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Jared Scharff is a walking anachronism – a New Yorker that talks like a surfer from Huntington Beach, an
accomplished guitarist who only recently showed any signs of legitimate gear lust and a young man in a position
that typically takes years to achieve. Not only is Jared an in-demand studio and session musician, he also holds the
much coveted guitar spot in the Saturday Night Live Band.
“I’m not exactly sure of the numbers, but I think it was
something like 20 or so guitar players at that first audition. Now, every time I talk to somebody they’re like ‘Yeah,
my friend auditioned for that’ so maybe there’s more,” he recalls.
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Throughout our interview Jared continually
challenged convention. Here’s a guy
whose band was signed right out of college
– forget the fact that he’s a guitar
player who actually earned his diploma.
Until a year ago, he only owned two guitars
and he bought his very first tube amp
for the SNL gig. Stylistically, Jared always
makes sure to serve the song, but when
given the chance he’s more than happy to
burn through a few eights. Jared was kind
enough to take us through everything
from showcasing his first band to an anxiety
inducing description of his SNL auditions
to doing sessions by trading 1s and
0s back and forth as email attachments.
Let’s start at the beginning – what made
you start playing the guitar?
Well, I originally started playing drums
in the fourth grade, and around the fifth
or sixth grade my parents asked me if I
wanted to take private lessons outside of
school – they gave me the choice of three
instruments: drums, guitar and piano. I
choose drums because that’s what I was
playing, and they said “No, you already
do that in school.” So I said how about
piano, and they were like, “Well, you tried
that once and it didn’t really work out.”
So I was like, “Ok, I guess the guitar.” I
started taking lessons and I was terrible;
I couldn’t even play like a C chord for a
month. Somehow, that year or so I just
kind of kept doing it and I’ve been doing
it ever since.
What was your first band experience?
Was it while you were still in junior high
or high school, or was it later?
I went to a summer camp that was a
performing arts camp, and I played in
rock bands there actually. That’s where I
met Adam Levine and Jesse Carmichael
from Maroon 5. We played in rock bands
together at this performing arts camp
in upstate New York when I was like 12
or 13. I basically played in rock bands
all summer, and then when I was in high
school I had my first official, real band
called Velvet Frogg with two g’s. That
band lasted until the end of college. That
was my main thing for a long time. We
put out two CDs and it was kind of my
first serious, this-is-what-I-wanna-do-with-my-
life band.
Were you guys pursuing getting signed
or was it more just like coming home on
weekends and playing gigs while you
were in school? What was the focus?
The problem was that we started out in
high school when all we did was listen to
Phish, the Allman Brothers, Led Zeppelin,
the Dead – jam bands. We were very
jam-oriented when we started out, but
that’s not a label-friendly thing. As we
got older and started listening to more stuff, we got into more of the pop/rock
stuff and pursued that kind of thing. We
began to get a little bit of interest toward
the end of things but I also joined this
other band midway through college called
Carbondale, just to do something else. At
the time, it was a straight rock/pop band
and I had never really done that before,
so it was a challenge for me.
I went to the Hartt School of Music for
one year and studied jazz performance. I
then transferred to NYU and did jazz performance,
and I eventually got a Bachelor
of Science in music education. When I
graduated, Carbondale got signed to RCA
records, which kind of put a hold on the
Velvet Frogg thing. I figured, ok, I should
probably do this for a while and see
where it takes me.
Sounds like a dream gig – you get out
of college and you guys get signed to a
major label. What happened with that?
It was like a year or two of us playing
around and doing different demos and
kind of figuring our shit out. Once we
produced the right demo with the right
songs and our lawyer started shopping
it, we basically did three showcases and
got signed, it was really quick. We played
one show at Arlene’s Grocery in New
York where Jack Rovner, then president
at RCA who had been responsible for
bands like the Strokes came to our show.
He was late; I think he only saw a couple
of songs. He told our lawyer that night
that he wanted to sign us, so it was pretty
exciting. I think we got signed a day after
my birthday – it was pretty surreal. The
whole thing was unbelievably strange. I’ve
always wanted to be in a signed band, it
was always a big dream growing up. Back
then major labels were the ones that were
really able to affect your career. It’s not
like today where it doesn’t quite matter.
What time period are we talking about?
