Ash Grunwald — Gargantua (2013)

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Ash Grunwald — Gargantua (2013)

Ash Grunwald — Gargantua
♣ On my way over to WA I stopped in and did some recording in the Adelaide Hills at the Hilltop Hoods' studio with Mr Trials from Funkoars. I did about six songs with him. I don't know when it will be finished, probably ages but it's the fun bit at the moment of just going in and going hey roll a beat, something like this, and just making up stuff.
— Ash Grunwald
Born: Ashley Groenewald, 5 September 1976, Melbourne, Australia
Location: Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
Notable instruments: Dobro, Lap steel
Album release: June 28, 2013
Record Label: Delta Groove
Duration:     37:35
Tracks:
01. The Last Stand      (3:22)
02. Breakout      (3:51)
03. Acting Cool      (4:24)
04. Walking      (2:58)
05. Crazy      (3:43)
06. Black And Blue      (4:16)
07. Raw      (3:34)
08. Skywriter      (3:25)
09. Mojo      (3:24)
10. Smokestack Lightning      (4:38)
Members:
♣ Ash Grunwald: Guitars/Vocals
♣ Scott Owen: Upright Bass
♣ Andy Strachan: Drums
CREDITS:
♣ A huge thanks to everyone who has helped along the way. Enjoy the METAL :) !
♣ Produced by Ash Grunwald
♣ Music Farm Sessions
♣ Recorded by Jordan Powers at The Music Farm Byron Bay
♣ Assisted by David 'Bunny Man' Herington
♣ Hothouse Sessions
♣ Recorded & Mixed by Jez Giddings at Hothouse Audio St Kilda
♣ Mastered by Tony 'Jack The Bear' Mantz at Deluxe Mastering
♣ Sleeve Artwork by Honey Rogue Design
♣ Published by Mushroom Music Publishing
♣ Ash uses Cloe Clark Guitars, D'Addario Strings, Roland V Drums, Boss Pedals and Mesa Boogie Amps
♣ All Songs by Ash Grunwald except for 'Crazy' - Gnarls Barkley, 'Black And Blue' - Chain and 'Smokestack Lightning' - Howlin Wolf
♣ Scott Owen & Andy Strachan appear courtesy of Dew Process Records
Website: http://www.ashgrunwald.com/
MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/ashgrunwald
Bandcamp: http://ashgrunwald.bandcamp.com/
YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/ashgrunwald
Twitter: https://twitter.com/ashgrunwald
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AshGrunwald?fref=ts
Personal life:
♣ Ash is married to longtime partner and musician Danni Carr, and they have a daughter, Sunny.
♣ Grunwald attended Luther College during his high school years.
Description:
♣ "Just a few weeks ago, there was but a distant thought, tapping on the creative mind of Mr Ash Grunwald. It was a quiet idea but it was persistent. It softly projected the notion that somehow, maybe, two thirds of The Living End could be his band on more than just a single…the planets aligning perhaps so together they could bash out a full albums worth of tracks.
♣ The formerly polite idea began to shout, on a Friday morning not that long ago, after Ash found himself in the somewhat unexpected position of performing live on Triple M Breakfast in Melbourne. He’d recently released his, Scott and Andy’s ripping cover of Gnarls Barkley’s ‘Crazy’ which was meant to serve as a beacon for Ash’s community; alerting them of the upcoming national tour that the lads are soon to embark on but ‘Crazy’ had a different direction. Developing a life well beyond the borders of a loyal fanbase, ‘Crazy’ made it’s way out into commercial radio land, and took Ash with it. So as the snowball rolled, so did the idea and that very afternoon Ash found his way to St Kilda’s Hothouse Studios with the lads from The Living End and amped up for a few hours of sonic exploration. Those hours turned into 6 straight days of recording that ended with an immense sense of excitement and an idea realized. With the encouragement and enthusiasm of Scott Owen and Andy Strachan, Ash Grunwald’s rock monster was welcomingly unleashed and GARGANTUA was born. Comprised of two new and original tracks (involving CSG, Arnie and a fuck you attitude), three vastly different cover songs and a handful of utterly off the hook reworkings of some of Ash’s biggest tracks, this album documents the findings of an unplanned experiment in altered methodology."
In french:
♣ Le guitariste australien touche-a-tout, expérimente, cette fois-ci, le heavy rock... A découvrir.
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♣ After an incredible month of unbridled creativity, subsequent reward and acknowledgment, off the hook shows and media appearances of the like this talented bluesmen had not experienced before, GARGANTUA - the driving beast behind it all - is out of it's cage.
