You may not know the name Jared Scharff, but he’s been part of an iconic American tradition for a decade. The guitarist and songwriter is part of the Saturday Night Live house band, which opens and closes each week of the long-standing NBC sketch comedy show, along with providing supporting music for some of the sketches and even, at times, playing with the musical guests and hosts that pass through Studio 8H in New York’s 30 Rockefeller Plaza.

Scharff has also had stints in more traditional groups over the years (including a high school jamband called Velvet Frogg), and now he’s releasing a new double EP—Light and Dark—under the name Pearl Lion. The dichotomous effort, which offers both a soft and airy side contrasted with a heavy-hitting attack, respectively, represents the kind of guitar-centric, instrumental music that has been a goal of Scharff’s for some time. Here, the guitarist talks about the new EPs and how they came to fruition, his history as a musician and as a New York City boy—born, bred and educated—and some of the highlights from his impressive tenure at SNL so far, including his favorite story of locking eyes onstage with Mick Jagger.

Was is tough to find time to record this album with what I assume is a busy schedule with Saturday Night Live?

So, for SNL—for the most part—I’m on call two days a week, and the show is one day a week. It’s only 21 or 22 shows a year, depending on the season. So, I have a lot of time off. The reason why this gig has really been really incredible for me is not only do I get to play in this awesome band and make a living playing music—which is next to impossible—it also allows me to spend time doing my own stuff, like creating and making music, producing, writing and doing all these other things that I really love to do. In 2017, it’s important; you gotta do multiple things anyway. The paradigm of guitarist-to-rock-band-to-success-in-life is over. It’s very rare that you can sustain a living from that, which is very different from when I was growing up, because that was the paradigm.

Did you see that paradigm as something that might be part of your life trajectory back then?

That was what I was hoping. I was playing drums in all the school bands—marching band, concert band, jazz band—but I was playing the rock bands outside of that as the more fun thing. I was seeing Allman Brothers at the Beacon in my first year of high school. My dad took me, and I was like, “Oh my God! This is what I want to do the rest of my life!” It was that whole feeling of wanting to be in the band, playing live. But, most importantly, it was about the fact that those guys were creating on stage. It wasn’t about just regurgitating. That really inspired me. Between that and my love of Zeppelin, and what Jimmy Page meant for the guitar to me—all these things—I just wanted to be in some sort of project where the guitar played a huge role, was a creative force and really could do interesting things. But I never really found those counterparts—I never found my Robert Plant.

So, I tried a whole bunch of different things. I was in this pop band called Carbondale that was signed to RCA for while when I graduated. I eventually quit that band because it wasn’t the right creative thing for me. Then I did my own project, Jared Scharff and the Royals, and I originally wrote a couple of instrumentals on a demo before I even started that project. I also had an instrumental on the first Velvet Frogg album, too. So, I’ve always been toying with that. I was producing a lot of pop music for a long time, and I was doing SNL. Eventually, I really missed doing my own artist thing. The beauty of SNL is all these bands come through every week, some of the best bands and artists in the world. So, I really took a hard look at why people were on the show, what made them special or unique, and the conclusion that I came to was that everybody has some sort of unique quality, some sort of magic that they possess in some way, whatever it was. And, I felt like, for me, the magic—that thing that you can’t really put your finger on—was when I would create with the guitar. I felt like that was where I was most unique, and it was coming from a more special place. So, if I was gonna try a project, or make music again, I wanted to do something that was gonna be truly unique, truly honest, and where I can shine in my best way.

I don’t think you can succeed anymore if you’re half-assing some shit. You look at even a band like The Strokes, you’re like, “What was so special about The Strokes?” Well, they weren’t great musicians, but they wrote these amazing songs, and Julian has an incredible voice, and the band has this special magic together. They just created magic, and it’s something that was so hard to describe. I was just looking to find that magic in my own way, because I didn’t have other people. I had to figure out where I felt that came from in me. So I started doing this project and started writing ideas and recording—very off-and-on, because it was just one of those fun projects where I was like, “Oh, I’m just gonna do this for fun! I have a job! I’m just gonna fuck around, because I can!” About a year later, after fucking around, I remember I finished a couple of songs, I got my first mix back, and it was from this guy, Miles Walker—he’s a big mixer, and he engineered the last Coldplay album and all this shit. It sounded incredible, and he’s amazing and I just remember hearing it back and I was like, “Oh my God, this is the thing!” As soon as I heard that, it kind of kickstarted me into going ham.

