[Above: Kate Vargas and Eric McFadden of Sgt. Splendor rockin’ Hardly Strictly Bluegrass in Golden Gate Park, Friday October 4, 2024. Photo by Linda Kelly]
Hey lovely People! Thanks for hoppin’ over to the website and hangin out here in Haight Street Voice-land!
Since the ‘90s, Eric McFadden’s been rocking the SF music scene. Add Kate Vargas to the mix and the groove gets even groovier. Meet Sgt Splendor!
[Video hang with Kate and Eric, San Francisco, 2024]
HSV: Y’all are hot off the heels of playing the Haight Ashbury Street Fair. Tell me about that!
KV: I’d never even been to the HASF before! I’m still feeling the buzz of it. It felt like I was in another time. To be a part of it after 45 year, I could feel in that street the energy from its past. It felt magical.
EM: It was one of my favorite shows in a long time because SF of course is so important to me and a big part of my life. It’s been a long time since I did the HASF, so to do it with Sgt. Splendor was just amazing.
KV: One thing about being at the Fair … I hear a lot from Eric about SF in the ‘90s. The community that existed got kind of lost a bit. They all were figuring it out in the SF music scene. But at the HASF on Sunday it felt like it was there.
EM: It’s great to still have the relationships and all that from the ‘90s, the bands and the people.
HSV: What does “Season of the Witch” mean to you?
KV: What does a witch do? It’s about taking your own power, isn’t it? I think we have a lot more power than we realize just within ourselves. Sometimes we need the reminder.
EM: It’s easy to forget that we possess so much power because there are a lot of forces that may be try to convince you otherwise. I think some people just succumb to the idea that they are powerless when they’re not.
HSV: What would you like to say to the Haight community and communities everywhere?
EM: The word “community” itself is crucial. That’s how people thrive is by coming together. It’s crucial that we start making it fashionable to listen to each other again and have conversations because if we lose that completely then we don’t have a chance. We need to get back to that. Everyone wants to be understood and everyone wants to be listened to. So let’s just try that.
KV: Right now in SF we see how it’s being portrayed in the media, and it’s just cuckoo-bananas. The HASF proved to me how much there is still something here in SF. It felt like I was at a family reunion. The arts are so important right now. We continue to show up, even when we don’t want to.
HSV: You think I want to be pulling this magazine outta my arse right now? (laughter)
KV: You’re doing your part to keep this community! Art is what makes us human.
HSV: The secret is I have no idea what I’m doing so I ask everybody else what they’re doing.
KV: Nobody knows what they’re doing!
EM: We’re all just trying to figure it out as we go.
KV: But isn’t it better to figure it out together?
FULL TRANSCRIPT:
HSV: Alright you guys! Haight Street Voice and I am at this fabulous house here, going to see my friends in this fabulous band, and we’re gonna go check out what’s goin’ on, what they’re doing, what they’re all about.
Wow, they seem to be making music! They seem to be making — there they are! Oh my gosh!
Eric McFadden: Linda Kelly!
HSV: Who are you people?! (Laughter)
Kate Vargas: Linda Kelly?
EM: El Kay!
HSV: Haight Street Voice.
EM/KV: Haight Street Voice!
HSV: Have you guys heard of this rag?
EM: I know all about Haight Street Voice!
KV: Of course! Iconic!
EM: In fact (holds up Flamin’ Groovies edition)
HSV: Oh wow! (Laughter) That was good product placement right there!
EM: Right? Right?
HSV: Yay!
Thank you for being here! I mean you were here! Thank you for allowing me to be here!
EM: Thank YOU for being here (laughter)
KV: Yeah, thank you for just walkin’ in!
HSV: Yeah, door was open.
EM: A beautiful San Francisco victorian.
HSV: It’s gorgeous. I mean that’s classic. And I do recognize — these lovely folks have “Live From the Red Couch” every Monday …
KV: 5:30, San Francisco time.
HSV: And you’ll recognize that back wall.
EM: Yes.
HSV: For the most part. Sometimes it’s a different red couch.
KV: That’s true. And this one (it’s beige) you know …
Every couch is red to us.
EM: Yes. We only see red couches.
HSV: Okay! So, I won’t take too much of your time because I know you’re very busy musicians.
