In February of 2015 a bass playing friend sent a message to one Ash Grunwald that we would love to be his band for a gig in my hometown in Edmonton, Canada.

When I was living and touring in Australia, I played several of the same festivals and gigs with Ash so I had met him and I think he knew the band that I played in. That was our in.

The message we got back from him was "Yeah sure sounds good"

We Were Stunned

Ash wanted us to learn a quick set of songs and join him onstage for a couple of tunes. This was something I always wanted to do, play with this great musician and it was coming true. I first saw and heard Ash's music when I was touring Canada, then heard a song from his in the movie limitless. Needless to say, I loved it.

We ended up meeting hours before the show, running a quick soundcheck and then we were invited to play the whole set with him. It was a night I thought I would always remember and that was it. Being on the road so long you learn to enjoy the moment and then move on, but in this case, I was very wrong

some of the highlights from the show! Filmed by my wife I believe

Bringing Ash to The Promised Land

After the show we talked quite a lot about coming to Europe and touring. My wife and I had just floated the idea that we should book bands in Europe, that it would be a fun way to bring hard working bands from overseas to Europe and to break into the scene. Ash was all for it. But I had my work cut out for myself.

a great shot from our show at the Nix en Meer

Trying to Book

As soon as I moved to Europe I began trying to bring Ash over. It became clear to me that with moving in March and settling into a new home and country, there was no way I'd be able to book so soon. Next summer was the target.

The problem was next summer I didn't have enough connections and was only able to offer one or two shows plus two festivals. This wasn't enough to make it worthwhile for all the costs of backline, flights, van and not to even mention living costs. My first summer was a failure.

Take Two

A year had passed and in the meantime I had been touring with Sean Webster, hired for session gigs, performing drum clinics and making drum videos. My contact list and venue list was much greater and I had made a lot of better connections with people in the European music scene. I was ready to book once more. This time determined to make it work.

I was quite lucky in that Ash's management had already secured two festivals. This was a huge advantage to begin with and made the booking of the rest of the gigs a lot easier. We were to fill out most of the dates nicely and have a great welcome to Europe tour with gigs and festivals in Spain, Belgium, Netherlands, Germany, Holland and Norway.
My view from soundcheck at a festival in Norway.

Meeting A Friend

When I picked Ash up at the airport, we had to wait a few hours for our bassist to arrive from Canada. We were rebuilding the same lineup from our show two and a half years earlier. Kris, the bassist, is one of closest friends and musical partners, I didn't want to do it with anyone else.

Ash and I got to talking about life, love, philosophy, surfing, Australia and of course music. Ash just seemed so cool and easy to be around. I knew the tour was going to be a lot of fun and an adventure to say the least.

A video of us at the Nix Blues Night festival in Enschede.

Preparing to Tour

Before the first note had even begun on the first gig (A festival in The Netherlands) we wanted to rehearse and get everything just right. It's an endless chasing cycle that musicians undergo to find that perfect blend of loose on stage performance that's entertaining to the audience, and playing every note perfect. We rehearsed for a long time getting everything sounding exactly how we want it and the best we could get it. I learned lots and was grateful to be working with someone who cared so deeply about the music. We were ready to kick some ass.

The Beginning

With the rehearsals done, we loaded our gear and began the drive to our first gig. Lot's of discussion and lot's of jokes were made that day. One of the great things i'll remember from this tour was how great the discussions were in the van. We listened to each other, learned from each other and respected one another. This allowed us to debate almost anything and never get mad at one another. What a great vibe we had. One that we would do our best to keep the entire tour.

Edit: Here's the link for Part 2

thanks for reading!!

Joel