Was that one of the songs that’s on these two albums?

It’s actually the first song that opens the Light EP. It’s one of the chiller ones. But yeah, I was like, “This is it!” I wanted to work on this. I had always wanted to do an instrumental project my whole life, and do it in a way that was cool and interesting to normal people, not just guitar-heads. I didn’t want to do the shredder thing; I’m not a shredder. I love listening to people like Joe Satriani and Steve Vai here and there, but I wanted to do something that was kind of the opposite of what they did. So the process kept moving forward, I kept writing stuff and eventually, I came to the ridiculous conclusion of, instead of doing one EP, why not do two at the same time? Which was, maybe, the stupidest choice. Creatively, the right idea, but financially and time-wise, just a horrible idea. But I was creating these intense things and I was creating these mellow things—I just wanted to pursue both sides and not have to worry about making some sort of album arc. So, the idea was that these are kind of an album together, they just happen to be two separate EPs. They’re like the Yin Yang; that was kind of the vibe. I hope that comes across. Then I started making videos because, unfortunately, [the music] totally makes sense to me, but I know that instrumental music is not necessarily—not everyone is gonna understand it, or even want to give it a minute of time. So, knowing that I was going up against that, I felt that if I provided them with visuals—and some of these songs, they have visuals for the first time—when they see it, that will be really cool because I can at least spoon feed them an emotion, a feeling, something else to concentrate on, in hopes of tricking them into liking it and listening to it without the video, or being open to it.

This new music is obviously very different than what you were making with Jared Scarf and the Royals. Were you also messing around with this kind of music at that point?

On the first jamband CD I did, there was an instrumental, which totally set the stage. It was emotional and pretty and melodic and not shreddy, and it would fit right in on the Light EP. It was totally in that world. Then, when I started the Jared Scharff and the Royals project, I made a demo of four or five songs. There were a couple of instrumentals—one that I might, at some point, end up putting out—again, kind of the Light EP, with that melodic guitar thing, totally in that vein. And then, a couple more aggressive ones, but also melodic. At the time, I was into Mogwai and getting into some of that stuff. I didn’t know that that existed. When I heard Mogwai, I was like, “Holy shit! People also make the kind of music that I always thought I wanted to make.” So, it was a nice little “Oh, this does exist! Here’s some people that can help me a little bit with blueprints.” I did kind of do that, but I never ended up playing them out. The Royals thing became a little bit more of my Tom Petty meets Foo Fighters thing. I was just singing and doing that thing, so it didn’t really go to instrumental land. We did jam out a bit. Then, for this stuff, this was obviously just directly, “I want to do this.” Eventually, I’d like to have some vocal features here and there, fill it out a little bit. This was the first phase of what this project is. I have no idea what it’ll morph into, but I’m certainly open to collaborating with interesting creators, even someone like Skrillex, or a crazy vocalist—could be anybody.

Let’s talk about your relationship with New York City. Obviously there’s the NYC institution of SNL, and the new single “NYC.” You’re from around here?

I was born in the city, actually, at what is now called New York Presbyterian. I grew up in Rockland County, 40 minutes north, and my dad worked in the city his whole life. So this was always kind of my backyard. I was always coming into the city—it was a part of my upbringing—and I went to NYU. I stayed around here, because the city was where you go to make your dreams happen. It wasn’t L.A. At the time, especially for music, it was New York. So I basically went to NYU hoping that I would not be in college and I’d be on tour, but that didn’t really happen. I had to go to school, and I’ve lived here ever since. I’ve done so many things here. I now play guitar at the Rangers games at MSG a bunch. I did that last year. It’s ridiculous. I’ve done food writing for Gothamist and other outlets in New York. I take hockey lessons at Chelsea Piers. I give some guitar lessons here. I’ve worked in a gazillion studios when there were the big ones, not the more private studios. I’ve rented studio time monthly at different spots. I’ve lived and been all over. Brooklyn, Upper West Side, East Village. This is my world.

So then, especially for you, the SNL gig was a dream come true. How did you end up landing it?

My sister, actually, had recommended me to the bandleader, as well as Dr. Luke, who was the previous guitar player. So I had two people tell the bandleader about me. Lenny Pickett—famous, legendary sax player. Maybe the greatest musician I’ve ever played with in my entire life—he’s, like, on another planet. I had to send videos, actually, so I sent in YouTube videos of me playing. I did that first, and then I got a call from him to come in, and we had an audition in his office at SNL. It was just me and him for a couple hours, talking a lot, getting to know me and my background as a musician. Played a couple of songs, just to see how that went in the SNL band repertoire. Then, I got a call back, and they whittled down the entire group of guitar players—however many that was—to just four of us. So, we played with the rhythm section—I don’t remember how many, five or six songs in a row—and that was the final test. After that, I got the call, I got the gig. It was very exciting.

