You've definitely seen Jared Scharff before, but you just didn't realize. Every Saturday night, Scharff is beamed into the televisions of millions at home on Saturday Night Live, where he's served as the lead guitarist for the SNL band for almost ten years. It's a position that's allowed him the privilege of playing along with the likes of Mick Jagger and Jeff Beck. Over our phone conversation, he ignited in excitement when talking about how much fun it all is.Scharff's come a long way, previously playing in the rock band Carbondale, who earned a signing with RCA records and were offered $500,000 to record their major label debut. After losing interest in the project, he left the band to pursue other bands, like his mid 2000s outfit Jared Scharff And The Royals. But now he's working on something totally different, the instrumental rock project "Pearl Lion." The project combines a myriad of different elements to create an ultra-sleek, modern rock sound. Synths course in and out of his riffing, giving a cool texture that glitches between heavy and poppy. It's an instrumental attack built up from years of experience in different bands, honing in on just how to make a sound new and progressive.We talked to Jared about not giving people SNL tickets, Lonelygirl15, and how to make kids dig guitar music in 2016.NOISEY: How many guitars do you own?
Jared Scharff: I started out with two. I had one guitar my whole life, basically, and when I got the SNL show I had two at that point, because I was in this band signed to RCA called Carbondale in the early 2000s. So I was like, “better get a backup” because we were going on tour and doing all these shows. So I had two Strats. When SNL happened I started hitting up a bunch of guitar makers, seeing what kind of gear I could get made for the show. So now I have a lot. [Laughs] Over ten, under 20. A lot of them are pretty custom which is nice. This guy Dennis Fano made this company Fano Guitars which was one of the first boutique guitar companies before that became a whole industry. He was kind of the first to not do a “relic” Fender or Gibson thing, he just did it by himself. And his company got huge eventually, I started using his company for a really long time. The first time I ever played one of his guitars, he had made one for James Valentine, the guitarist of Maroon 5. I’m good buddies with those dudes and James, and so he was like, “Hey, James is coming to SNL in two weeks. I know you wanted to check out one of these guitars, I need to send this to James. Can I send it to you so you can play it and give it to him?” And I did and totally fell in love and didn’t want to give it back. Since he left Fano he’s done Novo guitars, so all kinds of fun stuff.So your first guitar was a Strat?
Nah, it was a beginner’s Harmony Acoustic student model, and then my parents got me this Ibanez EX series which is the basic Ibanez model. I was big into metal in sixth grade, like Metallica and all that stuff. So I got one of those, and it was finally time to get my first big boy guitar, and I made the worst choice ever. I was primarily into metal and for some reason I bought this emerald green Ibanez that was a total shredder guitar. With like, sharktooth inlays, total quintessential shredder guitar. And I remember right before that I picked up a maple, Eric Clapton black strat that was just totally beautiful. For some reason I went with the Ibanez and to this day I wonder if I should’ve gotten that Strat. Years later I ended up getting one in high school, and that’s been my number one forever. It’s the guitar I hope I get buried with.So your parents heavily got you into music?
Yeah, my parents were super musical. My dad was the one that got me into Clapton and Cream, Hendrix, and forced me to watch Allman Brothers Live at Great Woods which I hated initially, which is hilarious because I grew to be totally obsessed with it. I studied that thing, jammed to that thing, like my VHS is worn the fuck out. That, Stevie Ray Vaughan, he definitely got me into that stuff, and at the same time I was into Smashing Pumpkins and Pearl Jam. And I started a love of pop and then producers which led me to Max Martin, Hudson Mohawke, Flying Lotus, that kind of thing.That’s like the perfect trajectory, I think, because when you’re a kid, rock music is all that matters.
Especially at that time, 'cause for a kid now, all there is is Justin Bieber, where there’s no guitar. That’s why the instrumental stuff, how do you make an instrumental record appeal to people who don’t really know what guitars are or don’t care about guitars? That’s the whole magic trick I’m trying to pull. [Laughs]So what's the secret? How do you make guitar music interesting to kids?
