LIKE many bands, it began with four friends jamming in the Newcastle suburb of Hamilton.
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Then another friend joined in. Then another. Then another. Suddenly there were 10 members infusing a mix of soul, jazz and psych-rock to create The Hamilton Alpine Club.
A year later, The Hamilton Alpine Club have earned a solid live reputation for their colourful cabaret performances, released a self-titled EP and joined emerging Newcastle indie label Ackeron St Records.
On October 26 the 10-piece take their biggest step yet when they perform at the inaugural Wollombi At The Station.
"It's the first festival we've played, so that's really exciting," vocalist Samara Jane said. "It'll be the biggest acts we've played with."
The Hamilton Alpine Club are Annastasia Lucas (sax), Claudia King (flute), Alex Fairclough (guitar), Cameron Brownell (drums), James Hodgett (trombone), Alex Mersiades (trumpet), Anton Buckingham (guitar), Jamie Smallhorn-West (keys), Manuel Rohrl (bass) and Jane.
"It didn't start out as a serious thing," Jane said. "We didn't expect it to turn into what it is today. We were just jamming once every week and more people were turning up and it was starting to sound really awesome and we started writing some songs and all the sudden we got all these gigs."
Jane said it's not just the band's size which makes it stand out in the Newcastle music scene.
"Newcastle has a big history of that surf-rock thing, and we're quite different from that," she said. "A lot of bands are playing different music and being a big band is always interesting to watch."
Later this month The Hamilton Alpine Club will enter Sawtooth Studios to begin recording their second EP.