In the last 10 years, Ash Grunwald has released 10 albums, won six national awards in his homeland of Australia and toured all over the world. This Labour Day weekend he is coming to Powell River for the Sunshine Music Festival.
Grunwald described his music as bluesy with modern influences, including hip hop and dubstep. The 36-year-old musician has been credited with revitalizing the blues and roots scene in Australia.
“I just try and do things that are different,” he said. “I don’t think there’s any point in regurgitating the same album over and over again.”
In the past, Grunwald has collaborated with dubstep producer Fingers Malone and Countbalance of the hip hop outfit TZU.
Grunwald has picked up many awards over the years, including five nominations from the Australian Recording Industry Association, two Australasian Performing Rights Association awards, three Victoria Blues awards and two Tazmania Blues Awards.
He has opened for James Brown, Bo Diddley, and the Black Keys. His songs have been featured on films such as Moneyball and Limitless, with Robert DeNiro.
The visit to Powell River is part of his latest tour of BC, which promotes his new album, Gargantua. The release is a hard-rock collaboration with Scott Owen and Andy Strachan of the Living End.
Grunwald originally worked with the duo on a cover of Gnarles Barkley’s Crazy, which met with surprising success.
“It went really well for us, ended up on commercial radio and TV, so we just sort of picked it up and ran with it, as you can these days,” he said. Grunwald fast-tracked the album, recording and releasing it in just over a month so that, as he explained, the heart and passion were still in it.
He will be performing many of the new songs off his album at the Sunshine Music Festival, including Last Stand. The song, his first venture into open political activism, protests coal and gas mining in Australia.
“It’s just a really scary technology that seems to wreck the environment and poison the people,” he explained. “If no one said anything about it, they’d be doing it in every city, in every town.”
The artist has a five-minute video protesting the mines that he often plays at his gigs.
When mentioning Powell River, Grunwald seemed a bit confused. “Where is it again?” he asked, joking. His friend books all his shows for him and he loves the BC coast.
“I don’t really think too far ahead,” he said, “but my buddy always books really cool tours.”
Grunwald said he usually goes wherever the music is, not discriminating by size or location of a festival.
Small festivals, he said, are more in line with his grassroots values. “The big ones are great in their own way, but with small ones, you’re more connected to people,” he explained. “It’s just a different feeling.”
The rocker said touring internationally has enhanced his world view. “It’s funny how many preconceptions you can have about a place that you didn’t even realize you had until you get there,” he laughed.
Though Grunwald has toured in BC before, he has only ever travelled here in the winter. He plans to take full advantage of his summer schedule. “We’re playing almost every day,” he said, “but I love the outdoors, so we’ll just be getting out there and doing some healthy stuff to counteract the partying at night.”
Speaking of partying, Grunwald said that’s the vibe he always aims for when he performs. “I just like everybody all-inclusive, together on one groove,” he explained. “Everybody is really involved and having a great time.”
Sunshine Music Festival takes place at Palm Beach from Saturday, August 31 to Sunday, September 1. Ash Grunwald performs at 5:15 pm on the Saturday. For more information, readers can visit sunshinemusicfest.com.