This was 2000. We got signed probably
in 2002.
So, this is around the time the Strokes
and all those kinds of bands had really
broken nationally?
Yeah, exactly. So we did a record with
a producer named John Fields who has
been responsible for bands like Switchfoot
and some huge records – Rooney, the
Jonas Brothers – he’s a huge producer. We
spent half a million dollars on the record,
the best mixers, the whole thing. During
the middle of the project the president
was fired and a new president came in.
We were still fine with the new president,
so things were still doing okay. Then Clive
Davis, the third president, came in when
J Records merged with RCA. He cleaned
house and dropped 30 or 40 bands, and
we were one of them. He didn’t know
who we were, so we got dropped and
ended up releasing the record ourselves.
You were dropped before the record
was released?
Right, typical major label story. We spent
some time touring and putting it out
ourselves. I always wanted to do my own
thing and the band was really cool, but
I just played guitar in that band. I had
always wanted to write and sing my own
songs and stretch out on guitar, and that
band was kind of the opposite of that. I
just needed to go and follow my heart
and do what I wanted. That’s why I left
and started doing my own thing again.
Is this when you did The Coast EP? Was
that a reaction to your band/label experience?
The first CD of mine,
The Coast EP, was
done after doing maybe two or three
demos of me writing a bunch of different
material and finally figuring out the direction
I wanted to go in, but playing all of
the instruments myself was definitely a
direct reaction to being in a band. I wanted
to do everything because I didn’t want
to deal with anyone else’s comments,
arguments, anything.
Jared Scharff and the Royals |
So, had you just left a situation where
the songs came in, and it’s like, “Here,
figure out a riff to go on top of this,”
kind of thing? “Here’s the changes…”
Yeah, I wrote my own guitar parts but the
singer brought in the songs. We didn’t
have the best relationship as a band and
I just didn’t want to deal with anything
like that – I wanted to do everything the
way I wanted to do it. I was pretty efficient
at the instruments I played on the
demo and I knew that I could do it really
quickly. I didn’t want anything to stand
in the way of my vision. And also, as part
of your question, it always had been a
dream of mine to do a record myself, like
David Grohl or Paul McCartney. I play all
those instruments and love it. I started
playing out and I finally got a band
together who ended up being some of
my closest friends.
The Royals?
Yeah. Eventually, once
we all kind of realized
that was the jam, we
were all like, “All right!
Let’s do this!” Then we
gave the band a name.
Is the Royals’ material
a natural progression
from The Coast EP – is
it similar stylistically?
As it’s gone on, it has
gotten more focused,
but, yes, it’s similar material. The material
has certainly continued to evolve and
become more specific.
Have you been able to get things where
you want them?
We put out another EP after that, called
Jared Scharff and the Royals. And again,
that was all me playing everything, and
even from there we’ve gotten more
specific. Now we are actually putting
out a new EP with the whole band on it
– we’re working on that now. That will
probably be the most realized sound
we’ve had yet.
I noticed that the tunes you have posted
on your MySpace page are really radio
friendly. The guitar, the riffs and the solos
all serve the tune. You’ve got some pretty
obvious chops – when you guys are
out playing out do you stretch that out
a little bit? Do your three minute songs
turn into six minute songs or do you
keep it pretty focused and structured?
Tom Petty is like my biggest hero of
music, and I just wanted to write really
great rock-pop songs that were a more
classic-oriented but also a little edgy and
modern. I just try to create an interesting
solo that fits within the framework of
that. You still get the guitar aspect of that
and people say, “This is kind of different
– there’s a guitar solo. No one’s doing
that anymore.” That was the goal of that.
Live, there are a couple songs where we
do stretch out – there’s probably three
songs we stretch out, where we just go
off and do the thing. For me that’s really
important because that’s what I love to do
when I play – I love just having an open
road and being able to go where I need
to go. And that probably brings me back
because of my influences when I was in
high school. All those jam bands – Phish
and the Dead and the Allman Brothers
– were really exploratory and creative, and
that was something I was always interested
in. So we definitely do a little bit of
that, but we don’t do it all the time – we
just do a little bit of it for our own fun and
to change it up.
How did the Saturday Night Live gig
come about?
