As a part of the Killers’ touring band for the past 15 years, Ted Sablay has built a staggeringly impressive CV. He has worked on million-selling albums; played three world tours that have taken him to the world’s biggest stages, including Madison Square Garden and Wembley Stadium; performed at the White House for President Barack Obama; and recently collaborated with Bruce Springsteen. (And much of that while he was pursuing a master’s in accounting at UNLV, which he earned in 2016.)
Yet Sablay, originally of Fond du Lac, Wisconsin, but a Las Vegas resident since 1991, has never released music under his own name—until now. In March, he released his first solo single, “Just Out of Reach,” and in May followed it up with his second, “Fall Out of Love.” Both are available on Spotify, YouTube Music and other
streaming services, and you should go listen to them now. Then you, too, can come back with the burning question I had for this ultra-prepared first-timer: My dude, where have you been?
“I’ve been a musician”—Sablay says, then modestly corrects himself—“a technician who plays an instrument since I was 5 years old. I feel confident I know what I’m doing there; I’ve done it so much that I don’t get nervous anymore. But when charged with writing a song about my feelings …” He laughs. “It’s totally different. But it’s been fun. If anything, I’m starting to realize how damn hard it is.”
If Sablay struggled a bit with these tracks, you’d never know it by listening. Conceived in the pandemic doldrums, “Just Out of Reach” is easygoing, Paul Westerberg-esque guitar pop, while the wistful, shimmering “Fall Out of Love,” which Sablay wrote in response to a series of personal tragedies, evokes The War on Drugs and, yes, a wee bit of The Killers. If luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity, Sablay’s music comes from professionalism meeting creative freedom. This isn’t the work of a technician, but a natural-born singer-songwriter—and if COVID-19 hadn’t scuttled The Killers’ 2020 touring plans, we might not have heard it.
“It’s kind of cool, because for the first time I feel like I was in the place that a lot of people who start writing music are in—‘Well, I gotta make this happen,’” Sablay says. “There was no one else I could go to; I don’t have a band. And it’s been a long time coming; people always asked me, ‘Do you have any of your own material?’ but it’s never really been a focus of mine. It was fun to finally get something out there.”
Sablay is now focused on putting together an EP of songs for a September release, while also giving music lessons via Zoom and working as a contract, er, Killer. And he’s making a point of enjoying this new adventure.
“For the longest time, my attention has been split between music and college,” he says. “I know Springsteen says you’ve got to hate school if you want to be a rocker, but I’ve always liked it and focused on it.”
TED SABLAY linktr.ee/tedsablay
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