Bad Ingredients
Even when he’s at his most quiet, it doesn’t get any more real—or more loud—than Scott H Biram.
SHB maintains the blues-metal-countrypunk-rock but strengthens it with crack guitar playing and shrewdly-crafted songwriting.
Biram’s fourth full-length for Bloodshot is a decidedly different record for those who have been following SHB’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 and chilling “Born in Jail,” while “I Want My Mojo Back,” is a strutting 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.
On Bad Ingredients, SHB maintains the blues-metal-countrypunk-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 more loud—than Scott H Biram.