EM: No, please, we want you to take too much of our time! (Laughter)
HSV: So … you’re hot off the heels of the Haight Ashbury Street Fair.
EM/EV: Yes!
HSV: Tell me about that experience.
EM: Wow!
HSV: Kate, you had never played it before?
KV: I’d never even been to it before!
EM: Yeah!
KV: I mean it was … I mean I’m still kind of recovering, in a good way. I mean I’m still feeling the buzz of it I guess.
EM: Yeah.
KV: It was really wonderful. It felt like I was in kind of another time. To be a part of it after 45 years, right?
EM: Yeah!
KV: And I could feel, in that street, the energy from its past. It just felt really magical. It did! It felt really good.
EM: It did! It was one of my favorite shows in a long time because San Francisco of course is so important to me and a big part of my life. To be doing the Haight Street Fair was just …
HSV: Have you ever done it before, I thought maybe once?
EM: Yes, many years ago. It’s been a very long time since I did the Haight Street Fair, so to do it with Sgt. Splendor was just amazing. And we got — right before us was Brian Kehoe and Mirv and Melee, and everybody played.
KV: And Frightwig afterward!
EM: And Frightwig after! Old school, right? It just felt really great. Also, paying a little homage to the old Haight Street Summer of Love era we did White Rabbit with Violet Basso singing it. That was a pretty special moment.
KV: It was great.
HSV: This is a little bit of a jump but we can do whatever the fuck we want. Did you ever play the Nightbreak on Haight? Do you remember the Nightbreak?
EM: Oh I played the Nighbreak very regularly.
HSV: The Nightbreak was a hang! It’s where Chris Isaak kind of started, where he got discovered.
EM: It was a great venue in Upper Haight, right by where we just at the Fair, yeah.
HSV: It had big open windows …
EM: It was classic!
HSV: Les Claypool …
EM: Everybody played there! It was just a little dive.
HSV: Tiny! The size of this room practically.
EM: Awesome, awesome place.
HSV: Speaking of a million years ago: Eric, you and I have known each other probably since 1989 or 90.
EM: Yep, that sounds about right.
HSV: Shoutout to the Blue Lamp down there on Geary.
EM: Yep.
HSV: Ed Ivey.
EM: We used to do the regular Faraway Brothers thing, me and Paulo Baldi and Ed Ivey. Those were some really good times. Those gigs were really, really something.
HSV: Robin Coomer would show up.
EM: Yes …
HSV: The history of people like Storm and Robin and you — and I love that wonderful Kate is now part of the bunch of nutbags that we all are!
But it’s pretty amazing the music that’s come out of here.
EM: A lot of extraordinary stuff. And it’s funny you mention Storm. We just texted about 20 minutes ago. We’re gonna go — well actually we’re gonna stay at Storms’ place when we play Asheville but I think she’ll be on tour. But whatever, anyway, yeah, she’s still out there doing her thing.
HSV: Yeah man!
KV: She really is.
HSV: She really is.
KV: Yeah.
For me one thing about being at the Fair, I obviously hear a lot from Eric about — and love hearing about — San Francisco in the ‘90s … and pre ‘90s! And ‘60s and ‘70s! But I hear from Eric about San Francisco in the ‘90s.
EM: I was here for that part, yeah. (Laughter)
KV: And the community that existed is something that I think we — everywhere just kind of lost a bit of. But at the Fair on Sunday, it felt like it was there! So many people came up — I mean, it’s an honor to be a part of it, you know, to be welcomed into that world and the community, and I really have been welcomed and it’s felt so good!
But being there and people coming up to Eric and saying hi to me and saying, you know, “I’ve known Eric for 30 years!” Or whatever (laughter, taps Eric on the leg). Maybe not the number but —
HSV: (laughter) There were dinosaurs!
KV: You all were figuring it out in San Francisco, in the music scene, and now here you are and the bond is still there.
EM: It’s great to still have the relationships and all that from the ‘90s, the bands and the people.
(To Kate) You’ve been playing with a lot of these people lately, like Kevin of the Broun Fellinis: David Boyce, Kevin Carnes, all them. With Paulo of course — he’s on our Sgt Splendor albums, all of them. Michael Urbano, another one, he’s on our second Sgt Splendor album, so we’ve been connecting a lot with those younger and older generations of musicians.