♣ It's an unusual tale in an industry that generally works at the velocity of slow-moving tar, that an artist makes the courageous decision to record something and get it out whilst the heart and the passion are still in it. Ignoring the norm of planning, prepping, shmoozing and overthinking the very life out of an album, Ash Grunwald's fast-track release of GARGANTUA is utterly reflective of the entire album's formation (not to mention it's tempo!).
♣ Ash Grunwald, Scott Owen and Andy Strachan have had an awesome time making this record and getting back to the old school nature of jamming it out garage-style - three mates coming together, sinking a few beers and just tearing their instrument of choice to pieces. And when a racket is made like that, by three of the most talented players in the country - holy shit - it near takes your head off.
♣ '...the stoner riffing of “Black and Blue”, the rocking “Mojo” and the cover of Gnarls Barkley’s “Crazy” give it a sharp, timely twist. A decent, heavier diversion from Grunwald’s staple fare.' Rolling Stone.
Discography:
Albums/EPs:
♣ Introducing Ash Grunwald - Black Market Music (August 2002)
♣ I Don't Believe - Head (5 April 2004)
♣ Live At The Corner - Head (7 February 2005)
♣ Give Signs - Delta Groove (28 August 2006)
♣ Live From The Factory - Delta Groove (DG005) (2008)
♣ Fish Out of Water - Delta Groove (DG006) (18 August 2008) (AUS #43)
♣ Hot Mama Vibes - Delta Groove (4 June 2010)
♣ Live at the Fly by Night - Shock (16 February 2010)
♣ Trouble's Door - Shock (11 May 2012)
♣ Gargantua - Shock (28 June 2013)
Singles:
♣ "Walking" (2010)
♣ "Tear The Roof Off" (July, 2011)
♣ "The Last Stand" (June 7, 2013)
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Biography by Jody Macgregor
♣ Ash Grunwald is part of Australia's blues and roots scene, a one-man band who belts out his songs on guitar and stompbox at festivals around the country. Like a lot of blues and roots musicians, he's something of a young hippie, and many of his songs deal with subjects like escaping from the big city and spending time with nature. He even has a song thanking a pod of dolphins for saving him from a shark while he was out surfing.
♣ Grunwald's grandfather played bass and at the age of ten they first started jamming together while he was learning to play the guitar. That began his obsession with the blues, expanded into an expertise by listening to the blues shows on Melbourne's community radio stations as a teenager. By his early 20s, Grunwald had been in and out of several bands including the Blue Grunwalds and the Groove Catalysts, as well as playing in a couple of duos. He found that he preferred playing solo, however, booking small shows along the coastline wherever there was a good beach he could surf at, even if it meant playing unnoticed for hours in the dark corner of a restaurant.
♣ Still independent and without a manager, he recorded a collection of his songs and several blues covers live (including songs by Howlin' Wolf and Robert Johnson), Introducing Ash Grunwald, and released it himself in 2001. Shortly after that he discovered Tom Waits, and in particular his work from the '80s and after, which involved experimental percussion with everything from pots and pans to a dumpster. In 2004, Grunwald recorded a second album, I Don't Believe, again live and solo, this time using spanners and hammers for percussion and adding several covers of Waits' songs. It was also the first time he used samples and live loops on an album. Songs from those first two albums were then combined together in a new release called Live at the Corner, for which he won an Australian Blues Award for Album of the Year.
♣ The popularity of blues and roots had exploded in Australia with independent, dreadlocked musicians like the John Butler Trio suddenly capable of topping the charts, and Grunwald was caught up in the boom. The JJJ radio station was responsible for spearheading the trend, and in 2005, Grunwald's youthful fascination with radio came full-circle when he became host of JJJ's Roots N All show, a position he held for 18 months. He also worked on Give Signs, his first album to consist only of original songs on which he continued to experiment with unusual percussion, like the sound of a cricket ball bouncing on the floor and his own boots stomping down the steps.
♣ Every year, Mushroom Publishing holds a songwriting workshop in which two songwriters from different genres work together to create a song in a day; in 2008 Grunwald participated in this workshop and was teamed up with Count Bounce, the beatsmith from hip-hop group TZU. The two had a passing acquaintance from sharing the bill at festivals, but working together they discovered they had more in common than it first seemed. The two continued working together on Grunwald's 2008 album, Fish Out of Water, which was the first of his albums not to be recorded purely live or on his own. © Ash Grunwald. St. Kildafest, Photo credit: Nikki Williams
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