Scott H. Biram live!
Scott H. Biram
Schubas, Chicago
Friday, August 17, 2007
“My grandma’s got a goat that pisses out its ass – tell you about that later.” Welcome, to a Scott H. Biram show.
Biram’s gigs, intentionally or not, are as much about the man as they are the music. Texas to the bone, or “Texas as fuck” as he likes to say, Biram is a fast-talkin’ (think Boomhauer from “King Of The Hill”), whiskey-and-cheap-beer drinkin’, fu-manchu-wearin’, dirty old one-man band with a thing for trucker hats (and trucker songs) and velcro shoes. Onstage he beats an old hollow-body guitar like it fucked his sister, kicks at a homemade (held together by velcro strips and duct tape) amplified stompbox for a beat, growls, spits, sings and screams into a distorted microphone, and generally raises hell while seriously abusing the boundaries of country, blues, and punk rock.
This is why a Biram show is a good time even if, like Friday, he isn’t totally on his game – he doesn’t need to be “on it,” musically speaking, to be entertaining. A teaser for the upcoming documentary by Legendary Shak*Shakers frontman Colonel J.D. Wilkes, Seven Signs, played before Biram took the stage, and the first thing he said to the crowd after the clip was “Didn’t realize I’m wearing the same fuckin’ shirt,” referring to his appearance in Seven Signs. He introduced “18 Wheeler Fever,” from last year’s excellent Graveyard Shift, by calling it a tried-and-true country song, not that high-fallutin’, newfangled, “Ban” Jovi shit and used the simple inquiry “Ya’ll ever been dry humped?” to lead into “Downtown Chicken.” Maybe Biram’s best banter was when, after “Someday Baby,” he told the crowd the various parts from the next song he had lifted from his musical heroes.
Though fun was had, that isn’t to say there couldn’t have been more. With the exception of “Graveyard Shift” and a short tromp through Metallica’s version of “Am I Evil” (originally by Diamond Head, kids) the Texan chose to skip most of his more rambunctious crowd pleasers such as “Hit The Road,” “Raising Hell Again,” “Whiskey,” and even “Blood Sweat & Murder,” which audience members continuously shouted for during the night. Openers Black Diamond Heavies joined Biram onstage late in his set, and the two-piece (vocalist/Rhodes player John Wesley Myers and drummer Van Campbell) were a natural fit for Biram’s dirty gutbucket blues. They ran through takes on classics by Muddy Waters (“Got My Mojo Workin'”) and Bo Diddley (“Who Do You Love”) and stuck around to accompany Biram (while some in attendance still pleaded for “Blood Sweat & Murder”) on his set-ending “I See The Light/What’s His Name?”
Though the crowd was sparse when they opened the night, Radio Moscow had the attention of everyone, including Biram and the Heavies, who stood toward the front of the stage for Moscow’s fiery set of psychedelic blues. Guitarist/vocalist Parker Griggs is the oldest member of the band, and he is 23. You would definitely have been able to guess they were young by seeing them (Griggs, bassist Zach Anderson, and drummer Paul Marrone), but you never would have by hearing them. Guys barely old enough to drink don’t even know who Cream and Blue Cheer are, right, let alone how to play like them. Radio Moscow played stuff from their self-titled debut on Alive Records, and while the basic songwriting isn’t there yet, the playing is years ahead.
– Trevor Fisher
Category: Live Reviews, Weekly
