GreazeFest 2008 | Review by Lori Lee | Photos above by Pix by Pete

Blue Brisbane sky

The weather channel on cable tv is checked as part of the morning ritual in the GreazeFest office. Queensland had been receiving buckets of unseasonal rain in the final countdown to GreazeFest, making this director look to the skies a little more often than usual. The grounds at Souths, the inner city Brisbane venue, were swamped with water and thick with mud, but seven days before the shindig, the sun came out, as if right on cue. The ponds of mud the sun couldn’t dry out were removed with a sludge truck and the GreazeFest grounds were ready to be converted to a party site for what has become the kustom kulture event of the year.

Pre-Party

The die hard fans arrived early to catch the GreazeFest Pre-Party on Thursday night at the Troubadour, the Valley club where Lori Lee hosts the monthly Custom Rockabilly shows. A newly formed band of well versed performers, Paulie & His Crazy Rhythm Boys, were on stage for two sets tonight. The audience kept it intimate but lively, staying close to the front of the stage, to dig Paulie, hunched over his mike, perform his spirited Eurobilly tunes. With three days yet to go, I tried my best to make an early exit and keep some energy in reserve.

Friday night

Friday night saw a colourful congregation of customised patrons with all sorts of young rockers, glamorous gals, greased and chopped guys and tattooed sweethearts turning out for this night of nights. Lori Lee was working the rig at the DJ desk, setting the mood for the night with some choice psyched up rockabilly cuts, as old and new friends converged for an exciting night of rockabilly.

When looking at the entertainment schedule for the night, you’d notice the GreazeFest does not follow the old standard of newest band first, famous band last. Each band on any day at GreazeFest is just as important as the band before them and after them. Any thoughts that the Bad Moon Company was the ‘opening act’ for Friday night were swept aside as their army of fans crammed the dance floor and partied hard to their jungle rhythm rockabilly. The Vaudevillains were quick to follow and the talented trio from Melbourne stepped on the gas peddle with a classy set of hopped up rockabilly. The set included songs such as the catchy ‘Devil Drives A Valiant’ and I’m know they turned many new fans to their slick sounds.

Checkered Fist opened their show by clunking through Folsom Prison Blues totally out of time, until the anticipated 1-2-3-4 punk scream and the juvenile trio were off and racing! The crowd just went nuts as they quickly discovered these cats could play tight as a fist with energy and angst. If all this wasn’t enough, there was still one more band to follow and that was Bone Rattlers from Tasmania. The trio was dressed in prison garb, on closer inspection revealing Sing Prison, San Quentin and Alcatraz Psycho Ward! Bone Rattlers slammed it into gear with a tough set of kick ass rockabilly, wrenching more dancing and high jinks from the audience and bringing a fantastic night to an exciting finish.

GreazeFest Street Cruise

Those who didn’t get out on Thursday or Friday nights started their GreazeFest weekend at the Street Cruise which gathered at The Eliminators clubhouse in Loganholme. Despite petrol prices and the current tightening of economic belts, a solid roll up of vintage cars turned out for a cruise under the blue skies of autumn.

Saturday Night

For many rockabilly fans the Saturday night is the highlight of the GreazeFest weekend and the line up this year ensured the show was filled to capacity. DJs Limpin’ Jimmy & The Swingin’ Kitten set the scene with tunes to get the rockers boppin’ on the dance floor. Warren Earl and The Atomic Rockers hit the stage with a fine set of rockabilly and hillbilly bop. Warren’s sweet baritone, backed by Doug Wilshire’s steel licks cemented their authentic sound and had everyone on their feet dancing.

I made it back upstairs in time to catch the Pat Capocci Combo who had electrified the room with a killer set of trad rockabilly. Dangerous Dan joined the Combo as guest for the evening and the sound of Dan and Pat trading guitar licks and solos was heaven on a stick for rockabilly fans. Any previous thoughts I had of taking it easy tonight were flicked aside as I hit the dance floor to shake off some stress and rattle my bones. It made me wish there was a second GreazeFest where I could attend simply as a punter and party for the whole weekend.

The dancing continued when those crazy intergalactic cats, Men into Space dressed in flight suits and helmets, emerged on stage in a cloud of smoke. Their stage antics and rockabilly tunes were a hit with the audience who were hypnotized by their laser licks. I don’t know how I missed him/her, I must have been in the transporter room, but an alien appeared at the end of their show and took over duties on the double bass. Actually, I think it was a 'him' after checking the photos!

It was all eyes and ears to the front as The Detonators took to the stage for the start of two sets of killer rock’n’roll. No strangers to GreazeFest and to the audience, this powerful foursome started with some Dets classics, gradually priming the crowd as they continued to gain pace, until the rally cry by Rockbottom ‘alright, everyone on their bikes!’. The audience obeyed and held their arms aloft, revving their air-throttles, as The Dets slammed it into gear for Throttle Jockey Demon. The boys kept up the pace until taking over the finish line just in time for last drinks in the wee hours of Sunday morning. Does it get any better than this?

Hot Rod Show

The advertised opening time of 9am means nothing to hot rod enthusiasts who have been waiting all year for GreazeFest to roll around and by 8.30am the oval was already half full of cars on display. By the time the first band started around one hour later, the oval was totally chock a block full of hot rods, customs, classics, rats, Aussie iron, motorbikes and lowrider cycles.