HSV: For people in the audience, to understand the evolution of Sgt. Splendor, when did you guys … when did that get born? New Mexico, correct?
KV: Eric and I both grew up in New Mexico …
HSV: Shoutout to New Mexico!
KV: Yes, we love New Mexico!
HSV: Yay!
KV: We didn’t know each other. Eric left before I was kind of on the scene. We met at a songwriting festival in Wisconsin. We were touring under our own names at that time. So we were kind of interested in each other’s music first, and then …
EM: … other things.
KV: Then that sort of naturally progressed. But then during the lockdown we just started writing songs together. And we were like, well, I guess let’s have a different name for the things that we’re putting out together.
EM: We thought we’d just record the songs and then just maybe tour together…
KV: No, we didn’t know what was gonna happen. But when we released the first album it had a great response and we’ve just been kind of following that. That was about two and a half years ago.
EM: The album came out 2022, that’s the one with Paulo, who you’ve known for many years, and then Dave Schools on bass …
HSV: Oh wow, of Widespread Panic!
KV: That’s right.
EM: And the guy that introduced us: Pat McDonald, plays harmonica on it.
HSV: Aww, Pat McDonald! Shoutout to you, Pat, hi!
EM: Yeah! Angelo Moore from Fishbone played keys on a couple. And then Jerry Harrison played keys on one song.
HSV: Wow, Talking Heads! Woot!
KV: That’s right!
EM: Yeah, so that was pretty cool. That was the first album, “Occasions for Self Congratulations” is our first album.
HSV: Where does the name come from?
EM: Sgt Splendor?
HSV: Yes.
KV: Sgt Splendor … we’re still working on like a better origin story because it’s not so fun. It wasn’t fun, it was a brainstorm, you know what I mean?
HSV: Okay, screw that question.
EM: (laughter) Screw that question!
HSV: It’s my show. I can do whatever I want!
KV: I’ve always loved the word “splendor” and the meaning of it. I think that’s what I strive for in my daily life.
HSV: I think of “Splendor in the Grass” immediately.
EM: To revel in the splendor of this grand existence, this, whatever. this life is.
HSV: You guys are working on a new album, something’s happening?
EM: We’re currently working on it, yes! At Lucky Recording Company, yeah, we’re doing that now.
HSV: Shoutout to Travis! Speak a little bit to Travis, another local music-involved person!
EM: Oh yeah, we need to talk about Travis!
KV: Travis Kasperbauer and Mikel Ross.
EM: We love those guys.
KV: We really love those guys, and they have Lucky Recording Company.
EM: We did our first album there, and now we’re working on this new one. Norwood Fisher is playing bass on a few tracks, Paulo Baldi on drums again …
HSV: Yay!
KV: Yes. So we have some singles right now from kind of different places. So yeah, it’s interesting. We’ll see how we end up releasing, but we love albums. So there’s gonna be some singles and an album
EM: We have a strong affinity for Travis and Mikel over there at Lucky, so we love working with them. We’re also doing a collaboration, we did a couple song with Fantastic Negrito, who is an extraordinary person and talent. We bonded when we first met, too. That’s somebody we were both … Kate was like, “Ooh, have you heard the latest Fantastic Negrito?” And I said, “No. Do tell!”
KV: It was the first album we listened to together was “Please Don’t Be Dead”.
HSV: I love that! “First album we listened to together.” It’s a nice little evolutionary little nugget of progress.
EM: Yeah!
KV: Yeah!
HSV: Also (regarding Lucky Recording Company) Jane Wiedlin from the Go-Gos and Elettrodomestico and Pietro Straccia.
EM: Oh yeah, love them too! We might be doing some stuff together next year.
HSV: They’re fun folks. Travis knows how to pull in the fun, cool people!
KV & EM: Yes!
HSV: Let me look at my notes because I’m realizing, hot off the Haight Street Fair that on October 4th I think it is, you’ll be playing the Hardly Strictly Bluegrass!
EM: Yes, we will be playing the Hardly Strictly Bluegrass!
HSV: Kate, have you done that before?
