Sunday at GreazeFest

The following is a combination of reviews from Lori Lee, Melissa ‘WildCat’ Hooper, Mimsy from Trailer Trash Tattoo, Kylie Lovejoy, plus trophy winners Glenn Miller (King Kroozer) and Luciana (Trophy Queen).

Visit Page One for the review of the evening concerts.

From Wildcat: We were up early on Sunday morning to arrive at the last day of GreazeFest at 10am. The size of the venue took my breath away; there was so much to take in! There were hundreds of hot rods, heaps of stalls for retail therapy, plenty of food options, plus the art show. I spent ages looking at everyone’s stalls and soaking up the atmosphere, there was so much to see. The markets were selling dresses, t-shirts, shoes, heels, decals, toys, patches, records, CD’s, books, license plates, magazines, plus salons to get your hair and makeup done, crafts and art works on display and for sale. We were lucky the weather was so good, not one drop of rain over the whole weekend, so much so that the boys got sunburned!

Hot Rod Show

From Lori Lee: Around 400 hot rods were on display on Sunday, making it the largest rollup in the history of GreazeFest. Vehicles of all types were on display and their fins and chrome were dazzling in the sunshine. There were Cadillacs, Valiants, Falcons and Holdens, Chryslers, four decades of Chevs and Fords, pick ups, lead sleds, vintage bikes, bobbers and lowrider cycles.

The main oval filled early with the pre-registered vehicles and our team made a big effort to get the show assembled in a Zen-like fashion. Late-comers and additional vehicles were displayed in the south field and clubs such as the Beatniks and Asphalt Demons congregated near the GreazeFest Art Village. It’s hard to describe every car, please take a moment to check all the photos.

Trophy Recipients:

King Rat - Ashley's 26 Roadster
King Rod - Kerry's 37 Ford pickup
King Kustom - Little Mick's 51 Mercury
King Classic - David's 56 Plymouth Belvedere
King Aussie - Mark's Holden EK wagon
King Ride - Laurence's Triumph bobber 'Brass Knuckles'
King Kroozer - Glenn's 52 Ford pickup from Perth
Trophy Queen - Luicana's 57 Chevrolet
Top Choice, selected by The Beatniks - Mick's Fiat Topolino
King Lowrider - Nathan's custom cycle

One entrant was GreazeFest regular, Glenn Miller, who drove his red 52 Ford pick up all the way from Perth, via Melbourne, scoring himself the King Kroozer award for the second time. Before heading home Glenn had King Kroozer tattooed by Mez at True Love Tattoo.

From Glenn Miller: The car ran well only a short breakdown in Goondiwindi with a blocked fuel filter at a big truck stop about two Ks out of town. That would have been good if I needed to buy tee shirts, sun hats or plastic dinosaurs, but they did not sell fuel filters, so I walked into town and back. Problem solved. I picked up a ‘59 Royal Enfield in Melbourne on the way to GreazeFest. It took 4 days to drive to Melbourne, 3 days to Brissie and then 5 days to Perth. I love that truck!

Art Show & Tattoos

From Lori Lee: One of the cool features at the Rocklea Showground is the array of nooks and crannies and character areas within the grounds. The GreazeFest Art Village was set up in a shady lawn area which seemed to be just the right size to house the art show, Mimsy’s Trailer Trash Tattoo, Little Mick’s airbrush artworks and Kamikaze’s tiki carving. The collection of art hung in the Kustom Art Show this year was impressive and enchanting. There were a range of pieces on display including skate decks, prints, photography, small and large auto art paintings, photorealism paintings, pinstripes, tikis, tattoo art, abstracts, and a really neat kustom pedal car. Thanks to True Love Tattoo for sponsoring the art show again this year.

From Wildcat: I was amazed at how many people from all walks of the Kustom Kulture scene had come along to the GreazeFest. Loads of dolled-up gals, tattooed men and women, rockers, punks, psychobillies, teds, plus heaps of families and hot-rodders, all soaking up the sun and the atmosphere. It was wonderful to feel normal among our own kind. I had an appointment for a tattoo with Mimsy in her pink and white Trailer Trash Tattoo caravan. What an experience! It was wonderful to step into her 1950s van and be transported back in time. I had an ice-cream tattooed on my inner right wrist and shared a lot of chatter with Mimsy. I felt very lucky!

