Ash Grunwald - Live atthe Fly By Night

Thu 8th Apr, 2010 in Music Reviews

Regardless of whether you follow his music or not, there’s a good chance you’ll have seen or heard Ash Grunwald doing his thing if you’ve attended an Australian music festival in the past few years. A seasoned live performer, the dreadlocked guitarist has slid, stomped and sweated on countless stages across the country; bringing his unique, good-times take on swampy blues to audiences always ready to reciprocate the energy.

In recent years, Ash has moved away from his traditional solo performances involving him, his resonator guitar and his percussive stomp boxes. Since the release of his latest record, Fish Out of Water, he has been touring with drummer “Big” Benny Owen and turntablist Kanchana Karunaratna in order to both expand on what Grunwald was working on in the studio and to develop the percussive side of things onstage.

Live at the Fly by Night, recorded last October in Western Australia, is the third live album from Grunwald and the very first documentation of the trio’s live antics for those who have never had the pleasure. All the sweaty fun of one of their shows is packed onto this hour-long set – not quite like being there, but a great representation regardless.

In an era where the crowd noise can be quietened and overdubs done quite easily for live albums, Live At The Fly By Night is a refreshingly genuine product, with seemingly little interference made between the recording of the performance and its transition to disc. It’s all howling and the clattering of beer glasses as the intro track is spun by Karunaratna, setting the scene at the Fremantle venue just minutes before Grunwald himself takes to the stage.

Kicking straight into Can You Find A Way it doesn’t take very long at all for the trio to slink right into a dingy groove of rock, blues, hip-hop and world music that carries on for the entire evening. As Owen thuds away on everything from rusted old cymbals to a ripped-off car door and Karunaratna adds in beats of his own (both with Ableton Live and traditional Indian percussion), Grunwald brings in his shrill falsetto bark over his distinctive, scrawling slide guitar. It carries itself across familiar territory for the set’s entirety, yet never becomes something of an irritation – it’s all a part of Grunwald’s charm as a performer.

This kind of blues is a lot more about the good times than your standard “today-my-woman-left-me” fare. Grunwald constantly engages the crowd – no doubt with a smile plastered all over his face – in particular when it comes to the topic of their dancing. At one point, he even incites a “dance-off” to see who can last the longest dancing to the music as the speed gradually increases to the point where one can imagine it to be nigh impossible to do so. It’s moments like this where you wish perhaps there could have been a DVD accompaniment to the show, in order to properly capture the spirit of the moment. Still, the audio aspect is certainly substantial enough to show off Grunwald’s skills.

It’s always great to hear old favourites such as Skywriter from 2005’s Give Signs and live favourite Just Be Yourself from the early Introducing Ash Grunwald record, both of which make strong appearances here. The highlight of the performance, however, comes when four of Grunwald’s most popular tunes are thrown together in a two-part melee of a medley near the set’s conclusion.

The first half involves Fish Out of Water numbers Money and radio hit Breakout coming together in a funky amalgamation. The mashed-up tunes thrive on high-speed energy, loose jamming between the three musicians and even more of the two things that make an Ash Grunwald show great – loud crowd participation and blistering slide guitar solos.

Following this is the grand finale, which pits two of Give Signs’ best tracks together for a bopping, stomping, pumping good time in the key of C – the title track and opener Serious.

Live at the Fly by Night could well be Ash’s best live album yet. With Big Benny and Kanchana on his side, he’s been easily able to develop his live performance into something both bigger and better than its previous incarnation. Perhaps every lone travelling bluesman could use some company? Grab a copy and boogie down, then make sure you catch the real thing.