What was it like getting into that routine in the first couple months?

That’s a good question. The crazy thing about SNL is that I show up at the same time, and I leave at the same time, but it’s never quite the same in between. We have certain times that we need to be around. Our band has a rehearsal at 11am, so that’s always standard, but we play different songs every week. Every Saturday morning, you come in, it’s different. They’re putting together sets, so the whole area looks different. Call times are different. The monologues are different. Are we playing monologue music? Are we working on any sketch music for the show? Do I have to do any recording for any digital things, or a sketch? You don’t know until you walk in. I love it. It’s always interesting, always different. For me, for an ADD person, it always keeps me pretty interested. It’s the no-routine routine.

And you’ve been doing it for about a decade now?

That’s right—just finished my 10^th year! Saying a decade sounds really old, but I like to say I just finished my 10^th year.

Do you have any favorite stories, either about bands you’ve seen or played with on a show, or actors who’ve come on and done things with the band?

Yeah, sure. I have a couple of stories. I think the most incredible moment I will ever have—I don’t think anything will ever beat this. I don’t know how it could. Mick Jagger hosted, and he did a song with Jeff Beck—it was a blues song—in between his normal two songs. He had our band back him up. So, Vinnie Colaiuta, who was in Jeff Beck’s band—which was already exciting for me, because I listened to Sting’s Ten Summoner’s Tales all the time in high school, and Vinnie was the drummer. So, I had been hearing his drums for so long, and I was originally a drummer, so I definitely was excited to play with him. Then, it was Jeff Beck playing, so that was like, “Oh my God, this is insane!” And Jagger was singing—you can’t even put words to that. So, we’re playing this blues song, and Jeff Beck’s taking a solo, and I’m just sitting there. I’m kind of laughing, more at how incredible this moment is and that I’m a part of it—almost like, “How the hell did this happen?” That kind of laughing to myself like, “This is wild.” Mick Jagger shimmies downstage, and I was just watching him at that moment. He turns, and for some reason, we just caught each other’s eyes, and we just looked at each other. I’m kind of laughing a little bit in disbelief, and he looks at me and he gives me this almost shit-eating grin, like he’s saying to me, “This is pretty amazing, huh kid?” He turns around, and he’s back into Mick Jagger land, never for me to interact with again. It was like this moment in time that stood still. Who gets to play with a member of The Rolling Stones?

This SNL thing has brought me to some of these impossibilities that I didn’t know existed in life, which is so great. The more I reflect on it, and the older I get, I’m just like, “Holy shit!” One time, we were playing warm-up—we play covers during the warm-up—and we were doing a Zeppelin song, and it was the episode that Them Crooked Vultures were playing with Grohl and John Paul Jones from Zep. Dave Grohl watched our warm-up, which is already exciting—I love Dave Grohl. He’s one of my favorite drummers in the world, and I love Foo Fighters. And then he brings out John Paul Jones before live, when do the same warm-up. He brings out John Paul Jones, and so I’m sitting there playing a Led Zeppelin song, soloing, and there’s John Paul Jones watching me play a Led Zeppelin song. I can’t describe the feeling. I grew up listening to them. Back then, there was no social media. These were legendary rock stars that were untouchable. There was never a single thought, literally never one thought in my mind that I would get to play with Mick Jagger, or meet John Paul Jones, or be in the same room, as a peer—well, I don’t consider myself a peer, he’s a legend. And there he is, watching me play one of his band’s songs. I can’t even describe that. I didn’t know that could happen! So, it’s stuff like that that’s pretty insane.

Absolutely. Has that gig led to opportunities outside of the show as well? Like you playing for the Rangers, or playing at Pete Seeger’s 90^th birthday concert several years ago?

It kind of all leads to that in a way, indirectly or directly. The Pete Seeger thing, that was my second year on the show, and the drummer, bass player and the organ player, plus musical director and conductor of our band, were asked to be in that, and they needed a guitar player, and those guys recommended me. And that was the first time I played MSG. As a native New Yorker, that’s the epitome of it all. I was like, “Alright! I’m good! I’m done! I conquered, I did it, I’m good!” That was wild. Then, over the years, they would always recommend me for stuff, and that’s how I got to be playing alongside Nile Rodgers for many years, backing up people like Sting, James Taylor, Paul Simon, Bruce Springsteen, Debbie Harry, Lady Gaga, Elton John. It’s the craziest thing.