From Mimsy at Trailer Trash Tattoo: As usual I was running late on Sunday morning, and luckily my right hand man Pony had set up the Trailer the day before. We had attended the Saturday night gig and WOW! what an awesome show! So, where was I? Ahhh yes, running late.. rushing to get hair pouffed and face painted, all in time to tackle the myriad of flamingo, ice-cream and cupcake tattoos I had to do that day. I was so excited to have the Trailer in the "arty" section of GreazeFest, what an inspiration to be surrounded by so much talent! I had tiki carving on my right, the art show on my left, Little Mick's awesome creations opposite, all to the rockin’ sounds of the bands over yonder on the stage. I can’t express how much my life rules when I am tattooing old school in a 1959 caravan, with all that going on just outside my little door.

Regrettably I was too busy to see any cars, or partake of any retail therapy, but I did indulge in a 20 minute break to see my hubby's band The Ten Fours on the main stage, so I was happy. I inked on into the night, with my lovely assistants Aliya and Tina fielding the many questions about Trailer Trash Tattoo. I even stopped briefly for a ukulele performance and impromptu hula lesson with the delightful Kristina, then back to work, finishing the day with one more flamingo tattoo. Even though I didn’t leave my Trailer much, I had many visitors drop by and say howdy. I get such a communal feeling at GreazeFest - it's great to share a passion for kustom kulture with so many. GreazeFest is my favourite event for me during the year... it rocks my world!

Live Rockabilly

From Lori Lee: This was the first year that GreazeFest featured two stages on the Sunday. One was set alongside the hot rod display in the glorious sunshine and the other was inside the large Showground Bar. The outdoor stage kicked off with special guest DJ Jimmy D who spun a cool array of vintage and modern sounds throughout the day. First live band on stage was The ReChords who delighted their fans with another round of their authentic rockabilly tunes. Up next, The Sugar Shakers put in a cool set of original swingabilly from the debut cd ‘Slow Down’. The Ten Fours hit the accelerator for some fast paced highway haulin’ tunes, check their cd ‘Midnight Mover’. Closing band on the outdoor stage was Danny & The Cosmic Tremors who kept the rockabilly humming as the long shadows of the afternoon signaled the impending close of the festival.

Back inside the bar, the indoor stage had been pumping since opening in the morning. The Mayhem County Boys kicked off the day to a swelling crowd with a sweet set of original hillbilly. Next up was the debut performance of new band The Knights of Sin (Jon Flynn, Dangerous Dan, Paulie Burke, Mark Stephens). Expectations were high and they delivered the goods with gusto with a sweet set of mid century tunes plus a guest appearance from Deke.

Miss Teresa & Her Rhythmaires served up a killer set of rockabilly and the dancers were swingin’ and stompin’. The audience loved The Retro Rockets, especially the dancers. Singer / guitarist Brien was twangin’ and sangin’ and his rhythm section was putting on a pro-show including the customary drum stick solo on the slap bass. Captain Twilight & The Six Shooters performed a intense set of hard rockin’ surfabilly.

First band at the After-Party was Paulie & His Crazy Rhythm Boys, whose Sun Records era tunes kept the audience lingering longer after a long day of kustom kulture. Closing band of the entire weekend was The Jim Rockfords, who slammed it into overdrive for a solid set of rocker-soul. The Jim Rockfords nailed it with tunes such as ‘High School Confidential’ and ‘Proud Mary’ leading to some furious dancing for the hardest of the hardcore fans.

Fashion Parade

Kylie Lovejoy was one of the many models lined up for the GreazeFest fashion parade, which featured cool outfits from a selection of the vendors, including: Cowpunkabilly, Kustom Kulture Kats & Kittens, My Little Rockabilly, Rock N Roll Retro Ragz, Jack's Daughter, Lydia Licorice and Dead End Dames. Here are a few words from Kylie.

