Stripped-Down Country-Punk Solo Acts Come to Bottom of the Hill
By Dave Pehling
SAN FRANCISCO (CBS SF) -- Texas-based punk/country-blues songwriter Scott H. Biram brings his current tandem tour with former Butthole Surfers/Melvins bass player turned solo banjo plucker JD Pinkus to San Francisco this Friday.
A Texas native who got his start playing and singing as a teen in punk group the Thangs, solo artist Scott H. Biram later became fascinated with roots music, particularly early blues, bluegrass and outlaw country.
After playing with two bluegrass outfits -- Scott Biram & the Salt Peter Boys and Bluegrass Drive-By -- Biram would strike out on his own, touring and recording as a solo artist. Accompanying himself with acoustic or electric guitar (sometimes keeping the beat with a stomp box), Biram's approach recalled the style of classic blues legends like John Lee Hooker and Lightnin' Hopkins or one-man-band outsider Hasil Atkins.
Initially putting out albums on his own KnuckleSandwich Records imprint, Biram was eventually signed to noted country indie label Bloodshot Records which reissued his fourth solo effort The Dirty Old One Man Band in 2005. Since then, the songwriter has put out a steady stream of well-received recordings full of his signature mix of punkish, rough-hewn blues stomps and tearful barroom ballads.
The 2019 compilation Sold Out to the Devil: A Collection of Gospel Cuts by the Rev. Scott H. Biram collected some of the artist's more spiritually minded stripped-down songs, but his latest album Fever Dreams found Biram collaborating with his fellow Austin, TX songwriter Jesse Dayton on a couple tunes including a cover of David Allen Coe's classic "Monkey David Wine."
The high-octane, punk-meets-country singer is joined by Texas punk legend Jeff "JD" Pinkus. While best known for his extended stint with iconic punk experimentalists the Butthole Surfers -- Pinkus joined the band in 1985, spending most of a decade with the unhinged group, playing bass on such groundbreaking albums as Locust Abortion Technician and Hairway to Steven -- he has had a wildly varied career as both a bandleader and sideman. Besides leading his own groups Daddy Longhead and his current outfit Honky, Pinkus toured and recorded with guitarist Helios Creed and worked extensively as the bassist for the Melvins, including a collaborative album with Buttholes guitarist and founder Paul Leary and a tour featuring him playing alongside Steven McDonald in a dueling bassist line-up.
Pinkus has also started exploring acoustic roots music, playing guitar and banjo in the Americana band Pure Luck and releasing a pair of solo banjo recordings -- Keep on the Grass in 2018 and last year's Fungus Shui. For this co-headlining date by Biram and Pinkus at the Bottom of the Hill, San Francisco artist Shovelman opens the show. The local musician plays a customized guitar made out of a shovel and runs the homemade instrument and his vocals through a variety of effects and filters to create a spacious, rustic style of junkyard country blues that at times recalls early Beck.
Scott H. Biram and JD Pinkus
Friday, April 15, 8:30 p.m. $15-$20
The Bottom of the Hill