SITTING in guitarist Karl Golden’s sun-kissed garden in Chingford, there is a charged air of expectation as he and fellow Zalinski bandmates enthusiastically regale tales of their recent successes.

“I’m excited about it,” Karl, 23, beams, before handing me carefully prepared crib sheets on the three nationwide competitions they have progressed through.

For singer/guitarist Bows, the Welsh thinker of the band, “the biggest one” is RockStar 09. Down to the last 24 groups, Zalinski are competing for the chance to perform at Glastonbury Festival. Then, there is the Jam Music: BreakOut Festival Final, with a record contract and performance at the Maldives festival at stake, and lastly the SouthEast Finals of Surface Unsigned, to be held at The Dome in Tufnell Park on Sunday. With 12,000 applicants, the four-piece has made it to the final 15 in the region to compete for the £40,000 prize.

It’s fair to say things are looking up for Zalinski, but it hasn’t all been plain sailing. After meeting through gumtree and myspace in the Summer of 2007, Bows is not afraid to admit there were some artistic differences.

“Our journey was more a psychological one,” the 26-year-old contemplates, after recalling one incident when he sent drummer Mark Sepple an 8,000 word email retort. “It was the dying of individual egos and coming together to work as a group. It was awful to begin with, there were ridiculous clashes.”

So why persevere? “There were never any questions as to whether we had what it took, it was clear we could produce great music,” Mark, 33, tells me.

Now in their company, the banter flows easily as they discuss who is the biggest flirt (Karl), who is the biggest complainer (Mark) and who has the habit of turning up inebriated to gigs (Bows). “Music has brought us together”, Karl says from beneath his headline-grabbing afro.

As for their music, it is a mesh of various influences, with a strong nod to soul, funk and blues and a touch of reggae, all presented in a “heavy-groove rock” package. “It’s a guitar-driven thing, punchy, powerful and energetic,” Mark summarises.

Bows’ lyrics reflect this coming together of different influences and ideas, with subjects as varied as the moral dilemma of a hitman to a revolution of life, love and choice.

“We can’t see any other option apart from doing this,” Bows smiles.

Later, I learn from Karl that Zalinski’s RockStar dream is over, but with such a grounded, stellar group of musicians forming the backbone to this band, I’m sure it’s only a matter of time before Glastonbury comes calling.

For details and a free acoustic track visit www.myspace.com/zalinskiband