''Gargantua'' is the seventh studio album by Australian blues musician

Ash Grunwald Ash Grunwald (born Ashley Mark Groenewald, 5 September 1976) is an Australian blues musician. He has released nine studio albums and has received five nominations for ARIA Music Awards. Five albums have charted in the ARIA Albums Chart top&nbs ...

(with Scott Owen and

Andy Strachan Andrew Douglas Strachan (born 20 August 1974) is an Australian rock musician. In 1994, after growing up in Adelaide, he relocated to Melbourne, and in 2000 he became the drummer of Sydney-based alternative rock group, Pollyanna. In 2002, he jo ...

from

The Living End The Living End are an Australian punk rockabilly band from Melbourne, formed in 1994. Since 2002, the line-up consists of Chris Cheney (vocals, guitar), Scott Owen (double bass, vocals), and Andy Strachan (drums). The band rose to fame in 199 ...

). The album reportedly took six days to record and was released in June 2013, peaking at number 46 on the

ARIA Charts The ARIA Charts are the main Australian music sales charts, issued weekly by the Australian Recording Industry Association. The charts are a record of the highest selling songs and albums in various genres in Australia. ARIA became the offic ...

Background and release

In an interview with NQ Music Press, Grunwald explained his connection with Scott Owen goes to back to when they were in a cover band together. In 2012, the two of them were working together for a charity foundation and laid down the vocals for a cover of

Gnarls Barkley Gnarls Barkley are an American soul duo, composed of singer-songwriter CeeLo Green and producer Danger Mouse. They released their debut studio album, ''St. Elsewhere'', in 2006. It contained their hit single "Crazy", which peaked at number two ...

's " Crazy". The duo invited ask Andy Strachan to work on the track and according to Grunwald, "it sounded amazing!". The next day, the trio were playing together at

St Kilda Festival The St Kilda Festival, held every February (except 2021), is a free celebration of Australian music, summer, and St Kilda. Programming includes music, dance, children's activities, comedy, poetry, visual art, theatre, outdoor cinema, beach sp ...

to over 6,000 people. The trio realised they all had a week spare in their schedules and so decided to record 10 songs together which consisted of renditions of some of Grunwald's greatest hits as well as a few covers.

Reception

Mike Alexander from Stuff NZ said "While Grunwald is a capable enough vocalist, what he lacks in the wizened old voices of blues greats, he makes up for with a steaming repertoire of guitar licks." adding "''Gargantua'' isn't quite the gorilla of an album that the cover artwork depicts but it still does the (monkey) business.". Kristina from The Dwarf said "''Gargantua'' is fun, frisky and dives into the realm of rock-n-roll, bringing back a retro-esque flavour with a hint of modern-time sounds and techniques through sophisticated beats." Pete Laurie from The Music said "This isn't a hippie with an acoustic guitar stomping out his own beat; this is a blues disciple turning things up to 11 and recruiting what is possibly the most successful rhythm section working in Australian music today. "

Background and release

Reception

Track listing

Charts

Release history

References