GreazeFest 2006 | Review by Lori Lee | Photos by Pix by Pete

After months of planning and anticipation, the 7th GreazeFest Kustom Kulture Festival had finally arrived. I was determined to make this year’s GreazeFest a cut above previous festivals. 2006 marked the seventh year of GreazeFest and the fourth year at the Souths venue, so there had been plenty of time to practice and get the formula right.

Friday night attracted a diverse set of patrons with studs, piercings, buckles, straps and all sorts of tattoo art. It’s great to see a new generation of music fans discovering this exciting genre. I think we set a record for the most mohawks at GreazeFest – I counted seven at one stage, but I think the record was broken again come Sunday at the Hot Rod Show!

Friday Bands
The Friday night bands kicked off with Miss Teresa & Her Rhythmaires putting in a sensational set of rockabilly – many people commented that Miss Teresa had the best authentic rockabilly sound of the weekend. Next up were The Rumble Kings who filled the floor with punters dancing to their rough and ready boogie-rockabilly tunes. Perfect Sin from Melbourne put the hammer down with a tough as nails set of hard edged rockabilly that had the audience screaming for more. The Bone Daddies cranked the pace up by a number of notches with a rockin’ set of vintage tunes played with all the same angst and humour of their regular outfit Zombie Ghost Train. In between bands Mike da Moocha was spinning a great selection rockabilly tunes and requests plus some locally flavoured surprises.

Saturday night
Saturday night was a sell-out, so the room was at capacity very early in the night. With many of the wilder dudes partying too hard at the Sinners Ball, Saturday night’s Greazers’ Ball saw a calmer and cooler crowd come through the door. Corn Liquor got the party started and these guys put in a great set of traditional rockabilly, much to the delight of the rockers and the dancers. Next up were Big Kitty and the Scaredy Cats. With the recent addition of Rupert Jenner on second guitar, the Cats dropped a few jaws with their swingin’ tunes and three-part harmonies. The Retro Rockets soon jumped on stage and had the room partying at full volume with their catchy, Setzer-inspired rockabilly tunes. The audience was simply going nuts over these guys and we could have partied all night if the hands on the clock would only slow down. If the energy could go up another notch, only The Detonators could do it and they did it in spades, leaving those left standing hypnotized with their relentless beat and outstanding songs. It was great to see The Dets again and they were in top form tonight. Can’t wait for their next album – the new songs sound killer.

Hot Rod Show
I crawled into the sack at 2.30am, only to be woken by the alarm at 5.30am to be back on site again to coordinate the huge Hot Rod Show for Sunday. It’s marvelous what a box of muesli bars and a hit of caffeine can do! The GreazeFest was blessed with superb weather and blue skies, proving yet again that there really is a Rockabilly God. I reckon our recently departed buddy, Tyson from the Salt Flat Trio might have had a hand in this.

The vintage iron started rolling in early and the oval at Davies Park quickly (and neatly) filled full of rats, rods, kustoms, stockers, choppers, bobbers and lowrider cycles to create a very diverse and colourful hot rod show.

GreazeFest Awards
I say this every year and I’ll keep repeating it until it sinks in, the GreazeFest Hot Rod Show Awards are not about competitiveness, mechanical prowess, perfect paint jobs or any other tech spec. The GreazeFest isn’t about rules and often the best looking hot rod in the show is the least likely to be selected. The GreazeFest Awards are simply about recognising the GreazeFest spirit and the effort that’s needed to be part of this hot rod and kustom kulture. The vehicles that received GreazeFest awards were as follows:

King Rat - Ray Flemming’s 1956 purple and white flamed Customline
King Rod - Gavin’s 1928 flat black and orange Hi Boy
King Kustom - Darren’s 1953 flat black two-door Customline
King Ride - Paul’s 1954 Triumph chopper
King Lowrider - Slick’s spider web custom Malvern Star
Trophy Queen - Janet’s 1961 Ranchwagon
King Kroozer (longest distance) - Col Stevens’ HR Holden from Ballarat

Col was driving his 1957 Pontiac to GreazeFest, but it broke down, so he turned back home and fired up his Holden for the long trip north. I heard a few similar hard luck stories from people determined to get to The GreazeFest, including a man from Perth whose vintage ride broke down on the trip, so he turned back and jumped on a plane instead. It’s so inspiring to hear that the greazer spirit is live and kicking across Australia.

Low Brow Art Show
The Art Show received a large and varied input of art displayed from local and interstate artists. Pieces included water coloured tiki paintings, stenciled and illustrated hot rods, photography, acrylic hot rod paintings and lots of other pieces that words simply cannot do justice to. Check the web for the pix.

Sunday Bands
DJ Leapin’ Lawrie had the vintage tunes cranking from an early hour, leading the way for first band of the day - Brandi & The Badcats - who put in a top set of fillbilly and had the fans testing out the outdoor dance floor with some expert jiving. Next up were West Texas Crude, with front man Andy leading the trio through a set of top notch rockabilly, despite having a Greazers Ball hangover that would have halted traffic. First interstate guests of the day were the Nervous Wreckers from Sydney, who played a sick set of hillbilly fused with psychobilly. The dance floor became a sea of black and red when all the deadcats and kittens pushed to the front eagerly awaiting Zombie Ghost Train. The Zombies didn’t disappoint and had the audience spellbound with their exciting and always humorous stage show, that saw Captain Reckless mount the PA stack with his double bass, while front man Stu was out in the audience getting friendly amongst the natives. Problems with the PA earlier in the day became obvious during the ZGT set and the issues also chewed up precious minutes on the band roster. So when The Ten Fours were ready to rock, their set had to be cut short to comply with council regulations on the sound ceasing. Nevertheless, the Ten Fours made the most of the remaining time and sounded great up there on the big stage.

After Party
The cool late afternoon breeze indicated it was time to cease the outdoor activities and move inside the venue to start the one and only after-party. The clubhouse was full of punters still enjoying the day and I finally had the chance to crack a beer and soak up the vibes with everyone. When The Throttle Zombies hit the stage, they got everyone’s attention with an entire set of Cramps covers (bar two)! The audience was soon yelling out Cramps requests and their set became the call of the wild as everyone hit the dance floor with hips a-twistin’ and boots a-stompin’. It was another memorable moment at GreazeFest.

Where could you go from here, but into orbit!! The room filled with smoke and the strobe light signaled the arrival of Men Into Space! With space suits and helmets, these spacemen launched into an A-Grade set of rockabilly tunes. Surprisingly, I still found some energy to jive on the dance floor with a brave partner (thanks James).

At the end of the Men Into Space show, a drunk punk rocker ran onto stage, grabbed the mike and yelled ‘let’s hear it for these cats, they were greeeaaaaaaaatt, motherrrrrrr f********kkkerrrrssss’, which prompted our sound engineer to quickly kill the power the microphones. I turned to my buddy Neil and said, “Well… on that last word, the GreazeFest for 2006 is over”.

See you all in 2007.

Lori Lee o-[*_*]-o
GreazeFest Director