Well, I’ve known Dr. Luke, who besides
being the SNL guitar player for the last
ten years is also one of the biggest songwriters
out there right now. He’s responsible
for “Since You’ve Been Gone” by
Kelly Clarkson and “Girlfriend” with Avril
Lavigne. You name it, he’s been a part of
it. I’ve known him for a bunch of years and
he wanted me to audition for the gig. I
met Lenny Pickett, the bandleader, and he
had everyone come in to hang. I basically
brought my guitar, met [Lenny] and talked
for two hours, played through a couple
of SNL charts and that was the audition.
I got a callback to play with the entire
rhythm section and Lenny. I’m not exactly
sure about the numbers, but I think it was
something like 20 or so guitar players
that went to that first audition. But every
time I talk to somebody they’re like “Yeah,
my friend auditioned for that” so maybe
there’s more.
I got a callback, along with three other
guitarists, to play with the rhythm section
at a rehearsal studio on a Sunday morning
at 9 a.m. For a musician, that’s pretty
much torture – I don’t usually go to sleep
until four or five in the morning. But, I just
went early and tried to warm up and listen
to what was going on. In the rehearsal
room, I tried to hear what I was in for –
even though I really didn’t – and I did the
best I possibly could. That was probably
the first time in a really long time where I
was actually nervous.
Ellen Page hosts Saturday Night Live as Jared (with the red Tele) looks on.
I was going to ask when that “Holy shit!
This is Saturday Night Live” moment
happened.
It was probably at that point when I knew I
was playing with world class musicians. I’ve
played with some great musicians in my
time, but I haven’t necessarily played with
people with credits like this. I was really
nervous – it was scary, as well as interesting
and exhilarating to play with them.
That was also probably the hardest thing
I’ve ever done musically, because I’m not
a great sight reader. For SNL, you have to
be able to read music and for the auditions
we had eight songs that we had to
run down. So basically they’d put a song
in front of me and say, “It’s this song.
We’ll give you a second to look at it.”
And then the drummer, Shawn Pelton,
goes, “All right, I’m gonna count it off,”
and then we’re
in! I’m looking
at the chart
and then he
goes bah-bahboomp-
boompboomp,
and
I’m just like,
“Oh my God!”
and I’m already
playing down
the song. I’m
thinking, “What
the hell am I
doing?” and then the song’s over. Then he
counts in the next tune. It was just crazy.
After I was done, I tried to say hello and
thank you to everyone for letting me come
in. They were really nice and tried to make
me feel as comfortable as they could,
even though no matter what they said I
wouldn’t have been comfortable, but they
were amazing during the auditions.
About a month later I was flying to San
Francisco for a vacation. My girlfriend
at the time picked me up at the airport.
We got in the car and started driving
and within five minutes I got a phone
call from Lenny. I was like, “Oh shit, this
is either gonna ruin my vacation or be
amazing.” He said, “Hey man, it’s Lenny.
You got the gig!” I was really excited and,
to be honest, I was psyched to finally be
able to make a living playing music – it
took a long time to do that. Plus, I was
really honored to be chosen to play with
world class musicians. It was a really huge
accomplishment for me knowing that I
auditioned for that and I got it. Plus, I was
excited about all the things that could
possibly come out of being on TV, playing
music and starting to build up some gear.
I’ve never really had money to buy gear.
I’d like to revisit the gear thing later,
but this is the kind of gig that your
aunt and grandmother could be stoked about. I can imagine it’s one of those
gigs that your folks can play up because
everybody knows Saturday Night Live.
It’s not, “Oh, he got signed and his
band is doing well.” That’s nebulous to
a lot of people. This is a for-real, huge
thing, yeah?
It’s funny, because I’ve been doing music
my entire life. I’ve been in a signed band,
I’ve done my own stuff, I’ve done a lot
of work and no one ever cared. I get this
gig, and everyone’s like, “Wow!” Does
that mean everything else I’ve done is
total crap no one cared about? [Laughs]
It’s just the profile – it’s a very high profile
gig. How is the gig itself? What was
it like going in for the first time?
After my one week vacation, I was going
to be in L.A. for the summer. Lenny sent
me a package with a ton of CDs and
sheet music so I could get familiar with
the material – there were over 150 songs.