EM: (Shakes head no)
HSV: That’s so exciting!
EM: It’s such a great festival! I’ve seen Willie Nelson there, Emmylou Harris, Steve Earle, Les Claypool …
HSV: Ween!
EM: Ween played there!
HSV: Crazy!
EM: Yeah, it’s gonna be really fun! Cat Power will be there this time.
HSV: Ramblin’ Jack Elliott is gonna be there.
EM: Chuck Prophet’s playing.
HSV: Chuck Prophet is playing again. Shoutout to Chuck!
EM: Yes, we love Chuck.
KV: Yes, I’m really excited for that. We’re gonna do an acoustic set.
EM: Yes. It will just be a duo set this time.
KV: On the (to Eric) what stage is it?
EM: I think it’s the Hill Stomp or the Hill Side?
HSV: I don’t know, there are a lot of stages, but that I’m really excited about.
KV: We’re very excited about that too.
HSV: That’s like music aficionados from San Francisco, the pros of listening, you know?
EM: The pros of listening, yeah! (Laughter)
HSV: Their ears are textured.
EM: Finely attuned, yes.
KV: Yeah.
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HSV: Okay, let’s see. Sorry, looking at my notes. Haight Street Fair, Hardly Strictly, both from New Mexico, Blue Lamp … Oh! This is the Fall edition, 2024, and 2 years ago I did the “Season of the Witch” edition. I’m realizing every Fall it’s gonna be female-focused, you know, like the divine feminine. Chuck Sperry did the gorgeous cover (of a goddess, Elysia)
EM: Yes! (To Kate): You know Ron Donovan and Chuck Sperry used to do the Firehouse together back in the day. Long live Ron Donovan! Chuck is a brilliant artist.
HSV: It’s kind of a shoutout to the divine feminine. Kate, what does “Season of the Witch” mean to you? What would you like to speak to about that? Does that resonate for you? Kind of putting you on the spot!
EM: Season of the Witch …
HSV: Great Donovan song.
EM: (smiles) It’s a great song.
KV: I’ve never been asked that question before, but it’s a good one! I think what my initial reaction is is it sounds like it’s empowering. I mean what we do … when I think of Season of the Witch, like, what does a witch do? It’s kind of about taking your own power, isn’t it? And I think we have a lot more power than we realize just within ourselves. And I think that sometimes we need the reminder.
EM: Yes. Reminder, encouragement … I think it’s easy to forget that we possess so much power because I think there are a lot of forces that maybe try to convince you otherwise, you know what I mean? I think some people just succumb to the idea that they are powerless when they’re not.
HSV: You might feel some of the magic when you guys are playing guitar, it’s almost like you’re not there, whatever that energy is moving through you.
KV & EM: Yes!
HSV: That electric, you know … I love the idea of the witch. Actually don’t they have that in some of the movies where there’s electricity coming out of their fingers?
KV: Yeah, I think so.
EM: Yes indeed!
KV: Yeah. It looks like lightning!
HSV: Yeah, that! Has that ever happened to you guys? (Laughter)
EM: Yes!
HSV: I think it does happen. (Laughter) (to Kate): Careful! I think I just saw a little bit coming out!
KV: Oh sorry! Let me keep my fingers withdrawn like this. That’s so weird because I was just remembering when we were touring, when we were in I think it was in Vail and we were going to sleep. I felt like I was in another world, but I pulled up the covers and there was electricity, static electricity, but you could SEE it!
EM: The sparks, yes.
KV: And I was like, “Eric, are you messing with me?” I thought that he had some trick …
HSV: Which would be a lot like him.
KV: Totally.
EM: It would be, you’re right.
KV: Totally he would do something like that. (Laughter) But it kept doing it and it looked like little lightnings. I was like, “What are you doing?!” But it was just the static because it was so dry.
EM: She hadn’t experienced that before.
KV: I hadn’t seen it in the dark like that!
EM: Yes, it’s quite something.
KV: So there was, there was like little lightnings coming out.
EM: There actually were.
HSV: Mini lightnings.
KV: Yeah, mini lightnings.
EM: Mini lightnings, yes.
HSV: Many mini lightnings.
ALL: Many mini lightnings!
