Daryl Ross-Bidner is a talented barber who recently opened a brick and mortar shop of his own on Fort Street called Little Barber Shop of Horrors.
Prior to this, he struggled with addiction and homelessness and he isn’t afraid to share his story.
Local filmmaker Matt Enright previously worked in film, primarily on animated projects such as The Snoopy Show and Rick and Morty and just so happened to have Ross-Bidner as his barber.
He got to know the barber over the years and was inspired enough by his story to create a documentary about him.
“You know, you just sort of chat over time and he has a hell of a story and he’s not shy about sharing it,” Enright told Victoria Buzz.
“Ultimately, through punk rock and tattoos he kind of got set on a better path.”
The project was dubbed Punk Rock Barbershop and was initially supposed to just be the fourth part in a docu-series Enright was working on in his free time since the writers’ strike brought much of the film industry grinding to a halt.
However, because of Daryl’s story’s power, Enright decided to make more of a show out of it.
“It’s a story about an outsider who gets in his own way and whether you like punk rock or not, it’s a very universal story,” Enright explained.
Ross-Bidner was able to get himself clean, get trained in how to cut hair and get a place to live, but then came the next step of marketing his business in a unique way.
He ended up coming up with a marketing scheme that he knew all the tattooed punks of the city could not pass up. The barber made an ad on instagram promoting this deal and all of the sudden, his business was known throughout Victoria.
“How he really got people in, the secret to his sauce, was $20 haircuts with a free beer,” Enright said.
Although Ross-Bidner is no longer able to run this promotion since he moved into his new space on November 1st, 2023, it worked in terms of garnering him a strong following.
The premiere for Punk Rock Barbershop will be taking place at the Dock Centre for Social Impact and Co-working Space, where Enright works out of.
Because of the fact that Ross-Bidner has lived experiences of homelessness and during that time he sometimes struggled to find something to eat, he and Enright decided it would be apt to make the film premiere free with a food donation to go to Victoria’s unhoused.
The film’s runtime is around 55 minutes and the event is taking place at 7 p.m. this Thursday, March 28th.
Punk Rock Barbershop Premiere
- Where: The Dock Centre for Social Impact, 722 Cormorant Street 1st
- When: Thursday, March 28th at 7 p.m.
