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After NBC revealed that Portlandia star/Saturday Night Live alum Fred Armisen is joining Late Night With Seth Meyers as the show's guitar-slinging bandleader, some derided the decision as a questionable choice. After all, Late Night With Jimmy Fallon recruited the Roots, while Late Night With Conan O'Brien tapped Bruce Springsteen's drummer Max Weinberg. A TV comedian is a far cry from rock or hip hop royalty.

But Armisen's musical abilities go far beyond the pitch-perfect rock parodies he demonstrated on SNL. From drumming in a Chicago hardcore outfit in the '90s to appearing in Wilco's 2002 documentary to playing with Blue Man Group (seriously), here are 5 Things You Didn't Know About Fred Armisen's Musical Past.