HSV: The holidays are coming up!
(EM squeezes travel chicken)
KV: Okay, not to close to the camera.
EM: Okay, I’m sorry. It’s just a compulsion.
HSV: So tell me about this guy (the chicken)
KV: Well this particular chicken was actually given to us at Zihuatanejo Guitar Festival in 2023 …
EM: Our friend, Tanya.
KV: By our friend, Tanya.
EM: (adoringly) Travel chicken.
KV: This is our travel chicken and we pack it with us, it goes everywhere with us, which is kind of really obnoxious …
EM: Yeah. It is.
KV: Just because … (squeezes chicken for honking sounds)
(laughter)
But it goes everywhere with us. When we were in the circus — we were in the circus for 4 months — these chickens were a big part of that show.
HSV: Of course.
KV: These exact ones with (honk) that sound …
EM: Right.
KV: … which was to sell during intermission — maybe not the best idea. Because then all of the kids have their chickens in the second half of the show. It’s just chickens.
HSV: Then you have to play in the key of chicken.
KV: Yes, exactly.
EM: For every song, it has to be transposed to chicken.
KV: Exactly. I tried to do it one time where I was like, “Okay! We’re gonna all play our chickens together because I thought they could get the chicken sound out . So it’s (orchestrating) “One. Two. Three. Chicken! One. Two. Three. (Eric chimes in) Chicken!! ” but it didn’t help. It didn’t help at all.
EM: It just encouraged them to keep squeezing the chickens all the more. But nonetheless …
KV: If you got chickens, squeeze ‘em! That’s what I say!
EM: No, yeah, hey, chickens are made for squeezin’.
HSV: Right. And what’s the thing about if you got lemons, make lemonade. So if you have chickens, make chickenade?
EM: Right.
KV: Yeah, chickenade, that’s right.
EM: Chickenade, yes.
HSV: Circus. So tell me. I’m sure it was a harrowing experience.
KV: (pained) Don’t let us speak of it.
HSV: It was hard. It was hard.
KV: It’s a different world that we weren’t used to at all.
EM: Yes, we love the circus.
KV: It’s something that we’ve both been really fascinated by since we were a kid.
HSV: Clowns are a thing.
KV: Eric is clowns.
EM: There’s the clowns … the whole circus thing!
KV: The whole thing. But we got to do it, you know, for four months. A traveling tent show.
HSV: Four months???
EM: Yes. Fourth months. We built the tent, we built the stage, we did everything, we tore it down. Very long days of manual labor. Sledge hammers …
KV: It was a small family-run circus, so everyone did everything.
HSV: Did any songs come out it?
KV: We actually wrote …
EM: “Blue”
KV: “Blue & Her Strawberry Ballon” which is on our last album Death of a Hoochie Koo. That came right out of the circus.
EM: Yes it did.
KV: And we sort of, over the course of those months, wrote it. Kind of on stage.
EM: Yes.
KV: We performed for the acts. And for the cloud swing act, we started forming this song but we were just following her kind of, you know? And then the song started to take shape. But it was cool because it really evolved, just from doing it over and over, and then we were like, “Okay! That feels like a verse and a chorus …”
EM: So that was written. And then a few other songs started there that we finished later.
KV: And a lot of the lyrics for Death of a Hoochie Koo were written …
EM: … during the circus.
KV: During the circus.
HSV: Do you both write the lyrics, do you trade off. We don’t have to get too into the details of songwriting, but …
EM: I’ll tell you this: We both write music and lyrics, and it can depend on the song who writes what. But I’ll say certainly Death of a Hoochie Koo that Kate wrote the majority of those lyrics. It was so stressful because we had limited time and I feel bad that I put that workload upon us. I did help with a few of the songs. (Laughter)
HSV: I think that’s worth a chicken squeeze maybe.
(KV reaches over and hands chicken to Eric)
HSV: No, I think you (Kate) deserve to squeeze the chicken.
KV: Oh, okay (honks chicken, big smile)
(laughter)
EM: Kate’s lyrical talent is hard to match. She’s such a great lyricist.
KV: Thank you, Eric.
EM: But I (laughs) I help.
