Ash Grunwald takes his theatre seriously
BETTER known for his packed-house stompers, Ash Grunwald isn't shy of a theatre show either.
The Northern Rivers roots musician is heading to the Star Court Theatre on Saturday and he'll be giving it his all, in a different way.
"The theatre gigs do tend to be a little less party, party, party," Grunwald tells Pulse.
"There's a greater level of attention to my vocals and I think I tend to talk to the audience a little more."
Grunwald says his theatre sets tend to start out with an acoustic edge as he takes his time through his catalogue.
"I won't lay it down in such a brash way as I might at Bluesfest or at The Northern (Byron Bay)," he says.
"But the audience tend to make the gigs more similar through their expectations. I guess we'll see what happens."
Grunwald released his sixth studio album earlier this year, Trouble's Door and has been on extensive tour across the country since.
The lead single, Longtime garnered a lot of attention thanks to a film clip featuring the who's who of the Northern Rivers music and surfing crowd.
Pete Murray, Xavier Rudd, Kram (Spiderbait), Scott Owen (The Living End), Bob McTavish, Fingers Malone, Derek Hynde, Beau Young and Dave Rastovich mimed, surfed and splashed around in the water in Byron Bay for the clip which has attracted more than 100,000 views on YouTube.
Right from the first show of the tour, in Byron Bay, punters were singing to the single which has received considerable radio play.
"I've always expected that next year it will be over," Grunwald says of his continued success.
"Maybe that's not how it works when you're willing to put in the work. Maybe it only stops when you give up."
Grunwald's set has changed from when he first set off to tour his latest release.
After starting out with a set up of organic and electronic instruments, Grunwald says it may have looked weird with what was essentially a cockpit with all of his gear.
"I just think in terms of the show for some of the older punters it was a bit alienating," he says.
"One minute I'm doing all this organic, acoustic stuff then the next I'm doing an electronic jam. Blending the two made it a bit more seamless for the rest of the tour."
He's also picked up his lap-steel guitar again after becoming bored with the instrument.
"Because that was the original trick it made me bored for a little while," he says.
"But by the end of this tour I just attacked it. I've reached that decade milestone where I got to that point where I was looking back on earlier things that have really struck a chord.
"I think on my next album I'll do a couple of stompers," Grunwald says.
For now though, expect something with a lot of focus at the Star Court Theatre on Saturday.
"It will be more of a shared experience than a performance," he says.
