It’s been a busy couple of years for Australian Blues guitarist Ash Grunwald and things aren’t about to let up anytime soon with a new album due for release in August. The Rockpit hope to talk to Ash more in-depth about that in the next few weeks but for now there is a more pressing engagement on Ash’s horizon, that of The Melbourne Guitar Show, set to rock Caulfield Racecourse on August 3 and 4 – and this year’s show is set to be colossal. In addition to the world-class performances from the artists on the massive line-up, there will also be a huge gear expo that will feature a mammoth variety of electric and acoustic guitars, effects pedals, amps and more state-of-the-art guitar technology, both home-grown and from around the world. It will continue to be Australia’s biggest guitar pop-up shops, as well as hosting information seminars, demonstrations, and live performances from Australia’s most talented guitarists.
Grunwald appears for the first time and joins names like Sarah McLeod, Dave Leslie, Lloyd Spiegel, Stars (featuring Mal Eastick, Nick Charles, and Roger McLachlan), as well as Minnie Marks, Phil Manning, Anna Scionti, Chris Finnen, James Norbert Ivanyi, Cartridge Family feat Sarah Carroll and Suzanna Espie, Jeremy Barnes, Simon Hosford’s Fair Warning (who will be playing the entire Van Halen debut album), Michael Dolce, James Ryan, Charlie Bedford & Shannon Bourne. We discussed with Ash what he expects at the show, as well as talk about his wonderful deep & meaningful podcast ‘Soulful Conversations’ where he gets to the heart & soul of the personalities he interviews.
Sean: Hey Ash, great to talk to you. I hope your well.
Ash: Hey Sean, good thanks. How you going?
Sean: Great thanks. We have plenty to talk about, so let’s kick off with The Melbourne Guitar Show which takes place on August 3rd & 4th. I’m guessing they are great fun to do – what kind of things will you be getting up to?
Ash: [laughs] I’ve never done one before…
Sean: [laughs] Interesting!
Ash: I haven’t, really… I started playing guitar when I was ten and all my music is guitar music… I have had the odd press in the guitar magazines and such like but have never really lived my musical life in that light; it’s been more as a song writer than a guitarist – even though a guitarist is what I am. It couldn’t have come at a better time really because over the last couple of years I’ve been working really hard on my guitar playing – when I say hard I mean a lot of practice. It hasn’t been hard in that sense because I’ve loved it. Life is meeting me halfway here because I’m stoked to be there at the Melbourne Guitar Show. I probably wouldn’t have been interested in the past because I’d have thought, “It’s just a bunch of guitar nerds, so I can’t be bothered!” But now I am one of those guitar nerds [laughs].
Sean: Well, there are plenty of names on the list who will be there as well so there will be a lot of nerds swapping ideas & tips [laughs]
Ash: Yeah, definitely and something every good nerd loves is gear – not to be confused with drug kind of gear, they probably do like that as well [laughs] but I’m not sure – so I can’t wait to get into all the pedals & new things and will probably lose so much money there that it’s not funny. Because I’ve been practicing so much it’s just become this really exciting adventure like it was when I was a kid. It was never my aim to be some guitar shredder even though my heroes were players like Hendrix, Buddy Guy, BB King and all those, I wanted to be soulful rather than have aspirations to be some crazy shredder. Then I started to think, “why not!” [laughs] Why not get a little better? Why not learn that tricky run that Hendrix, Gary Moore or Bonamassa did? So now I’m starting to get a little bit of the blues shred into my playing and it’s really fun. I’m also trying to use my powers for good instead of evil. Sometimes I can still go on a bit of a shred tangent [laughs] and get a bit too busy but I just try and remember Albert King when I go in that direction too much.
Sean: With all that gear there you’ll be looking at straps, strings & microphone stands [laughs]
Ash: [laughs] Ah, you were at the Forum last year weren’t you?
Sean: I was indeed, front row too. For our readers out there wondering what we are talking about, the Melbourne leg of Kenny Wayne Shepherd’s three-date tour saw you open each of the three nights but unfortunately the show at The Forum had a few slight technical hitches – a broken string during the first note of the opening song, a guitar strap that gave way and a broken mic stand. It certainly didn’t stop you putting in a fantastic set that night.
