Describing himself as a ‘dirty old one man band’, there is little else to say when it comes to describing Texan Scott H Biram. On any given night you’ll be confronted with the blues, punk, rock’n’roll, metal, folk and a whole lotta good ole foot stompin’.
“Confronted with” may seem like a harsh turn of phrase but one that’s highly accurate. With Biram there are no niceties, no standing on ceremony, just a man, a guitar, a life on the road and some rowdy southern blues. Tonight’s show in Auntie Annie’s doesn’t even feature a support act. I’m not sure there’s many locally who could have morphed into some kind of sympathetic warm up so we’re greeted with the rather unimposing figure of Birham in trademark trucker hat and handlebar moustache and the show begins.
Using any kind of driving metaphors to describe an SHB show may seem a little crass considering his own involvement in a serious head on collision in 2003 with a big rig truck. Then again, the man himself was back on the road playing shortly afterwards with broken bones and an IV drip still in his arm. So yes, it’s a heavy octane set drawing on old influences like Jay Hopkins, Howlin’ Wolf and Leadbelly but with some chord changes and stylings more at home with the younger punks. The Revival Tour would be an almost perfect home for this man.
While the likes of Seasick Steve languish like an old trailer park home with peeling paint and rust settling in, Scott H Biram rattles through your town like a freight train, all noise and attitude and shaking things up. Hopefully next time he rolls around these tracks, there’ll be a few more people waiting to hop on board.