting

  • Charles describes “Where Is My Mind?” as unremarkable in origin but now iconic:

    “My girlfriend was... doing makeup and said, finish that song… But that's the only memory I have of it, really. It just... sounds like a silly little folk song...”
    – Charles ([35:50])

  • Joey remembers his distinctive riff:

    “That part came right away. And it was like, I'm done. I wanted to do that little Chuck Berry thing, but I didn’t do it...”
    – Joey ([38:18])

• On "Loud-Quiet-Loud"

  • The hosts mention the band’s signature style. Joey deadpans:

    “We certainly didn't invent it… Tchaikovsky's 1812 Overture had cannons.”
    – Joey ([42:01])

Breakup, Hiatus, and Reunion

• The 12-Year Split

  • The hosts cheekily prod about the band's 12-year hiatus between early ’90s breakup and 2004 reunion.
  • Charles reflects:

    “We broke up… and then so we were just, whatever, treading water for 12 years... plenty of humbling experiences.”
    – Charles ([45:13])

• The Reunion – A Media Mistake?

  • Reunification rumors began as a sarcastic comment Charles made on a UK radio show snowballed into news ([51:16]):

    “…after I left the radio station, they kept… that was their little thing… our reunion made it onto [CNN’s] ticker…”
    – Charles ([52:36])

  • Joey:

    “My friend started saying, you guys are getting back together… until I got the call from Charles. And then it's like, oh, it is true.” ([54:08])

  • The first rehearsal:

    “The first three songs that we went over, we just smiled and go, oh, my God… it still sounds the same.”
    – Joey ([55:49])

Enduring Influence & Iconic Moments

• Influencing Generations

  • The hosts recount how Pixies influenced Nirvana, Radiohead, and more ([06:00], [33:06]).
  • On musical legacy and recognition, Joey shares:

    “The biggest damn one… our tour manager says, Hey, someone wants to come by… Oh, it's David Bowie… David Bowie came by… and then said, they like us.”
    – Joey ([58:40])

  • Charles remembers being validated by jazz greats:

    “One of the gentlemen from the Sun Ra Orchestra... just said, 'boy, you sure can holler like that...' ...That validation… from a jazz cat, felt really great.”
    – Charles ([60:16])

• On Songs Finding New Life

  • “Where Is My Mind?” becomes iconic via Fight Club and social media, but for the band, its meaning evolves:

    “I don’t really know...it just fits in with that, you know… it's not even a sensical song or anything. It's just some delightful words to trip over, you know.”
    – Charles ([35:50])

The Present Day: Touring, Setlists, and Looking Ahead

• Touring Routine

  • Pixies now convene before shows backstage with espresso, warm up with acoustic guitars, and rehearse about 50 songs:

    “We usually rehearse up, like, 50 songs, and then we just call them out.”
    – Charles ([63:52])

• On Playing Old Favorites

  • Charles on "Here Comes Your Man":

    “I have grown to like the song eventually... It was one of the ones… we didn’t know if it was too poppy… But [producer] Gil... really liked that one.” ([65:45]) “We play it every show. I enjoy playing it now... Everyone seems to be in a pretty good mood when we play it.” ([68:09])

• On “40th Anniversary”

  • Charles is ambivalent about milestone hype:

    “I’m not sure about this 40th anniversary angle… If it was like 50th, maybe… But 40 feels a little bit like... do we really need to, like, talk about how long it's been going on? ...I guess I'm vain is what it is.” ([62:05])

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments (with Timestamps)

• On the accidental power of “Where Is My Mind?”

  “It just sounds like a silly little folk song… not even a sensical song… just some delightful words to trip over.”
  — Charles (Black Francis), ([35:50])

• About band chemistry at first rehearsal post-hiatus:

  “We just smiled and go, oh, my God. We still. It still sounds the same…”
  — Joey, ([55:49])

• On defining their sound:

  “We certainly didn’t invent [loud-quiet-loud]… Tchaikovsky’s 1812 Overture had cannons.”
  — Joey, ([42:01])

• On musical validation:

  “...someone wants to come by… It’s David Bowie.”
  — Joey, ([58:40])

  “One of the gentlemen from the Sun Ra Orchestra... just said, ‘boy, you sure can holler like that.’ … That validation… from a jazz cat, felt really great.”
  — Charles, ([60:16])

• On naming the band:

  “It just looked good, you know, it had an X in the middle.”
  — Joey, ([23:28])

  “Mischievous little elf. I love that.”
  — Joey, ([23:36])

• On their initial ambition & inspiration:

  “You want to travel or meet people or whatever… [I was inspired by] the Beatles… So, by the time we met up… it was like, ‘oh, you like the Beatles? I like the Beatles.’”
  — Charles, ([28:58])

Important Segment Timestamps

• [06:36] – Introduction of guests Charles Thompson & Joey Santiago (Pixies)
• [11:10-15:51] – UMass and college origins, dropping out, first letters
• [20:22] – Early Boston gig strategies
• [23:26] – Naming the band "Pixies"
• [26:57] – Opening for Throwing Muses
• [29:20] – On idolizing tour history, Beatles influence
• [35:50] – The creation and unexpected impact of “Where Is My Mind?”
• [42:01] – The “loud-quiet-loud” dynamic and its origins
• [45:13] – Reflections on the breakup and post-band life
• [52:36-55:14] – Reformation rumors and first reunion rehearsal
• [58:40] – Meeting David Bowie
• [60:16] – Validation from jazz legends
• [62:05] – Debating the “40th anniversary” tour label
• [63:52-68:31] – Tour routines, setlists, playing classics, “Here Comes Your Man”

Tone & Style

The mood throughout is relaxed and candid, with bursts of humor and the affectionate teasing typical of the SmartLess trio. Charles and Joey are humble and understated, downplaying myth-making and always circling back to friendship, happy accidents, and sticking together. There’s a sharp contrast between the band’s understated view of themselves and the hosts’ awed admiration—a dynamic that produces warmth, openness, and many laughs.

Final Thoughts

This episode is a must-listen for Pixies fans, music lovers, and anyone interested in the messy, random, sometimes magical business of collaboration and longevity. The conversation offers frank, funny, and powerful reminders that iconic innovation can spring from boredom, brown apartments, and even April Fool’s jokes; that legends rarely feel like legends in real time; and that when you’re doing something for the love of it, a little luck and chemistry go a long way.

Listen for:

• Practical band wisdom on forming, reforming, and surviving
• The unexpected ways influence and legacy work
• How classic songs “just happen” and sometimes gain their meaning from fans, not artists
• Laugh-out-loud SmartLess banter (and more secrets of brown apartments)

For more Pixies:

• Catch them on tour with their new album, The Night the Zombies Came
• For bonus laughs, search out Will Arnett’s Pixies t-shirts—he’ll lend you one if you ask
• And, as always, remember: never frown on brown!