KV: I think what Eric is saying nicely is that I’m a real control freak, actually, and …
EM: She has standards, let’s say that. She’s got high standards.
KV: I love — it’s not always enjoyable, it’s sometimes quite painful, but I deal in words. I feel like that is how I — that’s what I do. And music was, has always been a vehicle for that. But it is very collaborative. The Sgt Splendor sound is …
EM: … very much a combination.
KV: It’s the two of us, you know (intertwines fingers) You know, coming together.
EM: Yeah. And I like it. I like it!
HSV: I love it. In fact I was just thinking of the Bandshell (in GG Park) and I saw you guys play there and it was fantastic. Shoutout to Philbilly and Jenny Kerr.
Both: Yeah, yeah!
EM: Yeah, Philbilly!
HSV: How much do we love those people!?!
EM: Yeah, we love ‘em!
HSV: We were talking about Zihuatanejo and they’re part of that whole thing.
EM: It’s funny, that’s how we ended up there.
HSV: And they used to live over here on Baker in the City.
I think that’s it … We’ve did 21 minutes you guys!
ALL: Woooo!
HSV: I have one last question that I ask all the interviews when I do them is — and maybe you guys can do an outro song, something, a little ditty.
BOTH: Sure.
HSV: We should’ve rehearsed this but why? (WTF sound)
BOTH: Yeah! (Laughter)
KV: We don’t believe in rehearsal.
(laughter)
HSV: That thing you were talking about words — for me, saying as a writer, journalist, I call it the choreography of words …
KV: Mmmmh, totally. (smiles)
HSV: … because it just feels so good when they just sort of like — no matter if it’s right grammatically — they just feel better together.
KV: Yes!
ALL: (Smiles)
HSV: Had to get that out. It’s not about me, it’s about you guys.
(Laughter)
HSV: Haight Street Voice is hyper local with a global perspective, so it’s about the essence of the Haight that happened, that exploded here in the ‘60s, the essence of be kind, be creative, let your freak flag fly, express yourself. It’s for communities everywhere. This is the space for you to say whatever you’d like to say to the Haight community as well as communities everywhere.
KV: (to Eric) You want to go first or you want me to go first?
EM: I mean, I think what you just said, the word “community” itself is crucial. That’s how real civilizations and people thrive is by coming together as a community. So I think that that is something people should should encourage and aspire to, is to kind of bring community together. Because that’s also how all real significant change has occurred. And people as a community are the ones that need to make the changes that we need to see happen.
But one of the things that is crucial is that we start making it fashionable to listen to each other again and have conversations because if we lose that completely then we don’t have a chance. We just need to get back to that. So I just encourage everyone to — even people you disagree with or think are insane, whatever — if they feel like they’re being validated or listened to, they’re more inclined to listen to you and try to understand you as well. Everyone wants to be understood and everyone wants to be listened to. So let’s just try that.
HSV: That reminds me sort of the — my first concert was the Sex Pistols at Winterland here in San Francisco when I was 15. It’s a long story but … the punk rock scene — they have a great exhibit at the Haight Street Art Center. Shoutout to the HSAC. You gotta go see that. I think it’s through the 29th. It’s fantastic. They’re having a closing party …
Anyway, even though the punks were saying fuck society or fuck the government and all of that, they had actually a beautiful community. It was just a different. It wasn’t the community with the white picket fence only. I always thought “community – schommunity”
EM: To look out for each other and have each others’ backs.
KV: Yeah!
EM: It was a community, yes.
KV: Okay, my turn?
HSV: Your turn.
KV: Yeah (pointing to Eric). That was very good, Eric. I agree that listening is a lost art and it’s one of the most important things. To learning how to listen. It’s the thing that we all want the most I think, is to be heard.
To Haight Street … it’s interesting right now in San Francisco, right, because we see how it’s being portrayed in the media, and it’s just cuckoo-bananas.
EM: As if that’s all it is.
KV: And what the Fair really showed me was that … they have no idea! (Laughter) I mean, I knew that already, obviously, but I guess it just proved to me how much there is still something here in San Francisco. There’s a beautiful photo that Mikel Ross — he jumped up on stage after our set and said, “Turn around!” And there’s the photo. And you can’t see the end. It’s just people down Haight Street and you can’t see the end. And it’s so beautiful! Some people are posing for the photo. It just feels, when I was there, it felt like I was at a family reunion.
