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Late Night With Seth Meyers is breaking up with its live house band
AV Club link: https://www.avclub.com/late-night-with-seth-meyers-is-breaking-up-with-its-hou-1851534135
Proving, once again, that pumping $2 billion into Peacock might have been the wrong move, NBC has informed the house band for Late Night With Seth Meyers that their nightly services are no longer required. The show’s 8G Band will no longer appear live on the show, at least not regularly, starting with season 12 this fall.
In an interview with Vulture, 8G Band keyboardist Eli Janney said that Meyers and showrunner Mike Shoemaker broke the news following months of negotiations, expressing “regret and frustration” over the decision, which stems from recent budget cuts at Comcast. “In the end, NBC was adamant about where they wanted the budget to go,” Janney told Vulture. “It’s not just the band; there’s a whole crew that works with the band, so there’s a lot of people employed. I think this was an easy way for them to cut the budget. Easy is not the right word.”
The 8G Band took over for The Roots when Seth Meyers assumed the Late Night desk from outgoing host Jimmy Fallon. Fronted by Meyers’ old SNL buddy Fred Armisen, the band would see its famous guitarist entering and exiting the group over the next 12 years as Janney, guitarist Seth Jabour, and bassist Syd Butler dutifully played walk-on music over for the host’s guests daily. 8G differentiated itself from previous late-night bands by welcoming guest drummers to fill in for Armisen in his absence. Season 11 of the show will be the last with a consistent house band, but Janney indicates it’s “possible” they could occasionally return when Armisen is in town.
In the meantime, 8G will continue to make music for the show, pre-recording tracks for Late Night producers to play on air. However, we suppose that means we’ll hear fewer specific stings, like the teases to the James Bond theme when Pierce Brosnan is on, and even fewer special guest drummers. Before they leave, Janney hopes to “try all kinds of things,” such as “having some of our favorite drummers from the guest-drummers program” back. They even expect to have Armisen back for the last week of shows.
- more at link -
In an interview with Vulture, 8G Band keyboardist Eli Janney said that Meyers and showrunner Mike Shoemaker broke the news following months of negotiations, expressing “regret and frustration” over the decision, which stems from recent budget cuts at Comcast. “In the end, NBC was adamant about where they wanted the budget to go,” Janney told Vulture. “It’s not just the band; there’s a whole crew that works with the band, so there’s a lot of people employed. I think this was an easy way for them to cut the budget. Easy is not the right word.”
The 8G Band took over for The Roots when Seth Meyers assumed the Late Night desk from outgoing host Jimmy Fallon. Fronted by Meyers’ old SNL buddy Fred Armisen, the band would see its famous guitarist entering and exiting the group over the next 12 years as Janney, guitarist Seth Jabour, and bassist Syd Butler dutifully played walk-on music over for the host’s guests daily. 8G differentiated itself from previous late-night bands by welcoming guest drummers to fill in for Armisen in his absence. Season 11 of the show will be the last with a consistent house band, but Janney indicates it’s “possible” they could occasionally return when Armisen is in town.
In the meantime, 8G will continue to make music for the show, pre-recording tracks for Late Night producers to play on air. However, we suppose that means we’ll hear fewer specific stings, like the teases to the James Bond theme when Pierce Brosnan is on, and even fewer special guest drummers. Before they leave, Janney hopes to “try all kinds of things,” such as “having some of our favorite drummers from the guest-drummers program” back. They even expect to have Armisen back for the last week of shows.
3 replies
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= new reply since forum marked as read
The story says they'll still play pre-recorded music, they just won't go on live for the show. Won't be the same.