Ash: [laughs] Thanks mate. It was classic.
Sean: Also to have Scott (Owen) & Andy (Strachan) from The Living End as your accompanying musicians was pretty special too.
Ash: Yeah, bit of a band there, hey. You know when you have nights like that, there’s nothing worse. You turn up to the gig, something goes wrong and the performance sometimes does not roll with the punches. I just think it’s funny and all you can do is roll with it – that’s the situation that life’s given you. I heard something the other days and it will end up being my own worst paraphrase but “You should never bemoan your situation because that’s all you have” [laughs]
Sean: Luckily you had Kenny Wayne’s guitar tech to help with the string issue, a stool to sit on resolved the strap problem and a new mic stand was brought out for the third dilemma and what was amazing was how much it setup the atmosphere in the room because the audience were all laughing with you rather than at you which made it more wonderful.
Ash: I’ve always thought that. It real can do that – almost like looking for excuses to break it up a bit and to keep things fresh and off the cuff.
Sean: Did you manage to chat to Kenny Wayne at all during the tour?
Ash: He actually came up and introduced himself and had a good chat, which was great. He plays with a keyboard player called Barry Goldberg, who has played on my new album, which I recorded more than half of in America. So we had a good chat about that and he seemed a really nice guy.
Sean: Having had the pleasure of interviewing him twice now I can certain agree with you. He has always been so open to talk about everything & anything. Talking of chatting about everything & anything leads us nicely into talking about your podcast ‘Soulful Conversations’ which I must say has had some great guests so far and who reveal some real surprises too.
Ash: Yeah, they’ve been great. With ‘Soulful Conversations’ I want to get to the real heart of things with the people I’m talking to. I try to get beyond the latest release. I want to know what they think about life, what they started out doing and what they think is important to them. It’s interesting to find out what may have caused them upset & issues in their past that they have managed to leave behind and what has changed now in their lives – what have they learnt & what can other people learn from it.
Sean: I loved the John Butler episodes, which I think was your first one in two parts. To hear him reveal where his anger & anxieties were coming from was a real insight. We don’t think about an artist having to leave his loved ones behind while going out on tour.
Ash: That was really interesting to hear. He’s such an incredible guy.
Sean: Even the Russell Morris one where he talked about his love for Astrophysics…
Ash: That was fascinating wasn’t it – Russell talking about the origins of the universe [laughs], so unexpected. Then he talked about genetic memory and epic genetics – just all sorts.
Sean: I haven’t listened to them all yet so I still have more to enjoy.
Ash: There are some really good ones.
Sean: I’m guessing you have plenty more lined up?
Ash: Yeah, I have and just did some in the snow with The Hussey Hicks, if you know those guys. They are really cool and Jules the guitarist is a real shredder – she’s did an old school apprenticeship under Phil Emmanuel. She did seven years with him – it was like Barkley on steroids [laughs] so that’s how she learnt to play. Now they are playing this mixed-bag folk/roots kind of stuff – but she’s like at Satriani level.
Sean: I look forward to listening to some of their music. I noticed a little connection with Russell Morris in that both of your last albums were produced by Nick DiDia…
Ash: …and Russell also used Ian (Peres) who plays bass & keyboards for Wolfmother. Ian played with me & toured with me for a bit. He is getting a lot of work because Nick & Bernard Fanning (Powderfinger) have a studio together and they just love Ian because he is a genius. He also plays with Xavier Rudd and he’s amazing and will be joining me on my tour as well, which is soon to be announced.
Sean: Well, I know the album is close to being announced as well as tour dates to co-inside with that and I’m hoping to chat to you in more detail about that in the coming weeks as there is so much to talk about, including all the amazing guests you have recorded with on it so that will be something I’m looking forward to.
Ash: For sure. Yeah it’s pretty exciting for me.
Sean: I can’t wait to hear it. Back to the Melbourne Guitar Show and another guitarist on the list who will be appearing there is the wonderful Lloyd Spiegel, who I believe you used to play with.
