The self-proclaimed "Dirty Old One Man Band" from Austin, TX, Scott Biram is pleased to announce the release of his newest full-length LP, Bad Ingredients, on October 11 via Bloodshot Records. The album features 13 new tracks from Scott, and the album art work is featured above. The LA Times describes SHB, this"one-man band is a tour-de-force of gutbucket guitar squabble, vocals so feral they'll make you lock your doors at night, and a live set that goes down like a cocktail of whiskey, amphetamines and black-humored despair."
Don't let the fact that SHB is a one-man band fool you. Two-man bands like the Black Keys have made a lot of noise in the past few years, and Biram's got twice the cri de couer with half the personnel. For more than a decade-a decade which also saw SHB survive a tete-a-tete with a semi-truck that almost killed him-Scott H Biram has fearlessly preached his gospel of blues, punk, country, metal and psychobilly to his congregation of metalheads, barflies, college professors and regular dudes via a pulpit that is just a stack of amps, a '59 hollowbody Gibson and a stomp board.
Bad Ingredients, Biram's fourth full-length for Bloodshot Records (his catalog also includes self-released albums he quickly sold out of during his relentless touring schedule), is a decidedly different record for those who have been following B's road-driven career. Recorded at Biram's home studio in Austin, Texas and mastered by Jerry Tubb of Terra Nova Mastering (Johnny Cash, Willie Nelson, Dwight Yoakam), Bad Ingredients delivers SHB's classic throat-stomping style ("Dontcha Lie To Me Baby" and "Victory Song"), but showcases a more mature songwriter-both lyrically and musically. It's Biram at his quietest, but don't worry, Hiram Biram still raises a riot.
There's a sweet country love song in "Broke Ass" and the heartful waltz of "Memories of You Sweetheart." That's not to say Scott's still not a little twisted-who else could follow up a song like, "Have You Ever Loved a Woman" (originally written by Lightnin' Hopkins) with "Killed A Chicken Last Night?"
The blues will always be Biram's first love and in his songwriting he channels his hero Lightnin' Hopkins on the primitive "Born in Jail," while "I Want My Mojo Back," is a swaggering R&B throwback that features the help of a guest saxophonist (the only major musical duty that SHB farms out this record) and a gospel choir consisting of ... Scott H Biram.
As one of the hardest working dudes on the road, Biram plays close to 300 days a year and his live show is a testament that even as a one-man band, B fills the room with more raucous skill and thunder than acts with twice the gear or players. With a live set up consisting of a collection of vintage guitars; a couple rock guitars wired up through a wall of beat-up, road-worn amplifiers; and boot-driven stomp board of his own creation powered by two huge, big-rig grilled subwoofers, Biram's amplified tramp can turn a bar into a bunch of believers, shaking their fists as an "Amen!" to his feral sermons.
On Bad Ingredients, SHB maintains the blues-metal-country-punk-rock but strengthens it with crack guitar playing and shrewdly-crafted songwriting. Even when he's at his most quiet, it doesn't get any more real-or louder-than Scott H Biram.
No comments:
Post a Comment