I spent a lot of my vacation going over
that music so that I was ready to go when
I had rehearsals with the band. I take what
I do very seriously; I’m not the guy that
takes it so seriously that you can’t talk to
me, but I make sure I’m on time and I’m
prepared. I didn’t want to make any mistakes
– I wanted to show the rest of the
band that they had made the right choice.
I worked my ass off that whole summer on
sight reading and working on the material.
We had two rehearsals – four or five hour
sessions – which was the first time I met
everybody,
and they were
so cool. For
the second or
third song of
the rehearsal
we played a
Jimi Hendrix
tune. When it
was time for
my solo I just
really went
for it. After
the song, the
trumpet player
came over and
started waving
his hands in
front of me to
cool me off.
Everybody
was laughing
and being
kind, so it was
pretty funny.
Tell us about
playing a
show.
We soundcheck
and
basically load
into Studio
8H, which is
where we do the show. When I got there it was kind
of a trip; I’m onstage at my station with
my new molded in-ears because we don’t
have any sound on stage and my amp
cabinet is in the back in an isolated trunk
– it was strange. It was the first time I was
using this new amp I had bought and I
could only hear it in the monitor. You have
a mix – there’s a ten-piece band and no
one is even touching their mix dials – they
already have it down – and I’m thinking,
“What am I doing?” I kind of started to
get it toward the end [of rehearsal] and
then we had our first show.
What happens on the day of the show is
we have band rehearsal from 11a.m. to
1p.m. – I usually show up around 10:30.
After that, we have a break until about
4:30 before coming back and doing
monologues with the host. We play the
song down once, then we have a dinner
break. After that, we have the dress
rehearsal. That is when we play five or
six songs before the show actually starts;
three or four tunes and then there’s some
standup comedy and then we’ll play one
or two more songs for the audience and
the show starts.
We play the show, and once the show
is over we have a half-hour to an hour
break, depending on how long the dress
rehearsal runs. Next, we do the same
thing over again live. I remember that first
dress rehearsal; I couldn’t have been more
nervous. One of my friends came down to
the dress rehearsal and I had no idea he
was coming. It was the kind of thing where
I just wanted to do it on my own and not
have anyone there – I just wanted to get it
over with and he was in the front row – it
was nerve-racking. Once we played that
monologue song, there was another, “Oh
my god, this is SNL”moment. Another
thing is that once the monologue starts
and I’m on screen, my face itches uncontrollably
– of course. Now I know to itch
when I’m not on camera. It’s calmed down,
but that was insane!
How long was it until you caught the
show’s rhythm?
It took me many shows to really get into the flow. It’s strange, we play the whole
intro thing and we play the theme song,
the monologue and then the sketch, so we
play two and a half to three minutes of a
song and then there’s a sketch – it’s always
different. Then we play a song and then
there are two sketches. Then we have to
get off stage while the other band plays
and, of course, come back. I used to be
like, “Wait, do we leave now? Where do
we go? How long do we stay here? When
do we have to come back?” Everyone was
just like, “It’s cool. Just come back.” It
didn’t make sense to me at first; everyone
else thought it was easy because they
have been doing it for so long.
When did the coming and going get
comfortable for you?
It was right before the writer’s strike
– probably our fourth or fifth show – when
I finally started to get it, then we had the
strike. Of course, the one year that I get
here, there’s a writer’s strike. That’s so
appropriate for my life!
Along with the SNL gig, you’re also
doing session work on the West coast.
Were you doing this beforehand, or has
this been happening since the Saturday
Night Live gig?
I started coming out to L.A. last year. My
ex-girlfriend lived here, so I was coming
out quite a bit because of that and the
music thing. That started during the SNL
season – I hadn’t really been to L.A. that
much before that. I’ve started doing more
session work since then because I was out
here often and had the time, especially
during the writer’s strike. I used to do session
work in New York, but there’s not a
lot of rock/pop things happening for studio
musicians – a lot of people are doing
everything at home. But in L.A. there’s still
a huge studio scene; every time I come
out here I’m working.
What kind of work are you doing?
I’m primarily doing two things: recording
sessions for artists like Kate Voegele –
she’s on
One Tree Hill and has a MySpace
record, a soul, R&B-type record for Josh
Hogue and a rock/pop session for Ace
Enders [ex-The Early November] for Drive-Thru Records. I’ve done all sorts of different
things, which is really fun for me. The
people who call me have me playing all
types of sessions. I’m also taking this time
to write. I do a lot with other writers, and
I have a writing partner, as well as a bunch
of other writers that I work with. We’re
writing and producing these songs to get
pitched for major Top 40 acts.
