The West Coast Lowdown (16th & 17th Feb) brought together rockabilly music, tattoos, cars,
women and merchandise in a weekend long event split in two locations. Saturday
was held at the Civic Hotel, while their Sunday Session was held at Newport
Hotel in Fremantle. As a Kustom Kulture event, it may have struck the right
chord; however, for Rockabilly lovers it was perhaps less than satisfying...
Due to previous commitments, we only attended the Sunday Session.
Nonetheless, Saturday night was touted as a success with Matsumi Max
titillating the audience with 2 salacious performances and the Fireballs
exciting the crowd with an energetic performance.
Newport Hotel was a good choice for the Sunday Session. It had a great
atmosphere, particularly the Tiki Beat bar where you could retract from the
hustle and bustle of the main room (and enjoy a Hawaiian inspired cocktail or
two!). As you went through to the main bar area there were the vendors’
stalls and the stage area where the bands were playing. Ideally, there would
have been more vendors in the event, but for lack of space, there had to be a
limited number. However, the absence was distinct.
The cars and motorcycles, parked at the back of the Hotel, were
impressive in both design and upkeep. The cars arrived throughout the course of
the event, though it was a shame that they had to be parked with the common
street machines... Unfortunately, due to space, only a limited number of cars
were presented. At some point, it would be great to see a large turnout of
vintage and Kustom cars for a Rockabilly music event, similar to that
regularly seen at car events such as the Poker Run and the Armadale Auto Parts
Car Show.
The bands started with Johnny Groove and the Deadbeats, from Albany, a hard and
fast Rockabilly band with a fresh neo/punk sound (check out the video on Facebook!). They were followed by the electric
blues stylings of Dux N Downtown, though hunger caught up with us before
hearing much of their set. As there was no food that we could find at the venue
(where were the tacos?! :D), a trip to one of the nearby eating establishments
was required. We returned just in time to catch the end of Shotdown in
Sugartown, Rusty Pinto's new line-up. From the little we got to hear, they were
awesome. Rocket to Memphis followed, sizzling and swampy as usual (check out
the video on Facebook!). The main act
for the night, The Fireballs, were then fashionably late with the interim
proceedings including burlesque frolics and a lingerie 'show' (3 minutes of
women in underwear) that seemed both out of place and rather forced.
Entertaining perhaps for those enjoying a bawdy distraction, but otherwise
filling material for those keen to listen to music. Finally the Fireballs came
on stage to release a psychobilly frenzy - and the crowd loved it!
Overall, the event had great music, a good venue, and was professionally
run. Yet somehow didn't seem to gel. The mixture of musical styles,
bawdiness, and limited selection vendors was interesting. However, the
music was too loud for relaxed enjoyment, those who wanted to dance had little
space to do so, while the lack of activities meant there was not much to
keep you amused if you were not interested in the current band or filler act.
In this respect the Tiki bar provided a great place to chill out, though it was
a shame that it was not utilised better. It was also disappointing that members
of the Rockabilly and Kustom Kulture scene, who supported the event early by
purchasing their tickets online, had to pay $25. Meanwhile tickets at the door
only cost $20... a great reward for those members of the general public who
came in late in the day to disrupt proceedings.
It is difficult to bring such an event together, particularly in Perth
where the access to interstate bands and performers is significantly
restricted. It’s great to see the increasing number of Rockabilly related
events in Perth, though somewhat disheartening to observe the lack of support
they often receive. Kudos to the Westcoast Lowdown! Here's hoping that it will
happen again next year, with more community engagement, more Rockabilly, and
more to enjoy :)
by Wild Cat
