Grunwald brings it back to Torquay

Author: Ali Deane

SURF coast’s adopted son Ash Grunwald has just embarked on an Australian tour, and will be touching down in Torquay this weekend with special guests.

He has teamed up with long time friends, Aussie rock legends Scott Owen and Andy Strachan from The Living End and their show is expected t rock at the Torquay Hotel this Saturday night.

Despite growing up on a diet of blues, Grunwald has been known to mix things up, jamming various collaborations for shows and albums throughout his musical career.

He has shared a stage with Adelaide hip hop crew Funkoars, performs all the biggest festivals, but is known mostly for his solo work as a blues and roots master.

Grunwald’s solo sets at the Wool Exchange and the St Kilda Festival back in February were hijacked by a new sound, when he put it to The Living End bassist Scotty Owen to jam. The rest is history.

“I’ve never genuinely spontaneously clicked like that, and the heaviest stuff I was into when I was younger was Hendrix.

“I just asked Scotty, it was sort of a spur of the moment thing. And it had never really occurred to me to play with Andy. Because then it would be like me, and The Living End.

“Being a soloist, I do things like this.

“The jam was amazing, it was so fun.

It was huge, and then we went straight onto St Kilda Festival playing to well over 5,000 people, and we’d never done a rehearsal.

“We were friends a long time before playing together, Scotty lives near me up near Byron Bay, but it’s just cool when things happen, and one thing flows to the next.

“Certain types of music just go off live, and if you can do that, the genre doesn’t matter.”

From there Grunwald asked if the guys wanted to join him on his national tour, recorded a promo song, then recorded the album Gargantuan the day after that.

“I was stoked. When we recorded we stayed up all night, then surfed Winki. It was insanely crowded, but we just wanted to be out there.”

Grunwald even snapped his brother’s board.

“I hate missing out on waves, but it keeps my stoke for music.

“I’ll be bringing a board to Torquay for sure. I was there for five years and loved it, and I love coming back.

“I froth on surfing, and being a frother, it makes me play better.”

It’s not all about rocking out and riding waves for Grunwald who raises serious issues in his music.

“I’m anti-coal steam gas mining. There’s never been a more important issue to face Australia. We recorded ‘The Last Stand’, it’s really rocky and heavy. I want everyday people to know about the issue and get onto it. The perfect people to pick to play it with were Scotty and Andy.”

Ash Grunwald with Scott Owen ad Andy Strachan of The Living End will hit Torquay Hotel this Saturday night June 15, before heading to Melbourne and then hitting Queensland.

Tickets $30, head to Torquay Hotel or oztix.com.au.