From Kylie: As if there isn’t enough eye candy at GreazeFest to make your eyeballs pop out, the excited crowd was treated to a hip and happening fashion parade with some groovy threads that turn some heads. A great mix of rockabilly, country, pin-up and burlesque style clothing was provided by various GreazeFest store holders. DJ Jimmy D played some rocking toons as the hot gals and guys strutted their stuff much to the crowd’s enjoyment with claps and whistles to bring the house down.

As one of the Cowpunkabilly models, I had a rock and roll boogie with my favourite dancing partner Wally, a nice warm up before rocking out on my bass later in the evening with the Jim Rockfords. The lads and lasses looked fantastic in their get ups. It was lots of fun, sun and six shooter guns.

The Wrap Up

From Wildcat: The new venue works well, has loads more room to move, feels relaxed and lends itself to being the home of GreazeFest for some years to come. The licensed bar area was set up and managed very well. The sound system and PA sounded good and it wasn’t too loud. It certainly was a much bigger crowd that attended this year compared the two previous times I’d attended and there were no dramas or trouble anywhere. It was a well behaved crowd. All in all… a top-notch eleventh GreazeFest!

From Lori Lee: The GreazeFest is a live performance. Even though there are months of preparation, there is no dress-rehearsal with the audience. A move to a new venue can’t be pre-recorded, sooner or later, you have to hold the event and let the crowd decide how they take to the new site. By all accounts the new venue was a winner and the event ran smoothly. Next year we’ll add some improvements, mainly behind the scenes, but some items you’ll see will be an information booth, a second bar serving area, a bigger dance floor, printed programs and site maps.

Greazy Footprint

From Lori Lee: It’s important for the GreazeFest to have as little impact as possible on the environment. For the past four years we have been offsetting the carbon emissions for the GreazeFest event and for the Robot International office. To do this we work out the emissions from ALL the of hot rods travelling to and from the GreazeFest, the power and the generators for the festival and the office, plus the plane travel for the bands, our paper waste and consumables etc. We purchased 378 trees to offset these emissions via Carbon Neutral, a not for profit company that measures and offsets greenhouse gas emissions and supports revegetation projects. To date Carbon Neutral has planted over 2 million trees in Australia. Once our new tree project is established in a planting, we will let you know of its location, so you can see just how this type of project works.

Real Cats & Kittens

As part of our annual support of the RSPCA, GreazeFest has sponsored a new animal enclosure at the Fairfield animal shelter. The area is a designated play zone for cats and kittens to hang out in during the daytime. The RSPCA is a community based charity that works to prevent cruelty to animals by actively promoting their care and protection and GreazeFest is delighted to be able to support such an important organisation.

Thank You

The bigger event demanded more staff to run the show and the GreazeForce expanded to over 40 enthusiastic team members plus numerous sub-contractors, with both familiar and new faces. Here’s a big thank you to the GreazeForce and the Rocklea Showground team, who buckled down to bring you a top notch weekend.

Thanks also to Johnny. Thanks to Teresa, Simon, Malcolm, Michael, Derek, Erin and Scott. Thanks to Deke, Sugarballs and Jon. Thanks to Brendan and his crew. Thanks to Gabe. Thanks to Chrissy. Thanks to Pete Walker for his stunning photography. Thanks to Vic, Darryl, James, Glenn, Mick, Punkie, June, Daniel, Rick & Janeice, Ben, Linda & Laurie for sending in photos. Thanks to Cruzin Magazine. Thanks to Shige & Wildman at Mooneyes. Thanks to Rick, Drea, Toad, Brenton & Katrina. Thanks to everyone who has sent in feedback and comments on the GreazeFest weekend.

The biggest thanks go to everyone who attended GreazeFest, the rockers, rodders, bands, djs, artists and everyone who traveled from outside of Brisbane to come to GreazeFest. You have all made the GreazeFest a fantastic festival.

See you next year!!

Lori Lee & The GreazeForce Team