Then the Rangers thing—that was one of those more indirect things. The drummer of SNL took me to a game, and he knew the organ player, so he took us up to the organ booth. I happened to have done this “Unnecessary Shredding” guitar series on YouTube, and I happened to do one that I hadn’t released yet where I was in New York Rangers hockey gear, with my guitar, skating and shredding on the ice in an ode to “New York, New York” and Frank Sinatra. Up in the organ booth, I met the director of operations and all these people that are running the show there, and I told them about it, and they were like, “Send them to us.” So I sent it to them, and they loved it, and they were like, “We gotta have you come play.” I’m sure the SNL thing indirectly put me there. I think it all kind of helps each other.

I’ve never been an “Oh I’m so good” kind of person. I might joke around here and there, but I’ve never really been one to be outwardly outspoken about my instrument and what I can do on it. One thing I love about being the SNL guy is that I can just tell people that’s my job, and music people, they just assume, “Alright, you’re obviously somewhat good and have your shit together.” So it kind of alleviates me having to sell myself, which for me is the greatest, because I really dislike having to try to tell somebody that I’m good. I just don’t do it. I’m not into that. But it’s nice—you can assume what you want, but if I have this job, you know that obviously I’m not fucking around. So that’s an added benefit, a little bonus.

Just one more question. I’m curious about how SNL has affected your writing or your interest in different genres of music. Also, are you still a jamband guy?

The jamband thing kind of died when I went to college. I was into the jam thing because, at the time, I wanted to be the best guitar player in the world. I was into exploratory and creative type of things with the guitar, and that was who was doing it—outside of jazz, which I wasn’t really hip to yet. College came around, and I got more into Jeff Buckley, Radiohead, which brought me into more of the pop world. Then I was in this pop-rock band, I was listening to pop stuff and I got really into that. I was really into Third Eye Blind and Counting Crows. Ironically, I recently got to fulfill a lifelong dream: I got to play a song in a session for Third Eye Blind that was a B-side from their original album, which was maybe my favorite modern rock album of all time. So I got to know those guys—the new guys—and I got to hang out with Stephan [Jenkins] a bunch. I’m on their new single that is from that era but they rerecorded. That was pretty nuts.

My music taste kept changing, I went through a huge Tom Petty and Dylan and Elvis Costello thing when I was writing my songs and doing my own singing thing. Then I really became obsessed with the pop music scene, when Dr. Luke and Max Martin started ruling the world—the Kelly Clarkson and Katy Perry era. I started producing and got into that, and then, eventually, I got back into the Sigur Rós/Bon Iver phase—which will be a never-ending phase, because they are some of my favorite bands now. And then beat-makers—in the last four or five years, I got into a lot of hip-hop stuff and a lot of more electronic, beat-making types of things. Hudson Mohawke, Flying Lotus, all these bands. Because, as a producer, I love interesting tracks. So it’s always changed.

The thing with SNL that has been really unique is that I was never a big R&B and old soul music fan, and that’s a lot of the repertoire for some of the warmups for SNL and a lot of the classic vibes of the original music that Lenny has written for the show. So I really had to learn a lot of that music, and now I have such an appreciation and liking for that kind of stuff that I never thought I would—or just never planned on it.

I’ve written a bunch of songs for the SNL band that we have played on the show for the last four or five years. I never wrote horn lines or had to think about that, or write a funk guitar riff—that was never really in my wheelhouse of writing. So it’s definitely opened me up, and I think it’s been really helpful with all that stuff, just to get an idea of horns and arrangements and that kind of thing. Not to mention I’ve had some of those guys play on the Pearl Lion stuff. I have a song on the Dark EP called “Robert Paulson,” Lenny Picket plays the sax solo on it. It’s insane. I have my buddy Leon [Pendarvis], who’s the organ player, and he’s playing piano and organ on “Pearl,” which I have a video for that will come out eventually. It has just opened me up in every kind of musical way—checking out music that I never necessarily knew I was interested in, having people be able to play music on my project that I have access to now, playing incredible music that I never really played much before until SNL. The variety of music we play with the band is really thrilling. It’s a mega, mega music scenario in every way. You can’t help but have it affect you.