After 11 seasons as the house band on Late Night with Seth Meyers, the 8G Band — led by Fred Armisen on drums and also featuring Les Savy Fav's Syd Butler and Seth Jabour, as well as Girls Against Boys' Eli Janney — are being laid off, Vulture reports.
According to Janney, who also serves as associate musical director on the show, host Seth Meyers's eponymous program is undergoing a "revamp" for Season 12 — set to premiere in September — due to budgetary reasons. The news was also confirmed by a second source, with Vulture likewise noting that NBC laid off somewhere between 50 and 100 employees in January.
"We're still going to make music for them, but we just won't be playing it live," Janney clarified, adding that he's not part of the discussion for how the show is going to change with the slashed budget.
He explained, "It's also just a sad day for Late Night, because it's been going for over 40 years now. But, sadly, it's the reality of broadcast and a shrinking market — streaming eating into this, and YouTube eating into that. Streaming is not making money, either. So budgets everywhere have been cut and cut and cut. I liken it to a Spotify moment in music, where suddenly it's like, 'Nobody wants to pay for music.' Music gets devalued."
Across their 11 seasons on the show, the 8G Band has had countless famous musicians like J Mascis and St. Vincent sit in with them. (Next week, they'll welcome Gojira drummer Mario Duplantier.) Marnie Stern was also a part of the 8G Band up until 2022.