GreazeFest Hot Rod Awards

The selection of recipients for the GreazeFest Hot Rod Show is fast paced, as to fit in with the tight schedule of the day. The awards are not about declaring any person, their car, bike or piece of artwork better than anybody else’s. The recipients in each category are chosen who most represent the spirit of the GreazeFest. Remember, the GreazeFest is a celebration, not a competition. The recipients are:

King Rod (hot rod) – Clayton & Kelly’s purple channeled 1936 Ford.
King Rat (rat rod) – Matt’s pink 1959 Fairlane coupe.
King Kustom (custom) – Peter’s lime green and metalflaked 1965 Buick Riviera.
King Kroozer (longest distance) – Neil’s white VG Valiant wagon, driven from Melbourne.
Trophy Queen (gal driver) – Wilamina’s blue XP Falcon sedan.
King Ride (motorbike) – Tim’s 1939 Ariel.
King Lowrider (bicycle) – Mason’s metalflaked and scalloped cycle with matching helmet.
Boss Artists (artist) – Buzz Bomb Betty by Rob Walker + Motorcycle photo montage by Darren Mortimer

Low Brow Art Show

The GreazeFest Low Brow Art Show hit a new high this year and has consequently outgrown the normal display marquee, so we had to hang the overflowing pieces inside the TCB Magazine stall. Once again there was a really inspiring display of artwork that included paintings, screen prints, photography, skate decks and rockabilly puppets!

I’m glad to have taken a spare moment or two to decide on a piece of artwork to purchase and add to the gallery in the GreazeFest digs. This year I selected the Buzz Bomb Betty painting by Rob Walker, one of three he had on display.

Rob has been a long time supporter and participant at GreazeFest and, man, he can do some crazy paintings, so it was also cool to recognise him with the GreazeFest Boss Artist award for 2008. Also acknowledged with a Boss Artist award was Darren Mortimer, who displayed a distinctive motorcycle photo montage.

Live Entertainment

DJ Leapin’ Lawrie set the scene for the day with a killer set of hot rod tunes and rare rockabilly. Doug Wilshire & The Tailspinners were first band on stage (their sunglasses hiding the previous evening’s activities) and Doug lead the band through an excellent set of rockabilly and hopped up hillbilly. Miss Teresa & Her Rhythmaires had the dance floor filled with their authentic rockabilly bop. The Flattrakkers made a welcome return to GreazeFest and had their fans dancing to a full throttle set of hot rod rockabilly.

After the Kitten Katwalk, Checkered Fist played their second performance at GreazeFest, but their set marked the first casualty as the bridge on Damon’s double bass blew out! A replacement bass was quickly summoned and as Lady Luck left the building, the bridge on that bass also collapsed. When the Nervous Wreckers started their show, believe it or not, a third bass blew out leaving the stage staff and the musos thinking “what the hell is going on???!”

The Men Into Space alien approached me and his Spock-like-logic suggested that the late afternoon sun hitting the stage, combined with the cool night air that was rolling into the grounds made the bass strings and the timbers react, causing the blowouts. Time was whizzing by as the final band of the day, The Ten Fours, made it on stage and cranked it into gear with a tough set of bluesabilly.

Kitten Katwalk

This year saw the launch of the very first Kitten Katwalk parade and hundreds of people in the audience surrounded the stage to watch the Kittens strut. The Swingin’ Kitten introduced each entrant as they walked the walk to Limpin’ Jimmy, who talked the talk with more gorgeous gals than he has met in ages.

The katwalk may have presented a fashion challenge for many participants, as the daytime scheduling meant their outfits had to suitable for the stage, but also practical enough to endure the outdoor conditions and the warm weather at the hot rod show. The sight of pearl white skin baking in the afternoon sun made me run to grab a spare parasol to shade some of the gals that may have been rethinking their off the shoulder outfits.

Trailer Trash Tattoo

One of the busy gals on the day was tattooist Mimsy, who was buzzing all day long at her Trailer Trash Tattoo caravan that was an absolute hit. Says Mimsy: “I did about 8 tattoos on some really awesome people. A cool anchor on a forearm, a Pogues tattoo with a 3 leaf clover, a skull with spanners, a deck of cards, some dice, a v8 symbol, a nautical star, a cutesy coffin and more. I had loads more people wanting to get tattooed, but it was important to me that I really took my time to do a good job.”

GreazeFest Gives Back

The GreazeFest may be the only carbon neutral hot rod show in the world. Just like last year, GreazeFest ‘carbon-neutralised’ the Hot Rod Show by donating to Carbon Neutral, an Australian organisation who will plant 80 trees on behalf of all the vehicles at GreazeFest. To calculate this, I estimated 300 cars with V8 engines, driving an average of 100kms each, which worked out to 12 tonnes of CO2, which have now been offset.

After Party

Twilight marked the start of the after party, back indoors at the Souths clubhouse. West Texas Crude and The Quick Draw McGraws both put in top notch sets of rockabilly and rock’n’roll. The rather large and well-oiled crowd remained for the duration of the night, until the GreazeFest staff reluctantly closed the curtain on a truly spectacular weekend.

See you next year!

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