You were talking about doing some
home-based session work – would you
walk us through a typical session?
I get a lot of emails and calls asking if I
will do a session. They’ll send me some
mp3 files, I do what I want and send it back. Sometimes they’re songwriting
demos, sometimes they are finished products;
I just did a Kid Rock remix the other
day. Let’s use that as an example. Atlantic
asked Point Guard, the producer, to do
a remix, so he totally changed the whole
thing, sent it to me, and said “Rock some
guitars on it.” The best part about it is
these people know that I can do a lot of
different shit so they never tell me what
to do. It gives me some creative freedom
which makes it really fun to do – it’s like,
“Do your thing.”
I really try to play what’s appropriate
for the song; whatever vibe I get from
the song I try to enhance. This song
had a Michael Jackson “Beat It” vibe,
so I really just started doing this kind of
crazy Thriller-era guitar part. I used Line
6 GearBox – I’m a huge fan. I plug it into
my Pro Tools and two hours later I have
a rockin’ track and I’m done. I just save
all the files as mp3s and call it a day. I’ve
done that for a lot of people.
Let’s stay with gear for a second. You’re
a Strat guy, but you keep it pretty minimal,
yeah? You had to buy the amp for
the SNL gig, didn’t you?
Yep, yep.
What did you end up buying?
From 1990 until about a year ago I had
two guitars, that was it. Those were the
only guitars I had! I owned an amp in high
school that was a solid-state Fender Stage
112 that I still used even when I was signed
to RCA! I’m terrible at making decisions.
I always wanted to get a tube amp, but
I used so many different sounds on the
Carbondale record that there was never
any one amp that stood out. So I just used
an amp that I had forever and knew what
it sounded like. It had a good clean sound
and I used a pedalboard – it was easy, call it
a day. It became this funny thing; since the
record I was supposed to buy an amp, and
it turned into three years of never buying an
amp. When I’ve done my own stuff, I used
a friend’s amp. He has this Fender Hot Rod
Blues Deluxe, or something like that. I’m
not exactly sure. I’m terrible with this stuff.
How many speakers does it have?
It’s a 1x12 combo. I live in New York City
and I don’t have a car; you don’t want to
be traveling with a big amp – you really
can’t do that. So you’re kind of stuck with
a small combo amp that needs to have a
little bit of power and sounds decent. And
his did – it sounded good with pedals,
you know? With SNL, you’re not allowed
to have an amp on stage, and I figured it
was time for me to get a tube amp. I’ve
been playing guitar for, what, 15 years?
It’s about time I get a real amp.
You can treat yourself, you’ve got an
nice gig.
I wanted to get an amp that would be
right for this gig, so I did a lot of research,
asking around and seeing what people
had to say. I couldn’t really get a total rock
amp because a lot of this stuff is clean
funk and blues, but I also needed something
with a rockin’ solo sound – that’s
where I can express my individuality.
I looked at a bunch of different things and
eventually plugged into Bruno Super 100.
I had literally never heard anything like it.
I started playing and I had never sounded
better. I was like, “Holy shit! This is my
sound!” I heard what I’ve always wanted
to hear when I play a lead – it was retarded,
it just ripped my face off, I was so into
it! The amp head was like $6200, way out
of my budget. I thought, “There’s no way
I can do this. This is a rock amp, it probably
doesn’t even have a good clean.”
And I was checking out the clean channel
and it actually sounded pretty good. It
was a 6L6 amp and I was looking for more
of a Fender sound because I knew Lenny
Pickett was like a big fan of the old Fender
Bassmans, so I didn’t want to stray too
far from that – I didn’t want to go British.
I played with the amp for a while and the
clean sound was really good and it stayed
clean, even for a two-channel amp that
had that a searing, articulate lead sound. I
got the amp and used it on the show – it
was the very first amp that I actually ever
owned that was like a “big boy” amp.
