08 November 2025

Sgt. Splendor at Hotel Utah | San Francisco | 11.05.25

ARTICLE CONTRIBUTED BY GABRIEL DAVID BARKIN | PUBLISHED ON November 8, 2025

Sgt. Splendor’s Lovely Hearts Club Show

San Francisco’s Hotel Utah hosted Sgt. Splendor for an early show on Wednesday night. (I’m gonna jump in here and say that I love seeing a weeknight show that ends before 10pm, giving me time to catch the final set of Danny’s Live Dead on my home through Fairfax!)

Have you seen Sgt. Splendor? Don’t you just love ‘em?

I mean, what’s not to love? Their enthusiasm is infectious. The partnership of Kate Vargas and Eric McFadden extends beyond the music, and that passion is palpable onstage and in their recordings. You could feel the amour at Hotel Utah. They love what they’re doing, and the fans love it too.

And talk about fun! First of all, these cats just look cool, always dressed in rockstar reds and blacks and posing like models on a runway. Every photog loves shooting McFadden with his flying dreadlocks and guitar hero pouts. Vargas has a smile that could light up a black hole.

Vargas also has a distinctive and beguiling voice, a mix of raspy 90’s post-punk alt’ishness and early Twentieth Century blues. Think Billy Holiday sings PJ Harvey, with a hint of Prince and a dash of, I don’t know, maybe Tom Waits? It’s a perfect fit for the lyrics, which often have funny, silly, catchy hooks. She accompanies McFadden on rhythm guitar and occasionally plays a flute lead. (Kudos to the guy who dutifully stood near the stage all night holding her flute for her and handed it up when she needed it.)

McFadden, of course, is a beast on guitar, truly one of the best in the biz. It’s no wonder he’s been asked to play on stage with everyone from Government Mule to Jackson Browne to Fishbone. Every song has a solo, and McFadden steps to the center of the stage to pull yet another magic fretboard trick out of his massive toolbox.

The Hotel Utah show was a pre-release promotion for Sgt. Splendor’s upcoming album Isotopia, which comes out later this month. (Vinyl copies were available at the show.) It’s the third record by the Sarge (can I coin that nickname?), and it falls in line with the blues-rock oeuvre of their earlier records. Which is to say, it stomps and romps with bits of funk, punk, rock, and all sorts of other cool words that end with a “K.”

Speaking of funk – a particularly awesome part of the show on Wednesday came in the second half of the set when Vargas passed her guitar over to Garrett Shider, son of Funkadelic legend Garry “Starchild” Shider. McFadden spent several years touring as a member of George Clinton’s P-Funk Allstars (or as his buddy Garrett called them, “The Funkadelics”). The two of them traded licks and got the crowd singing the anthemic line, “Shit, goddamn, get off your ass and jam!”

Angeline Saris is the band’s go-to bassist, and she fits in perfectly with Sgt. Splendor’s oh-so-cool vibe. Drummer Hassan Hurd made his first appearance with the band at the Hotel Utah show, taking cues from McFadden all night and adding some flair of his own along the way.