When producers at Late Night with Seth Meyers told keyboardist and associate musical director Eli Janney the show would eliminate its live backing group, The 8G Band, due to budget cuts, he wasn’t all that surprised. “This was a moment, honestly, we all saw coming,” said Janney, who made his name as a bassist and keyboardist for the indie rock band Girls Against Boys – and as a producer with artists like James Blunt – before musical director Fred Armisen asked him to join Late Night ’s backing group in 2014. Janney says Armisen was looking to bring an indie rock band into the world of late night TV.
Along with Janney on keyboards and Armisen on guitar, they had Seth Jabour on guitar, Marnie Stern on guitar, Syd Butler on bass and Kimberly Thompson on drums. But when Armisen’s performing career took off, he wound up leaving Janney in charge – returning for short stints as a guest drummer several times a year. “About six months into the show, [Armisen] was like, ‘Hey I have to go work on the next season of Portlandia , I should be back in about 30 days,” Janney said, laughing.
“And then he just never came back [full time].” Thompson and Stern eventually left the band, and 8G began playing with a succession of guest drummers, including Iron Maiden’s Nicko McBrain, Styx’s Todd Sucherman and Queens of the Stone Age’s Jon Theodore. Janney said they likely performed with over 300 drummers; Taylor Hawkins of the Foo Fighters was on their schedule to ap.