HSV: And you guys have played a lot of frickin’ shows!
KV: We have! A lot of shows!
EM: But this one was one of the very special ones. And having Angeline Saris on bass and Wes Anderson on drums, they are longtime Bay Area fixtures and brilliant people and musicians.
KV: So I think the whole — the arts, the arts are so important right now, and if we continue to show up and, you know, even when I don’t want to …
HSV: Yeah, you think I want to be pulling this magazine outta my ass right now?
(Laughter)
Thank you for helping me make this thing come together.
KV: You’re doing it! And that is, you know, you’re doing your part to keep this community!
EM: Yes, you’re helping keep it alive and keep it thriving. It’s awesome!
KV: It’s what makes us human. It’s art!
HSV: The secret is I have no idea what I’m doing so I ask everybody else what they’re doing. That’s how it works.
KV: Oh yeah, nobody knows what they’re doing!
EM: Nobody knows. We’re all just trying to figure it out as we go, right?
HSV: You play guitar but you still don’t really know. Like I know I’ve got a journalism degree but I still don’t really know what I’m doing.
KV: Yeah. We’re just all figuring it out, but isn’t it better to figure it out together?
EM: Yes!
KV: So let’s just do that.
EM: We’re all better off if we kind of do it together. We’re all better that way.
KV: Yeah. Let’s just all just fuck it up together!
HSV: And have fun!
BOTH: Yeah!
EM: Let’s fuck it up together!
HSV: See? We’re starting a community right here in this room!
BOTH: Right here!
HSV: And our chicken is involved!
KV: Yes he is!
EM: Yeah, our communal chicken right there!
KV: (squeezing chicken). I really like the slow … Too slow. (Chicken honks)
HSV: Thank you! That was beautiful!
EM: Well, Linda Kelly, it’s a pleasure! I’m so glad you’re still in San Francisco, carrying the torch or whatever they call it.
HSV: Keeping the light that lit the ‘60s alive and keep things going. Even though it’s this weirdo holding this little teeny flame or whatever, it’s still there, dammit!
KV: It’s so important. It feels like you’re a glue. A very lovely glue.
EM: A very lovely glue you are, yes! (Laughter)
KV: This beautiful blue that’s just bringing us, you know, you’re keeping a unit, this thing that’s happening: the music and the art and the kindness and all this stuff in San Francisco.
EM: (to Kate) Remember how Tom, you know, the first guy to really record us live the way we used to do at the 4th Street Tavern every Tuesday? I found in storage us performing on Linda Kelly’s birthday. Her birthday show!
HSV: Awwww. Wow.
EM: Isn’t that wild?! Yeah!
KV: What year was that?
EM: That was from 1999 maybe?
KV: That sounds about right.
EM: ’98 maybe. But yeah, at some point I’ve got to get you a copy of that.
HSV: Which band was it?
EM: Faraway Brothers.
HSV: Faraway Brothers. Liar. Alien Lovestock. Wow, so many bands.
KV: So many bands!
EM: Yeah, there’s been a few!
HSV: And shoutout to your awesome families. You guys always do a shoutout to your families from the Red Couch — that’s huge.
KV: Yeah, they’re very supportive.
EM: They really are.
KV: We’re lucky.
EM: And you know somebody that was a really major fixture and somebody who brought a lot of light to the scene was Paula. She’s not with us anymore but shoutout to Paula O’Rourke too.
HSV: Absolutely.
KV: Yes.
HSV: Wally Ingram … there’s just so many. There’s too many to name!
So we will see you at the Hardly Strictly Bluegrass.
KV: October 4, right?
EM: Yes! We will be there October 4.
HSV: October 4! We love you, and thanks for your time!
KV: We love YOU! Thank you!
EM: Yeah, LK!
KV: Thanks for being here and keeping everything moving!
HSV: Maybe just a little ditty, a little note?
KV: Yeah, go Eric! Are you in tune?
HSV: I felt a little awkward, just on my part! You guys are great! Maybe a little something of San Francisco. We didn’t rehearse. I love this, this is great.
EM: I was doing “Call Back the Dogs”.
