For ten years, Ash Grunwald has been playing the funky monk, roaming from swamp to swamp and bashing out his blues-and-roots-inspired, foot-stomping tunes. His collaboration last year with Scott Owen and Andy Strachan of The Living End resulted in the albumGargantua, mostly featuring turbocharged versions of Grunwald classics. However, looking back at his other musical relationships it’s easy to see rock isn’t his only staple, with a resume including works with hip hop artists like TZU, The Funkoars and Urthboy, among others.
Having just finished up a month-long tour of the US with good mate Xavier Rudd, Grunwald is taking a drinks break in California before heading to Canada for another big round of shows. According to him, hip hop always seemed to be a natural ally to his pumping blues music, not just musically but in attitude as well.
“To me it makes so much sense,” Grunwald says. “I love hip hop grooves and they work so well with my music, it’s just a no-brainer. There’s also a similarity that people may or may not realise between a solo bluesy pub musician smashing it out and just going for it, and Aussie hip hop. You take the stage, you smash it and you go for it and everybody parties. That’s really important.
“It’s that attitude that’s the same. The thing I love about it too is blues comes from America and hip hop comes from America but the way we do it, it’s like the pub mongrel, so it’s an Australian approach to it to just smash it.”
Anyone who’s been to the good ol’ US of A and seen the lifestyle of that vast continent can weave a tome about the cultural differences found there. Fireworks and booze in 7-Elevens would receive their respective chapters, but Grunwald has also noticed our differing approaches in how we view success in the music industry.
“We have that working class thing of, ‘I have a working class background and I did this myself and I’m proud of it,’” Grunwald says. “That’s another crossover I have with that Funkoars and [Hilltop] Hoods crew, is that we’re all of a similar time and made it all ourselves. That’s the thing that keeps you grounded – if you know how hard you’ve had to work to get it and you’re not pretending you didn’t work hard to get it.
“In America the scene is so big for those hip hop guys. Maybe they were a young guy with a lot of talent and they got signed by another rapper or a record company. Then you’re a star and it’s about being treated as if you’re a star or in some way different. Even though you’re boasting you’re from the streets but you’re also saying, ‘Now I’ve got this car and my dick is this long.’”
Starting in mid-August, Grunwald will be back in Australia hitting up venues across the country including many outside the normal capital city route. His tone shifts when he starts to reflect on the past month’s touring and his signing to the massive US-based booking agent The Agency Group, whose roster includes Bad Brains, The Pogues and Lauryn Hill. It’s a tone of aspiration and you can almost feel the heat of the fire burning in Grunwald’s gut when he talks of his vision for the next album.
“Watching Xavier smash it every night and the crowds going wild, it just gives the feeling that this could be taken to the next level,” Grunwald says. “It could be something really big and special that keeps going on. I want to carry that feeling into the new songs and with this next album I want to make it the best I possibly can.”
Catch Ash Grunwald atMona Vale Hotelon Thursday September 18 (tickets here) and at the Collector Hotel, Parramatta onFriday September 19 (tickets here).Also appearing at The Entrance Leagues Club on Saturday September 20; The Cambridge Hotel, Newcastle on Thursday October 2; and Carmens, Miranda on Friday October 3.
