Australia’s favourite road dog is back. Actually, scratch that, he never went away. Some musicians spend years holed up in studios, some spend days sitting around talking about being musicians, Ash Grunwald goes on the road. 10 years since the release of his first record, you’ll still find Ash in his natural habitat – the tour van. The only difference being that in 2012 he has legions of fans following him from stop to stop – an army he has earned the hard and honest way over the years. His latest record, Trouble’s Door is his most internal to date. It found life in the fiery breath of injustice and was born of Grunwald’s frustration of severe political and environmental mismanagement. “It’s some of my most personal songwriting,” Ash confesses. “I had just done a benefit gig to stop coal seam gas mining. There were other issues going on at the time, you can take your pick really, and it occurred to me that our system just doesn’t work. The music tells some pretty heavy tales as well; Grunwald’s trademark blues propelled by driving dance floor rhythms, buoyed by hip hop beats and slammed by a new dub step crunch. It all makes for an epic and unforgettable live show.