(Play a little ditty together eloquently!)
HSV: That was awesome!
BOTH: A little out of tune.
HSV: You guys are like — you called me glue, but you guys are like a, I don’t know, it’s just this beautiful — what do you call that? You can just move around, it’s really fluid like a dance.
KV: Oh thank you!
HSV: You weave around together so well.
KV: It’s nice. I’ve never had this kind of musical relationship either, cuz we spend a lot of time together (pats his back).
EM: Yeah, we do as it turns out.
KV: It’s a good thing that we like each other!
(Laughter)
HSV: That’s a good start.
KV: I think really knowing each other, we can kind of anticipate where the other person’s gonna go or you can follow them and trust them. And I’ve never had that really.
EM: This is my favorite …
HSV: Collab?
EM: Yeah.
HSV: And you’re not afraid to have a trainwreck. I mean, you can have fun with a trainwreck.
KV: I think the Red Couch really got us used to, “It’s okay, we kind of have a train wreck.”
HSV: You can’t undo the train wreck cuz you have a live audience.
KV: Yeah, cuz it’s live! And we just sit down on the couch and press GO. And whatever our day was and whatever, we just have to sit there and do it. I mean we’ve felt afterwards like (eye wide). Cuz I was such a perfectionist before that.
HSV: That’s beautiful. That’s a nice symbiosis.
KV: It has been a really good thing.
EM: I think it’s been good for both of us because I was getting a little too — I think I was maybe not applying myself as much as I could, or maybe I was letting things go that I shouldn’t let go musically before. I was sort of on the other end of the spectrum of perfectionism at a certain point. Just kind of — I had a period there where I was just not inspired.
But when I got with Kate, it kind of lit that fuse again, lit that fire again and I felt excited about music again and I started to really care more about what I was putting out there. It’s the most fun I’ve had playing music in a long time.
HSV: IS there ever a moment where you guys are like, “Okay, honey, we have to put down our guitars now. We have to put our hands down and move away from the guitar”?
EM: No, we never do!
HSV: I don’t know what made me think of that but do you always have your guitars everywhere? Like in the kitchen, you’re eating dinner, and you have your guitars with you!
KV: I was telling Wes the other day that we do this really obnoxious thing occasionally where we’ll like — cuz we’re kind of constantly writing songs. I’m always humming or singing a melody that’s just off the top …
EM: She does’t even know she’s doing it. I’m like, “Oh what was that?” And she’s like, “Oh was I singing?”
KV: One of us will say something and then the other one will repeat it in a rhythm or a melodic way and then we’ll start doing a song with it, like, “Wouldyoulikeabrocollifordinner …?” (Starts clapping a beat and singing)
EM: It’s obnoxious.
KV: It’s so obnoxious.
EM: “You got your beans and your …?” “Yeah I got my beans and my …
KV: It’s annoying.
EM: It’s really obnoxious.
KV: But we get into it and then we’ll do it for way too long and I thought before, “Man …” — not that anyone’s thinking about what we’re doing in our free time, but if someone had it in their imagination what we do as a couple, like when we’re just hanging out? It would be that! We are that! (Laughter)
And sometimes I’m like, “Can we stop? Because we’re annoying me now. This is ridiculous.”
EM: Are we caricatures of ourselves?
KV: Sometimes, sometimes.
HSV: We need to get out of the room and get away from us.
KV: Yeah, sometimes! So it’s not putting down the guitar, it’s like, “Can I put my brain down?”
EM: Yeah, cuz it doesn’t matter if we have a guitar, it’s still going all the time.
KV: No, but it’s fun, it’s good.
EM: It is.
KV: We get to do that, yeah.
HSV: Jerry Garcia’s number one thing was, Have Fun!
KV: We have a lot of fun.
EM: That we are not lacking in is fun.
KV: No. Discipline? Organizational skills? Time management? But fun?
EM: Hey!
KV: We got that down!
HSV: That’s a good note to end on! We love you! We’ll see you out there!
KV: We love you too!
HSV: Sgt Splendor, ladies and gentlemen! We love you!
(Play an amazing outtro ditty)
Man, I felt New Mexico in the air. Alright, peace out y’all! Love you!
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