If you couldn’t make
GreazeFest this year, here’s what happened…
Thursday
GreazeFest started one day early for those interstate visitors who
rolled into town on Thursday. The Salt Flat Trio and other fine folks
from out west all hooked up in the Valley for some pre-GreazeFest beers
and laughs. It could have gotten right out of hand, but we all wisely
pulled up early enough to save some energy for Day One.
Friday
The familiar faces kept on coming into town as Friday rolled around.
Qantas tried throwing a spanner into GreazeFest operations when they not
only delayed the luggage belonging to some Melbourne audience members, but
also misplaced the instruments for Hank’s Jalopy Demons, who were due to
perform that night! Seems like everyone from Melbourne was on the same
flight! After around 8 hours delay, the airline located the band
equipment and shipped it out (just) in time for the show!
Friday Bands
Opening up on Friday nite, was the Salt Flat Trio,
who set the standard high with a mighty fine set of old skool rockabilly,
filling the dance floor early in the evening.
Next up was the much anticipated performance from El Borracho,
who played a fast set of Johnny Cash-on-speed-country-rock. As you may
know with GreazeFest, there are always bands who divide the audience and
El Borracho was the first band of the weekend to do it. While many
audience members were drawn to the front of the room hoopin’, hollerin’
and stompin’, the rockabilly traditionalists were busy vacating the room
for the balcony. I saw one young rockabilly gal running from the band
room with her fingers in her ears!
Up next was Miss Teresa and Her Western Rhythmaires, who
delighted the audience with a set of traditional she-rockabilly and
hillbilly tunes and were brought back onto stage when the audience
demanded an encore. The Rhythmaires are destined to be one of Australia’s
best up and coming rockabilly bands and they are having a ball doing it.
Featuring Dangerous Dan, Jon Flynn and Coojee Timms and fronted by the
beautiful Miss Teresa, the Rhythmaires are like a breath of fresh air with
their choice of tunes and fillybilly sound. Look out for these cats,
cause they can really rock it!
Final band for Friday nite was Hank’s Jalopy Demons, who
put on a fantastic set of bandyard ballin’ hillbilly and rockabilly and
finished the nite in high steppin’ style. Their traditional sound had the
dance floor full with dancers vying for space at the edge of room.
If you couldn’t find a spot on the dance floor while the bands were on,
you had your chance to dance in between bands, when DJ Mike da Moocha spun
discs from his very broad rockabilly cd collection.
Saturday Nite
Saturday nite opened up with Brisbane favourites The Lone Star
Valley Boys, who filled the dance floor again with the crowd-pleasing
honky tonk and rockabilly. The Lone Stars always pick a diverse and
rockin’ set of songs to get your feet movin’ and a groovin’.
Next up were West Texas Crude, who have been through a
line up change and now feature Rupert Jenner from The Shakin' Quavers on
drums and guitar and Jay from the Salt Flat Trio on slap bass. Their
opening song started off a little stiff, but they boys had nailed it by
the third song when Rupert Jenner ditched his snare drum for his Grestch.
Rupert remarked to the audience "how come you like us more now that
I've stopped drumming..?" The crowd were stoked at the solid sound
achieved from the twin Gretsch guitar attack from Rupert and Andy, backed
up by thick slap bass licks from Jay.
Time to divide the crowd again....
Gentle Ben & His Sensitive Side graced the stage and summed up
their background by stating "This is the best looking crowd we’ve ever
played to...". Gentle Ben then proceeded to croon and howl his way
through a set of savage rock that had all the gals drawn to the front of
the room and all the guys scratching their heads wondering what all the
fuss was about. As it turned out the gals had the best view when the
Spanish dancing senoritas came onto stage to bring another level of
seduction to the performance. Make sure you check out the photos. It was
sin-sational.
Big Sandy was the performer that everyone was waiting for on
Saturday nite and the audience were chomping at the bit on the now
standing-room-only dance floor. Big Sandy opened in fine form with the
call and response number, Blackberry Wine and set the pace for a action
packed show that also included songs such as It’s Time, Feelin’ Kinda
Lucky, Hey Lowdown, Jumpin’ From 6 to 6 and the unexpected, yet hilarious,
x-rated version of Backdoor Dan. With last year’s first show jitters out
of the way and the very talented Dave Cantrell on steel, The Oz-Rite
Boys simply sizzled on stage and made sure everyone was having a ball.