Ash: Yeah, probably twenty years ago now. We used to play at the Dan O’Connell Hotel in Melbourne every week. Chris Wilson had a residency there and Danni Carr, my wife had a residency there… that’s how we met and we’ve been together for seventeen years. Lloyd & I had a cool duo because we knew all the same stuff and we wouldn’t plan anything – we would just sing & play, swap verses and guitar solos & rhythm… we didn’t really need to discuss anything. If Lloyd couldn’t do it or he had a gig then I would get Ian Collard, who is amazing & probably Australia’s best bluesiest person – an incredible harmonica player & singer. He’s world class. His band is Collard, Greens & Gravy are wonderful. We’d see Chris (Wilson) and he was our hero… It was just such a great time. It was just Blues University for us at that time. I was on the south coast only the other week and there was a great guitarist playing and asked if he was influenced by Lloyd… there are so, so many guitarists who shred that are influenced by Lloyd.
Sean: You have a something a little special you’ll be unveiling at the guitar show. Are we allowed to talk about it?
Ash: Yes I‘m sure we can. I’ll be unveiling my new signature guitar… it’s a Pratley Guitar which are made up here on the Gold Coast by Martin Pratley. He made a couple of stomp boxes for me and he said he’d love to make me a signature guitar, so I asked if he’d make me a 335 style guitar – it’s a stunning looking thing. Its beautiful sunburst but earthy… very much the natural wood which is Black Ash – it’s got two P-90s on it so it has that old school kind of sound and a very playable neck… it’s just a beautiful guitar.
Sean: I’m sure it will come out to play at The Melbourne Guitar Show. Just before I lose you I just had a few general questions to wrap things up with. What was the last album you listened to?
Ash: To be honest I hardly listen to albums fully anymore, I’m with the rest them on playlists. As much as I have been working on my guitar playing I’ve also been working on my vocals a lot too recently so I have been listening to a lot of Sam Cooke and really loving that. Probably the last album I listened to was over six months ago… I listened to John Butler’s album ‘Home’ from start to finish. It was beautifully recorded and he’s worked so hard on his guitar playing – he was always a good guitarist anyway but like he mentioned in the podcast, he travelled to India to study the lap steel… as a musician & recording artist myself, I must say it sounded luxurious & expensive [laughs]… just really goods sounds. Just every next verse that came along had something just slightly different in there – it was just so well done. I thought that was just a really good album.
Sean: Nice, I’ll add it to my album list. If you could invite three musicians, dead or alive to dinner one evening to have a chat over a nice meal & glass or two of wine, who would you want to join you?
Ash: Oh probably Hendrix, Tom Waits & Howlin’ Wolf…
Sean: …Wow, that is the quickest anyone has ever answered that [laughs]. If you could be credited with writing any song ever written, what song would you choose?
Ash: Ahhhh, now that’s a bit more curly [laughs] there’s a million of them… Let me think. It would be down to mood on the day and if I was feeling good it would have to be ‘Voodoo Child’ by Jimi.
Sean: That was Kenny Wayne’s choice when I first interviewed him too.
Ash: [laughs] Kenny does it very, very well. It’s an ambition of mine to play that in my set – when I was much younger I used to play ‘Voodoo Child’ but didn’t do it justice. Now my standards are a lot higher, I’m too scared to do ‘Voodoo Child’. So it would be my ambition to make it part of my set and put myself under that pressure so that I would have to step up to the lineage that goes from Hendrix to Stevie Ray to Kenny… all these guys that dare to do ‘Voodoo Child’ – I would then be another one who dares to do and do it well. That would be a really great thing.
Sean: Wonderful. Ash we thank you so much for your time and wish you all the best for The Melbourne Guitar Show in August and try not to spend too much while you’re there [laughs] Also we wish you well for your podcast ‘Soulful Conversations’ and hope we can catch up again soon to discuss your forthcoming album.
Ash: [laughs] I’ll try not to. I’m glad you’re enjoying the podcast – that’s great. Definitely, thanks mate.
MELBOURNE GUITAR SHOW
SATURDAY AUG 3 | CAULFIELD RACECOURSE |10.00am – 6.00pm | TICKETS
SUNDAY AUG 4 | CAULFIELD RACECOURSE |10.00am – 4.00pm | TICKETS