I think you just have to have a handle on what’s going on and be modern. The majority of stuff I listen to doesn’t involve guitars, so I’m kind of being inspired by so many other things that the guitar is the jumping off point from where I’m creating and creating music, but that doesn’t mean the song or track has to be guitar based. I have a song on the Light EP, I wrote as a solo guitar piece with a reverb effect, and already it was kind of hip. But I took out the bassnote so you’d hear the chords, and turned it into a pulsing eight-chord thing where I took the influence from Daft Punk’s Tron kinda stuff. Then I turned it into this whole other world of eight-note synth pulsing, atmospheric epic robot thing versus “here’s a guitar! And it’s normal!” It’s just intonation. So I write what I need to write, and the production dictates exactly where it goes.Who’s doing the most interesting stuff to you in the contemporary?
Honestly, it’s the beatmakers. It’s kind of like everything to Justice, Flying Lotus, Jamie XX and you take that mind with the indie, ambient stuff like Bon Iver, Jonsi-kind of lane. Which combines with the pop-producer thing which I’ve been doing for many years. So with the pop brain, you make sure it's concise and not masturbatory. And then that combines with the guitar element, whether it’s the classic rock ‘n’ roll stuff I grew up with, or the exploratory elements I’ve loved to do. To me, that’s what inspires this project. I think a lot about like, what would Hendrix be doing today with all of these evolutions in pedals? The only reason I don’t have 50 pedals is because you can’t travel with it.Alright, so one of the things I wanted to talk about, and you really have to believe me on this, is that in middle to high school, I was way fucking into that Jared Scharff and The Royals EP.
Oh shit! Dude, are you fucking serious? Holy shit.Yeah man. I was really into that old video series on YouTube, “Lonelygirl15” and one of the videos had the song “Stereo” and it totally clicked with me.
Oh yeah, that was that fucking weird Canadian thing. Yeah I remember that, vaguely. [Laughs] But man, that’s so random. The Royals thing was another spot where it wasn’t like I was trying to push the guitar thing forward, it was just writing songs, and that was it. It was still modern for the time, but man, that is so fucking funny. Did you ever see a show?Nah, I was living out in San Francisco and my parents rarely let me out of the house at that age.
Oh man, the shows were epic. [Laughs] Because I come from the jamband place, like the creative thing is what rules me. Like, whether it’s soloing and going on these exploratory jams or during a song or whatever, I always want to be creative. If nothing else, that’s what I love about music. The creation, the creative process. So now I’m doing that more when I’m creating new songs. When I do Pearl Lion live, I’m going to do some stuff I did with The Royals, but back then, the solo sections would be three minutes! It was totally fucking crazy, Allman Brothers craziness. Super jam time.So does every fifth grade classmate you’ve ever had ask you for SNL tickets?
Oh, all the time. Pretty much people from all walks of life, from high school or elementary school. People from college, people I just met. All the time, but totally understandable. And the good news is, I don’t get tickets! So I can’t take anybody, and I’m like, sorry! It’s a little bit of a blessing in disguise so I don’t have to hurt people’s feelings.What was the very first show you were on like?
Man, it was very nerve-wracking. I’m not a big sports guy, I’m a big hockey fan but I’m not a normal sports guy. So the whole time, I kept being like, “Who’s on the first show?” and they kept telling me his name and I had no idea who it was. And now of course it’s completely obvious. It’s LeBron James! [Laughs] At the time I had no idea who it was, and it was kind of the most amazing way to start SNL because it’s totally less pressure, I was totally clueless, like I didn’t know when to go to the bathroom or when to be on stage. Every moment I had to focus and pay attention, when the band leaves the stage that’s when I could leave the stage. And now I know all the timing of everything, but then it was like a “I have no idea what’s going to happen” kind of thing, but it was kind of awesome.So if you played in a club, is the stress totally non-existent?
