The last thing a surfer wants to see is a shark. Unless it’s on a T-shirt or something.
That’s exactly what surfer/musician Ash Grunwald spied while surfing in northern New South Wales. Or at least, that’s what Grunwald’s surfing buddy insists he saw.
“He thought he saw a shark near me,” said Grunwald, 32, an Australian blues/roots rocker playing Esquimalt’s Cambie next week. “We were freaking out. We were surrounded by dolphins. And my friend swore black and blue he hadn’t mistaken a dolphin for a shark.”
Afterward, Grunwald wondered if the dolphins might have scared off the shark. When he shared the story with fellow surfers, some told similar tales. This led to Grunwald’s whimsical Dolphin Song, one of his most popular numbers.
Those who attend Wednesday’s show will experience big-voiced electric blues — some hard driving, some laid-back. The dreadlocked Grunwald plays solo but augments his guitar and voice with foot-driven snare and kick drums as well as electronic sounds via iPad.
The result is a compelling mix showing the influence of Led Zeppelin, Jimi Hendrix, the Black Keys and the grunge-grindy sound of A Ass Pocket of Whiskey (an album featuring the Jon Spencer Blues Explosion and Mississippi bluesman R.L. Burnside).
Grunwald says he’ll offer material from his latest recording, Gargantua, a collaboration with Australian punk rockers the Living End. Expect such tunes as a cover of Gnarls Barkley’s Crazy as well as The Last Stand — the latter reflecting his anger regarding health problems linked to fracking in Queensland.
Blues-rock is a well-worn path. Grunwald, a fan of such pioneers as Robert Johnson and Howlin’ Wolf, makes a point of avoiding guitar-god self-indulgence. He compares the never-ending guitar solo to guys who can’t wait to show off their muscles after hours in the gym.
“Being tasty and minimal with it is a good way to go,” he said via cellphone, en route to Lillooet. “I personally like simple, tasteful kinds of grooves and riffs.”
He lives with his wife and two daughters (currently on tour with him) at Byron Bay, an idyllic beachside town in northeastern Australia. As depicted in his video Longtime, which shows Grunwald expertly catching wave after wave, the musician is a die-hard surfer.
“A lot of my friends are pro surfers and stuff. And I get to surf with them. I feel really fortunate that I’ve gotten to know them,” he said. Grunwald said he once played a show in Tofino with Victoria’s Current Swell, but there wasn’t enough time to go surfing.
He will have time after his Canadian tour. Grunwald plans to take a month off to surf with pals in Indonesia. And after that, he’s considering talking “a little bit of a hiatus” — perhaps as long as six months — to travel in Indonesia and Bali. Grunwald says he needs a breather of more than a decade as a hard-touring musician.
Many of his lyrics espouse his philosophy of personal freedom.
“For me,” Grunwald said, “it was all about not getting trapped into the nine-to-five.”
achamberlain@timescolonist.com
What: Ash Grunwald
Where: The Cambie, Esquimalt Inn (also The Cambie in Nanaimo on Aug. 29)
When: Wednesday, 10 p.m.
Tickets: $15 door, $10 advance (at Lyle’s Place, The Cambie)
