Ash Grunwald And Members Of The Living End Team Up For New Album

Australia’s dreadlocked, vegetarian, ARIA-nominated rollicking blues and roots slide guitarist (who isn’t John Butler), Ash Grunwald, teamed up with one of Australia’s most recognisable upright-bass players, The Living End’s Scott Owen, to record a cover of Gnarls Barkley’s “Crazy” last month.

Joined by fellow Living End bandmate, Andy Strachan, on drums, the three recorded their version of the 2006 hit at Melbourne’s Red Door Sounds studio, co-owned by Living End frontman, Chris Cheney.

This collaboration led to the announcement of a national tour for the three musicians, playing shows in every state (but neither territory) from June 6th to July 7th. Now it seems that there is more than just a tour in the works, with the news of an upcoming album announced today.

Following the success of “Crazy” on commercial radio, Grunwald decided to foster he creative partnership with the Living End rhythm section and spent six straight days at St Kilda’s Hothouse Studios recording what will be the trio’s debut album, Gargantua.

The 10 track release will consist of covers (including the popular version of ‘Crazy), brand new originals, and “a handful of utterly off the hook reworkings of some of Ash’s biggest tracks,” according to a statement from the group, including “Walking” (featured on the Limitless film soundtrack) and “Breakout” from his 2008 album, Fish Out Of Water. Grunwald decided to foster the creative partnership with the Living End rhythm section and spent six straight days at St Kilda’s Hothouse Studios recording…

The latter was actually performed by Grunwald and his Living End cohorts at St. Kilda Festival earlier this year, and is described as “a penny drop moment for Ash” who saw “an opportunity to breath new life into a track that’s always been very good to him.”

Opening track, “Last Stand”, was actually originally written for the Arnold Schwarzenegger film The Last Stand, yet never got the Governator’s tick of approval.

“Last year I was asked to do the theme song… but I didn’t get it,” Grunwald recently told Tone Deaf in a forthcoming interview, “but I was so stoked to be asked.”

“I don’t know, some people might think that’s cheesy to do something for an action film with Arnie or whatever but for me it was like ‘wow, here’s our mission statement, think about this guy when you do the song’,” he says. “I just made it really muscular.”

Regardless, Grunwald managed to use the song to express his anger at the Coal Seam Gas wells in South Western QLD and resulting health problems in the region. “It’s funny that the lyrics kind of play right into that,” says the musical activist. “I had to incorporate the title of that movie into the song and it was ‘The Last Stand’, so it kind of works for me.”

Another interesting cover on the record is that of Howlin’ Wolf’s hit, “Smokestack Lightning”. Originally released in 1956 by the Chicago blues singer and harmonica player, Grunwald citing him as “one of his biggest influences.”

You can view the artwork for Gargantua, out June 20th through Shock Records, below, along with Ash Grunwald’s 2013 tour dates with Scott and Andy from The Living End.

Tracklisting: