Tamborine Mountain has a connection to Gold Coast rock band Salty Season, with lead guitarist and Tamborine Mountain News journalist George Bellinger helping the four-piece bring its riff-driven sound to stages across the region.
The band consists of Harry Hill on vocals and rhythm guitar, Keelan Gooden on drums and backing vocals, George on lead guitar and Aidan Gooden on bass.
Another mountain local, artist Liam Blenkinsop, who works under the name ‘porosus’, has also played a role in the band’s creative identity, producing the artwork for Salty Season’s releases to date.
Formed on the Gold Coast, Salty Season draws inspiration from Australian pub rock, modern indie and classic rock, with influences ranging from Jet and Paul Kelly to AC/DC.
George said the band’s sound had continued to evolve over the past few years.
“It used to be more modern indie rock, with bands like Catfish and the Bottlemen as an influence,” he said.
“Lately, the recordings have been inspired by classic rock for a couple of tunes. Our latest one, Sleeping, is probably a bit more psychedelic and chilled out.”
Sleeping is the band’s latest single and was created during a jam session in the garage, beginning with a guitar riff before the rest of the group joined in.
“I just started playing the riff and then the other fellas joined in, and we had the structure like that within about 10 minutes,” George said.
“Harry, who writes the lyrics, went away and came back with them after a couple of weeks. It was really easy and just came together perfectly.”
The track is among six songs Salty Season recorded during a two-day studio session on the Sunshine Coast earlier this year.
George said the band enjoyed watching songs develop from early ideas at rehearsals into completed recordings.
“You never really expect it to sound the way it does once it’s released and mixed and everything,” he said.
Salty Season recently performed at Elsewhere in Surfers Paradise in support of Sleeping and continues to play shows around South East Queensland.
The band has previously released the EP Welcome To The Life and plans to return to the studio next year, with another EP on the horizon.
George said the friendship between the four members remained at the heart of the band.
“We’re all really close mates,” he said.
“Plus, the music flows as well, so we’re pretty lucky.”
