THE lads from Camino Gold were confident their track Champagne & Wine had potential, but they never understood how much until Steve Balbi took control.
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The Noiseworks, Electric Hippies and Mi-Sex musician took the single to a new level when he stepped in as their producer.
"When we first took it to Steve we had the skeleton of the song and had a jam with him and he said, 'how about you tweak this boys? Change this up'," Camino Gold frontman Claude Bailey said.
"We came out with a whole new thing and it blew our minds, to be honest."
The world will finally get to hear Balbi's influence on Camino Gold when the Newcastle indie-rock four-piece release their single Champagne & Wine on Friday.
"Comparing the production to the old songs, it's a lot more thorough and I feel there's a lot more work that's gone into it and you can really hear it with the new EP," he said.
It's been two and a half years since Bailey, Marcus Velarde (guitar), James Bowman (drums) and Jordan Banning (bass) have released new music.
During that time Camino Gold have concentrated on recording a self-titled five-track EP with Balbi and fine-tuning their live show.
Those performances have included supporting Balbi and in January Bailey and Velarde played an acoustic set opening for Noiseworks at the Enmore Theatre.
Camino Gold's older singles Signs Of True and A Heart Of Yours have continued to grow their audience, too. The singles have collectively attracted more than 800,000 streams on Spotify.
Champagne & Wine - with its chilled vibes reminiscent of Sticky Fingers and Spacey Jane - pays homage to the band's early days when they'd jam weekly at Velarde's family home in Singleton.
"They [the Velarde family] were very welcoming people and would always welcome us into their house and we became a little bit of a family," Bailey said.
"It's just saying it'll always hold a special place in our hearts because it's where it kicked off for us."
Camino Gold plan to drip-feed other singles before the EP is released later this year.
The band is also gearing up for a hectic spell of touring, beginning on Friday with a single launch at the Lass O'Gowrie Hotel.
There's also shows in Wollongong, Sydney and on the Central Coast, plus a support slot with Ash Grunwald at the Stag & Hunter Hotel on August 31.
Josh Leeson
Josh Leeson is an entertainment and features journalist, specialising in music, at the Newcastle Herald. He first joined the masthead in 2008 after stints at the Namoi Valley Independent and Port Stephens Examiner and has previously covered sport including the Asian Cup, A-League, Surfest, cricket and rugby league.
Josh Leeson is an entertainment and features journalist, specialising in music, at the Newcastle Herald. He first joined the masthead in 2008 after stints at the Namoi Valley Independent and Port Stephens Examiner and has previously covered sport including the Asian Cup, A-League, Surfest, cricket and rugby league.
