Thirty years after being classmates at Riverside High School, Launceston musicians Gareth Koch and Peter Bonner have finally teamed up to deliver an EP of new tunes.
From the opening verse of their title track, Don’t Tempt Me, the seamless mix of Koch’s classical guitar and Bonner’s pop-rock vocal delivery manages to give listeners a glimpse into a songwriting partnership that takes in hundreds of years worth of influences.
Koch is an Aria award winning classically trained guitarist while Bonner been singing in rock bands since his twenties.
“It was about a year ago we began collaborating” Koch said.
The six track digital release covers a broad range of musical genres, with everything from medieval inspired guitar passages, strum-along folk-rock ballads and swampy blues jams making an appearance across this recording.
“Although I’ve trained as a classical guitarist I’ve always been into contemporary music, rock music, and Pete’s musical interest are also very far reaching.”
Whilst sharing songwriting duties, the duo have called in a talented array of talented Tasmanian musicians to help add an extra dimension to their songs.
“We’ve had some terrific collaborators working with us, local guitarist Pete Cornellius, a very talented young trumpet player called Darcy O’Malley and singer Libby Betts has rendered one of the songs as well.”
Don’t Tempt Me is out now via all digital services.
Scott Gelston
Photographer, music lover and sports fan.
Photographer, music lover and sports fan.