Hmm, I wouldn’t say that. I’ve done a lot of house show gigs where the pressure is on. Like my last bigger profile gigs were doing stuff on the Kelly and Michael show, and then as the house band in the David Lynch Band, as well as the Sting Rainforest Benefit band. So, I guess I don’t really get nervous, I just get excited. I really like when that red light is on and when it’s important. My favorite moment playing on SNL is when we’re doing a band shot and the lights are blasting on me, and there’s a camera in my face. It all just ties into every part of making music for me. Let me show the world what I can do. Like, the music lover in me and the kid who music meant everything in the world for has to believe that, as long as you follow your heart and make the truest and most honest music you can, that you actually love. If you can do that for yourself, it translates for other people. I know that’s cliche, but I know it’s true. When things are honest and true, things will have legs and real success. And I’m hoping that will happen.
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Jared Scharff: I started out with two. I had one guitar my whole life, basically, and when I got the SNL show I had two at that point, because I was in this band signed to RCA called Carbondale in the early 2000s. So I was like, “better get a backup” because we were going on tour and doing all these shows. So I had two Strats. When SNL happened I started hitting up a bunch of guitar makers, seeing what kind of gear I could get made for the show. So now I have a lot. [Laughs] Over ten, under 20. A lot of them are pretty custom which is nice. This guy Dennis Fano made this company Fano Guitars which was one of the first boutique guitar companies before that became a whole industry. He was kind of the first to not do a “relic” Fender or Gibson thing, he just did it by himself. And his company got huge eventually, I started using his company for a really long time. The first time I ever played one of his guitars, he had made one for James Valentine, the guitarist of Maroon 5. I’m good buddies with those dudes and James, and so he was like, “Hey, James is coming to SNL in two weeks. I know you wanted to check out one of these guitars, I need to send this to James. Can I send it to you so you can play it and give it to him?” And I did and totally fell in love and didn’t want to give it back. Since he left Fano he’s done Novo guitars, so all kinds of fun stuff.
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Nah, it was a beginner’s Harmony Acoustic student model, and then my parents got me this Ibanez EX series which is the basic Ibanez model. I was big into metal in sixth grade, like Metallica and all that stuff. So I got one of those, and it was finally time to get my first big boy guitar, and I made the worst choice ever. I was primarily into metal and for some reason I bought this emerald green Ibanez that was a total shredder guitar. With like, sharktooth inlays, total quintessential shredder guitar. And I remember right before that I picked up a maple, Eric Clapton black strat that was just totally beautiful. For some reason I went with the Ibanez and to this day I wonder if I should’ve gotten that Strat. Years later I ended up getting one in high school, and that’s been my number one forever. It’s the guitar I hope I get buried with.So your parents heavily got you into music?
Yeah, my parents were super musical. My dad was the one that got me into Clapton and Cream, Hendrix, and forced me to watch Allman Brothers Live at Great Woods which I hated initially, which is hilarious because I grew to be totally obsessed with it. I studied that thing, jammed to that thing, like my VHS is worn the fuck out. That, Stevie Ray Vaughan, he definitely got me into that stuff, and at the same time I was into Smashing Pumpkins and Pearl Jam. And I started a love of pop and then producers which led me to Max Martin, Hudson Mohawke, Flying Lotus, that kind of thing.
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Especially at that time, 'cause for a kid now, all there is is Justin Bieber, where there’s no guitar. That’s why the instrumental stuff, how do you make an instrumental record appeal to people who don’t really know what guitars are or don’t care about guitars? That’s the whole magic trick I’m trying to pull. [Laughs]So what's the secret? How do you make guitar music interesting to kids?
I think you just have to have a handle on what’s going on and be modern. The majority of stuff I listen to doesn’t involve guitars, so I’m kind of being inspired by so many other things that the guitar is the jumping off point from where I’m creating and creating music, but that doesn’t mean the song or track has to be guitar based. I have a song on the Light EP, I wrote as a solo guitar piece with a reverb effect, and already it was kind of hip. But I took out the bassnote so you’d hear the chords, and turned it into a pulsing eight-chord thing where I took the influence from Daft Punk’s Tron kinda stuff. Then I turned it into this whole other world of eight-note synth pulsing, atmospheric epic robot thing versus “here’s a guitar! And it’s normal!” It’s just intonation. So I write what I need to write, and the production dictates exactly where it goes.Who’s doing the most interesting stuff to you in the contemporary?
