Monday nights are usually reserved for recuperating from the weekend so that you may have the resolve to do it all over again in five days. I guess no one informed Scott H Biram or Lydia Loveless of this, because last night at the EARL all the rowdiness, loud music and booze consumption of the weekend spilled over into Monday.
Bloodshot recording artist Scott H. Biram hit the dark stage in the back room at the EARL to a cavalcade of noise. Of course he was the one making the noise. After addressing the packed crowd with bull horn, he entered his own little world where psycho guitar playing was only matched by his howling gravely vocals. He calls his music the “bastard child of punk, blues, country, hillbilly, bluegrass, chain gang, metal and classic rock”, and after last night’s show I cannot think of a better way to describe it. Tucked away in his bunker, surrounded by guitars, pedals, stomp board, and beers he rolled through a set of tunes that was fast and loud. He mixed songs from his vast catalog such as “Dontcha Lie To Me Baby”, “Sweet Thing” and “Graveyard Shift” with covers ranging from Ledbelly to Gary Stewart. In between the frantic playing he bantered with the crowd walking the thin line of smart ass and asshole, and they loved every bit of it. When he finally finished playing what seemed like every tune in his head and sat down his guitar for the night, I thought to myself, why in the hell I had not checked out his shows before. Those who came to see him howl at the moon were fervent followers and they were rewarded with a damn fine night of music.
To begin the night, Lydia Loveless warmed things up. Lydia and her stand up bass player Ben rolled through tunes from both of the singers albums. Her vocals are sweet with a hint of country twang which is in contrast to the subject matter of a lot of her songs. Her set was filled with songs about stalkers (“Steve Earle”), drinking to get by (“Jesus Was A Wino”) and dysfunctional relationships (“Can’t Change Me”) and a pretty nice cover of Ke$ha’s “Blind”. To put it in simple terms, Lydia is a badass. Her songs are dark stories about life and last night she was the storyteller with a captive audience.
I really cannot put into words how good this show was. The Bloodshot Records label mates were the perfect pairing for a night of music. Loveless’ vocals and Ben’s thumping bass sent the crowd to a happy place then Biram came in and helped the folks packing the EARL rip the place to pieces. I highly recommend you make their music a part of your playlists, and when they roll back through Atlanta, get your ass to wherever they are playing because it will be worth it.
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