West Coast Lowdown

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