The hot rod scene is, in case you didn’t know, huge in Australia. Kyle Ford and his brother Ryan’s passion for custom vehicles stems from childhood, as their father was considered a pioneer of hot rods in the ‘50s. Along with their mate Paul Williams, the Ford boys started an A5 fanzine devoted to hot rods and customs, which they called Chopped. From those humble beginnings, the cult mag grew in popularity so much they decided to shift towards an annual car show, adding more and more elements like live music to morph it into the mighty beast it is today.
In its first year, “five or so crappy bands” played on the town footy oval. Every year since, Chopped has tripled in size, evolving into a three-day camping festival. It moved from the oval to an old horse training track and finally, to its current home at Newstead Raceway where pre ’65-style hot rods, Choppers and Bobbers can drag in the dirt, just like old times. Ford says they anticipate about 10,000 over the weekend, not to mention the day-trippers. “There’s been amazing community support, so it’s been able to grow organically,” Ford says.
With a huge variety of things to do over the three days, Ford suggests it’s difficult to describe the typical Chopped punter, but one thing’s for certain: you don’t have to have a car to enjoy it. “[The crowd is an] absolute mismatch,” he says, “Because what we do is such a cross mix.”
While all cars are permitted into the festival, there are rules of entry for cars into the main show area: pre ’65 traditional-style hot rods only; they must be lowered and have wheel alteration and no VWs; “if we let one in, it becomes a Volkswagen show, and it’s not a Volkswagen show.”
All throughout the three days and into the nights, crowds will be flicking their attention between the field of dirt drags and cars across to the Levi’s stage – one stage, no clashes – where 25 bands play rockabilly, garage, rock through to blues, country and surf in the setting of the Tiki Palace, making it feel like you’ve been dropped in America in the ‘60s: island life with cocktails, tikis, and period DJs are visually drowned by palms, bamboo and a giant Easter Island Head that lights up the sky at night by popping its top and flaming into the darkness.
“One of my favourite things is decorating the tiki bar; we put three days into it and to stand back and see that thing finished makes me very happy,” says Ford.
This year, punters will see the likes of Cosmic Psychos, King Salami and the Cumberland 3, Mesa Cosa, The Peep Tempel, Intoxica, Emma Swift, Papapilko and the Binrats, The Wednesday Night, The Floors, The Hardrive Bluegrass Band, Micks Dog Bone Yard, The Strange, The Baudelaires, Levitating Churches, Mighty Duke and the Lords, Spirit Valley, Surprise Wasp, Blackbird, The Villanettes, Zombie Motors Wrecking Yard, Le Bastard and more. This year will also see the return of the Levi’s Rambling Truck, a one-man mobile band who will fill in the gaps between sets on the stage.
“One thing we always try to do is make sure the main content is Australian, we try to get a good mix from around the country,” explains Ford. “Everyone enjoys the variety of music, old and new bands.”
With this year’s addition of motorbike stuntmen, it seems the growth of this mighty festival shows no signs of slowing down. “One thing we never want is for people to think it was like last year,” Ford enthuses, “We want every year to be the best year.”
BY SOPH GOULOPOULOS
