Scott H. Biram: a hard act to follow

(this portion of piece was published by Planet JH Weekly)A 21st century bluesman that has lived a daredevil existence, Austinite Scott H. Biram is the "dirty old one-man band" that you want to keep your daughter away from, unless she wants a lesson in gutbucket, grungy blues. With absolutely no filter, Biram’s presence is staged with a stack of amps, a ‘59 hollow body Gibson, a stomp board, and a combination of old vocal microphones wrapped together in a tangled mess of guitar cables."My music is the bastard child of punk, blues, country, hillbilly, bluegrass, chain gang, metal, and classic rock,” Biram said.While the crazy stories about this guy continue to accrue, his ruckus taking no prisoners, it’s his music that has benefited from living an existence that is distancing him from the wildest of days. But, that doesn’t mean he’s getting soft. In 2003, one month after being hit head-on by an eighteen-wheeler, he took the stage in a wheel chair—I.V. still dangling from his arm. With two broken legs, a broken foot and a broken arm, he unleashed his trademark grunge blues and hillbilly country at Austin’s famed Continental Club. Less than a year later, he took the stage at South by Southwest to showcase right after Kris Kristofferson. He was quoted as growling, "They said that was a hard act to follow...I'm a hard act to follow, motherfuckers!""I used to drink a lot more," Biram told Chicago Tribune. "It's gotten a little wild a few times. I'd end up naked by the end of the show, playing guitar with nontraditional appendages. I'd stage dive in the middle of the concert. The show was over after that, because I couldn't get back to the stage. Now, I try to keep the violent aspects down to a minimum."Alongside his rough-edged songs that fulfill an outlaw reputation, Biram has a lighter side that’s not overshadowed by any such persona. His Willie Nelson-esque crooning on “Never Comin’ Home” from his brand new fourteen-track album, Nothin’ But Blood, is one such gem. There's also a surprising undercurrent of gospel in his voice, even in his lyrics."I'm not a particularly religious person aside from my own inner thoughts," he says. "My music is about the human condition, being caught between believing in God and being mad at the church. I'll play songs that celebrate in a religious way, and then I'll write songs that are like '(screw) the church.' It's a yin-yang thing, pulled back and forth between being for and against religion, between punk rock and metal, between beautiful country and bluegrass songs. It's all about hurting and rejoicing."Catch a troubadour that has lived most of his nine lives and came out the other side in fine form. Scott H. Biram, 9:30 p.m. Sunday at the Mangy Moose in Teton Village. $10. MangyMoose.com.