Now I love using all sorts of stuff. I’m a huge Matchless fan and I’m getting into
more, different sounds. Now I’m really into
the British EL84 and EL34 sounds I was
never into before. I’m appreciating different
amps and it would be fun to try out
some different amps on the show. I recently
checked out some 65Amps for a recording
session here; Dan [Boul, owner of 65Amps]
brought down three different heads for us
to use, and they sounded great, too.
The 65s have a nice thing going on; Dan
and Peter are on to something.
Yeah, their new amp, the Monterey, sounded
phenomenal. I’m more into gear now
that I have somewhere where I can use it.
Let’s go back to the Strats for a second.
I just had those two guitars and I started
contacting some other people. I have a
good relationship with Fender and they’ve
been really good to me. I’ve always used
Strats, but I also wanted to get some
other things. I came upon this Nash Strat
which I love and sounds amazing. I’ve
used that on the show, along with a KLH
[Custom Relics] Tele. I’ve always wanted
a Tele and I really like this stuff that these
guys are doing where they relic the guitar.
They feel really good; they sound and feel
old. I don’t really like pretty, clean and
new; I like character,
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Jared’s Gearbox
When Jared’s entertaining
the masses, here’s what he
plugs into:
GUITARS
2 Fender Strats
Nash Stratocaster
KLH Custom Relic Telecaster
First Act Delia
AMPS
Bruno Super Lead 100
Bruno 2x12 cab w/
60-watt Celestions
1968 Fender Vibro Champ
EFFECTS
Analog Man Sun Face
Boss Tuner
Cusack Tap-A-Whirl
EH Memory Man
Fulltone Fulldrive
Fulltone Supa-Trem
H.B.E. Big D
H.B.E. Budda Wah
H.B.E. Germania
H.B.E. Uno Mos
2-Knob Keeley Compressor
Keeley-modded -
Tube Screamer
Line 6 DL4
Line 6 Verbzilla
Sweet Sound Pro Bender
Sweet Sound Ultra Vibe
T-Rex Replica
ACCESSORIES
D’Addario strings
Planet Waves cables
Pedaltrain pedalboards
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I like style. When I
come to L.A., I bring a Strat and a bag of
pedals in my suitcase and just show up to
sessions. People are generally pretty cool
about me not having a ton of gear – they
know I’m in New York and can’t bring
an amp. But most people who have real
studios have some amps there anyway, so
that’s how I get away with it.
Tell us about some of your pedals.
When I got this SNL gig I also started
looking at what would be the right pedals
for the show. I did a lot of research, and
you know there are a lot of good pedal
makers out there, but the ones that I am
really into lately are Analog Man, Keeley,
Sweet Sound and Home Brew Electronics
– those are the majority of the pedals
that I use. For my SNL solos I have a HBE
Wah and a pedal called the Uno Mos,
which is a one-knob gain pedal. I also use
Keeley’s Modded Tube Screamer; it sounds
phenomenal. In my opinion, it’s the best
sounding Tube Screamer around; I take
it anywhere I go. There’s also a Keeley
Compressor, an Analog Man Sun Face,
which is the gnarliest fuzz – I bring that to
the L.A. sessions. I use the Sweet Sound
Ultra Vibe for SNL because it’s just good to
have a little bit of that sound. What else?
The Sweet Sound Pro Bender for more fun
stuff. I also always bring my [EH] Memory
Man, which is one of my favorite toys of all
time – I can’t go to any session without it.
Is it vintage or a newer one?
I got it in 2000. It sounds better than
the newer ones but it’s not like vintage
vintage. It just sounds amazing. When
I know I’m gonna be [in L.A.] for a long
time, I ship out my Tele, but I always bring
my Nash [Strat]. Right now, I have my
Nash and the KLH here, which I just lent
to James Valentine from Maroon 5 for a
show. So basically, a Strat and Tele, those
are my jams. For SNL I also wanted a 335-
style guitar just because we do a lot of
jazz and stuff that that guitar would sound
really good on. So I ended up getting in
contact with First Act and they made me
a really amazing custom Delia. I’ve used
that on the show.
The First Act custom shop stuff is really
sick.
Yeah, they’re doing great stuff. And that
guitar just kills – it sounds amazing. Those
guys at First Act are really nice and cool.
I’m originally a Fender guy, and I’ll always
be a Fender guy at heart, but I’m bringing
some other stuff into the arsenal. But at the
end of the day, it’s always a Strat or a Tele.
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