'SNL' Guitarist Jared Scharff Releases Debut Music Video, "Alpha4"

Over the past few years, Saturday Night Live guitarist Jared Scharff has created his own instrumental music under the name Pearl Lion.

He has created two opposing EP's (both of which are unreleased at this time) and today offers up his debut music video for "Alpha4."

The video is a collaboration with FOX ADHD (Animation Domination High Def) featuring IRL and animation. It portrays a day in the life of a B-list video game hero, Alpha4, and highlights a few of his ups and downs. Ultimately, it's a story about finding a place where the differences between all of us are celebrated.

The song is an uptempo fuzz-a-thon with more of an urban/edm beat.

"I was going for a very simple and hypnotic groove/bass situation while the guitars would continue to evolve throughout the song," Scharff says. "Prince's 'Kiss' was an inspiration on that end. I also kept the exact same guitar sound for the entire main part, from start to finish. I wanted to let the songwriting and parts do all the talking but have the sonics create a gnarly vibe/sound. I used my Earthquaker Bit Commander with an old Whammy 1 to create that sound. I'm essentially emulating a synth.

"The other crazy blips and bloops guitar lead is from the Zvex Fuzz Factory. I had my friend, Tim Schoenhals, who was engineering the session for me, mess with the knobs as I jammed out. It's always so much fun to get two people to get in and alter a sound in real time. The spooky-synth type layers in the B section is the Eventide H9 doing the shimmer thing."

For more Pearl Lion music, follow along on Soundcloud. To check out Scharff's "Unnecessary Shredding" videos on GuitarWorld.com, head here.