Honestly, it’s the beatmakers. It’s kind of like everything to Justice, Flying Lotus, Jamie XX and you take that mind with the indie, ambient stuff like Bon Iver, Jonsi-kind of lane. Which combines with the pop-producer thing which I’ve been doing for many years. So with the pop brain, you make sure it's concise and not masturbatory. And then that combines with the guitar element, whether it’s the classic rock ‘n’ roll stuff I grew up with, or the exploratory elements I’ve loved to do. To me, that’s what inspires this project. I think a lot about like, what would Hendrix be doing today with all of these evolutions in pedals? The only reason I don’t have 50 pedals is because you can’t travel with it.
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Oh shit! Dude, are you fucking serious? Holy shit.Yeah man. I was really into that old video series on YouTube, “Lonelygirl15” and one of the videos had the song “Stereo” and it totally clicked with me.
Oh yeah, that was that fucking weird Canadian thing. Yeah I remember that, vaguely. [Laughs] But man, that’s so random. The Royals thing was another spot where it wasn’t like I was trying to push the guitar thing forward, it was just writing songs, and that was it. It was still modern for the time, but man, that is so fucking funny. Did you ever see a show?Nah, I was living out in San Francisco and my parents rarely let me out of the house at that age.
Oh man, the shows were epic. [Laughs] Because I come from the jamband place, like the creative thing is what rules me. Like, whether it’s soloing and going on these exploratory jams or during a song or whatever, I always want to be creative. If nothing else, that’s what I love about music. The creation, the creative process. So now I’m doing that more when I’m creating new songs. When I do Pearl Lion live, I’m going to do some stuff I did with The Royals, but back then, the solo sections would be three minutes! It was totally fucking crazy, Allman Brothers craziness. Super jam time.So does every fifth grade classmate you’ve ever had ask you for SNL tickets?
Oh, all the time. Pretty much people from all walks of life, from high school or elementary school. People from college, people I just met. All the time, but totally understandable. And the good news is, I don’t get tickets! So I can’t take anybody, and I’m like, sorry! It’s a little bit of a blessing in disguise so I don’t have to hurt people’s feelings.What was the very first show you were on like?
Man, it was very nerve-wracking. I’m not a big sports guy, I’m a big hockey fan but I’m not a normal sports guy. So the whole time, I kept being like, “Who’s on the first show?” and they kept telling me his name and I had no idea who it was. And now of course it’s completely obvious. It’s LeBron James! [Laughs] At the time I had no idea who it was, and it was kind of the most amazing way to start SNL because it’s totally less pressure, I was totally clueless, like I didn’t know when to go to the bathroom or when to be on stage. Every moment I had to focus and pay attention, when the band leaves the stage that’s when I could leave the stage. And now I know all the timing of everything, but then it was like a “I have no idea what’s going to happen” kind of thing, but it was kind of awesome.So if you played in a club, is the stress totally non-existent?
Hmm, I wouldn’t say that. I’ve done a lot of house show gigs where the pressure is on. Like my last bigger profile gigs were doing stuff on the Kelly and Michael show, and then as the house band in the David Lynch Band, as well as the Sting Rainforest Benefit band. So, I guess I don’t really get nervous, I just get excited. I really like when that red light is on and when it’s important. My favorite moment playing on SNL is when we’re doing a band shot and the lights are blasting on me, and there’s a camera in my face. It all just ties into every part of making music for me. Let me show the world what I can do. Like, the music lover in me and the kid who music meant everything in the world for has to believe that, as long as you follow your heart and make the truest and most honest music you can, that you actually love. If you can do that for yourself, it translates for other people. I know that’s cliche, but I know it’s true. When things are honest and true, things will have legs and real success. And I’m hoping that will happen.