After a bit of a break from shooting live music, I headed out a week ago to see and support a friend and check out some new tunes at Nederland’s The Caribou Room. Powerhouse duo Sgt. Splendor was making their way through Colorado, and they had invited Dave Watts, drummer and founder of Colorado funk legends The Motet and Bassist Patrick Smith from the Dallas/Ft Worth area. I wasn’t familiar in any way with the music prior to the show, but lets just say I was pleasantly mind-blown.
The duo consists of guitarist and flautist Kate Vargas and Eric McFadden. Kate has been growing in the music world with highly regarded acclaims by NPR, HuffPost, SPIN, No Depression, Rolling Stone and more. Eric brings a wide array of playing experience with George Clinton’s P-Funk All Stars, Anders Osbourne, Fishbone’s Angelo Moore and many others, along with a number of solo albums and side projects with Jackson Browne, Joe Strummer of The Clash and more.
Sgt. Splendor is self-described as a unique Alt-Funk, Desert Roots, Dirty Blues and Rock combination. Taking some major influence from Tom Waites, the band weaves an original musical tapestry that wends it’s way down roads sometimes dark and mysterious, sometimes deep and soulful, with occasional drifting along tucked away dirt lanes of psychedelia.
The band is out on the road promoting their album Death of the Hootchie Coo, and as they travel around the country, they invite friends along for the ride. The 4-night Colorado run brought funk beast Dave Watts into the mix along with bass-master Patrick Smith. While they had certainly rehearsed and enjoyed their first night of the run, it wasn’t as though the band had had a lot of experience together. That said, one would never have been able to tell from the stunning show that was borne out through the evening.
Each member brought their own variety of spectacular talent, and while the songs were relatively new to Dave and Patrick, the unit so seamlessly meshed together that the sound was as though they all had been playing together from the inception of the band. Tight doesn’t even begin to describe how well they played together. At one point it was mentioned that they had recently watched the new rockumentary Becoming Led Zeppelin, and one could tell it had made quite an impact, with a number of Zeppelin classic teases and a few moments reminiscent of The Song Remains the Same.
After the show it was a pleasure to meet and chat briefly with Kate and Eric. You couldn’t ask for a more humble and friendly pair of stunning talent. While it’s hard to say how often Dave and Patrick might play with the duo again, I highly recommend checking out Sgt. Splendor if they make their way to your area. I guarantee you will not be disappointed in the least, and make sure you show some extra love and grab some vinyl of Death of the Hootchie Coo while you’re at it!
Show some love and grab the album here!
https://color-red.com/products/pre-order-sgt-splendor-death-of-the-hoochie-koo
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