The Funkoars kicked off their Little Did I Know tour in Melbourne Friday night at the Hi Fi Bar. Hitting the road with Melbourne blues artist Ash Grunwald, the first leg of the tour was a night full of hip hop, roots and wicked live energy.
Melbourne duo Low Budget ripped up the first set of the night playing some dope hip hop tracks and getting the crowd into it from their opener, Freak Mystique to their killer closer, Tailor Made.
In between acts I spoke to The Funkoars’ DJ Reflux about performing live with Ash Grunwald.
“We’re not sure how the crowd will react to the shows, I mean, no one’s ever done something like this before… We’ve only had one proper rehearsal with Ash but we liked it enough we decided to launch a national tour together!”

Leaving the collaborative set til last, The Funkoars took the stage next and wasted no time getting the crowd hyped and rowdy. Before long, everyone was singing, “dirty money still paying the bills” and “this how hip hop supposed to sound”. Mid-set, MC Hons jumped into the crowd and crowdsurfed his way back onstage in time to finish one of his verses! Needless to say, this wouldn’t have worked if everyone’s hands weren’t already bouncing in the air.
A few other highlights of their set included the songs What I Want, Da Na Na, The Light You Burned and the crazy track What’s Your Malfunction.
Ash Grunwald was up next playing his own style of blues with two guys on MPCs and one on drums. The beats were huge and so was the singing as the crowd rocked out to Ash’s raspy voice and electric guitar riffs.
Ash and The Funkoars took the stage one last time, as promised, to blend their distinctive styles on the track Black Sally. Much to the crowd’s enjoyment (there were now at least five crowdsurfers and a decent moshpit) they played Show Money again as Reflux and Ash had a play off from turntable scratching to guitar solo. The night closed with both groups’ latest single Little Did I Know and a hangover for many – just as the Oars intended.

We’d like to thank the newest member of our team at aaHH, Paul aka Joey Smiles, for hooking us up with this one. Look forward to some more great reading from this guy.