Having met and hung out with most people at GreazeFest, Big Sandy
was very warmly embraced by the audience and it got even more intimate
when Big Sandy slung his guitar over his back mid-song and started jiving
with a very lucky lady in the front row. It all seemed to finish too
quickly but, as expected, the audience demanded encores and Big Sandy was
very obliging. After one encore, Hank from Hank’s Jalopy Demons
was heard heckling off to the side of the stage, so Big Sandy called him
on it and handed the encore over to him! Hank looked a little stunned,
but slipped right into place when he fired up the classic ‘Careful Baby’
with the Oz-Rites. What a great show!
Greazy Sunday
In true GreazeFest tradition, I managed to squeeze in a mega 2 hours
sleep before getting back on site to organise Greazy Sunday.
It was great to see the rods, rats and customs and lowrider cycles cruise
onto the grounds at Souths to assemble for the Rat-a-Rama. As many
of the 140 official entrants assembled it became apparent that this cruzin
culture is very alive and kicking in sunny Brisbane.
Trophy Winners
As I’ve stated before the Rat-a-Rama is about celebrating the spirit
of the greazer and not about rules, technical ability or competitions. The
vehicles that were awarded GreazeFest trophies, were as follows:
King Rat – Mez’s very ratty 1955 Cadillac
King Rod – Don & Marie’s black Willies coupe
King Kustom – Nick LaGerry’s wild mixed breed custom that started life as
a 54 Customline
King Kroozer – Johnny, who brought his 52 Ford pick up and Triumph 500
motorcycle from Sydney
King Cycle – young Dylan & Joshua’s orange trike
Greazy Sunday Bands
Inside the clubhouse at the GreazeFest, The Pat Capocci Combo
started off the day’s entertainment with a great set of
traditional rockabilly fused with 1950s rhythm’n’blues. Up next were the
Vegas Kings who played the final wild-card of the
weekend. Their wailing rhythm’n’blues sounded fabulous through the loud
speakers over the Rata-a-Rama car show, but may have had some
traditionalists running for cover. The Hanklin Brothers
got it back onto a rockabilly track and kicked off the annual
GreazeFest Jam Session. Starting off the jam was the Salt Flat
Trio, who were itching to play again after Friday nite. Other jammers
included Miss Teresa, Dangerous Dan, Memphis Joe, Greg Gilbert, Paulie
Burke, Pat Capocci, Tash and…jeez, I hope I haven’t left anyone out.
It Aint Over Yet
Once the GreazeFest had wrapped up for the day, the beer-buzzed crowd
headed to The Mustang Bar to see The Lone Star
Valley Boys, highlighted by a guest appearance by Big
Sandy. The ‘pony club’, as it is affectionately known, was
chockers of well oiled rockers keen to drink and dance like there was no
such thing as Monday. After many more hours of dancing, everyone was
falling off their bar stools and dropping like flies and we all realised
another GreazeFest weekend had come to an end.
Lost and Found
Has anyone seen my sunnies? Black rectangular 1960s vintage, lost on
Greazy Sunday.
Has anyone lost their
mobile? A Nokia mobile has been found and is currently at the venue, ring
them on 07 3844 7344.
And if you are out
visiting and you see the number plate PHX67 hanging in someone's rumpus
room, let it be known that they stole it off my Dodge Phoenix while it was
parked at Robot HQ last weekend.
Thank Y’all
As always, the GreazeFest is very thankful to all the workers,
volunteers and supporters who continue to rally together and make the
weekend a success. Very special thanks go to: Mike da Moocher, Pete & Rob
Walker, Cruzin Magazine, David (for the toilet seat trophy!), Faye, Andy,
Sarah, Les, Tia, Benita, Tony Davis, Mick, Tash, Eric, Dan, Pete, Barry
and all the Asphalt Demons, Mandy, Amanda, Helen, Katie, Mimi, Cindy from
Sh-Boomm, Ann from Suburban Rebel, Mitch and all the team at Souths. Oh,
and a big thank you again to all the people who attended GreazeFest for
2004.
