Hotrod Hayride 2010

I've just got back from the Hotrod Hayride in Surrey this weekend. It was the first one I had ever been to as I'm not really a camping sort of gal; I do like my plug sockets and hot showers. I would never have even considered going before but my boyfriend finally managed to convince me to go. I spent all last week worrying about how I was going to survive two and half days sleeping in a tent and not being able to have a proper shower. What were we going to eat? How was I going to take my contact lenses out? What shoes should I take etc etc. Although as the week went on I found that I was getting more and more excited about it. I tried to focus on the bands that were playing like The Caezars, Restless, Luis Wildfire and The Bonneville Barons and tried to forget about the camping side of it.

So at about 1pm on Friday we set off.  Van packed full with tent, sleeping bag, gas stove, plastic cutlery, folding chairs etc. I'd even packed my hairdryer and curling irons in some desperate, vain hope that there would be a plug socket on the camp site (I know, I'm a fantasist). Due to some horrendous traffic and an overturned land rover with a trailer carrying another land rover in the middle of the motorway it took us hours to get there. Finally we arrived. The first thing that I saw was the cars. The beautiful, amazing cars. Hot rods,Buicks, Cadillacs, Ford pick ups, Chevrolets, Mercurys, Pontiacs... you name it they were all there in their shining glory. I've been to all the other rockin weekenders and seen classic cars but never as many as this. They were everywhere! So after we unloaded the van we ventured over to the main area to do a bit of exploring. We found the stalls selling vintage clothes, repro jeans, records, T shirts, hair wax etc.. there was even an art exhibition and those crazy mirrors you get at the fairground. I immediately went over to the Freddies of Pinewood stall to check out their jeans. I love their jeans as they are highwaisted and so flattering. I found a pair of pedal pushers in the utility style and bought them straight away. We went over to the Hayride stall to buy T shirts. Then we headed back to the tent to get ready for the evenings entertainment.

The first band of the evening was The Caezars. I saw them for the first time in May at the Boston Arms and was blown away by them. Their energy and stage presence is out of this world. No wonder they have been signed by the LA record company Wild Records. I saw them again at the Rave in the Battle of the Bands and again they set the place alight. The hall at the Hayride was pretty small for the amount of people there, so we were stood near the back where we couldn't really see them very well, but the sound was still as powerful as ever. Sureshots were up next who also did an amazing set and were then joined on stage by Omar Romero, another Wild Records artist who also was sensational. But the highlight of the evening was definitely Restless, who shook the place to its foundations. Loud, wild and fast. Exactly how rockabilly should be.
I bopped and strolled a bit and we tried to jive but the dancefloor was so small we kept bashing into other couples. Plus the floor was so horrendously slippy it was impossible to hold your balance. So we called it a night and went back to the tent.

I had a fraught night's sleep and woke up at about 9 in the morning feeling pretty terrible. I managed to work out where the showers were and to my delight I found there was indeed a plug socket in there! So I actually had an OK shower and managed to dry my hair. I didn't bother with the curling irons though. One thing I always find when I go to a weekender is that my skin quickly starts to look pretty bad. I start getting spots and my complexion just looks dull. I think it must be the water as my hair doesn't fare much better either. Anyway I managed to do my make up just about and it didn't look too bad considering we were camping! So once we were dressed and ready we ventured over to the pavilion again. More shopping was done at the stalls, this time I bought a pair 1950s blue glitter sunglasses. I started taking lots of photographs of the cars. I have the worst digital camera in the world, it never works very well but I managed to take some pretty good photos. I took a lot in black and white and sepia as I wanted to make the photos looks authentic

I'm really pleased with the images I got, I'm going to print them off and maybe frame them. I'd really love to get a proper, decent camera and take more shots like these. I really enjoyed taking them and getting different angles and trying to create interesting, artistic compositions. I wanted them to look like they were taken in the 1950s. I'm going to pursue this from now on, and can't wait to go to High Rockabilly in Spain in September as I'm sure I will get some great photos there.

After all the picture taking we headed over to the Demon Drome, which you can see in the above picture. We'd bought tickets already and joined the long queue of people waiting to get in to see what was going to happen. Simon tried to explain to me what it was all about, basically they ride knackered old motorbikes round the walls of the drome but I didn't quite understand. We climbed the stairs into the circular "dome" and we all had to stand around and not lean on the barrier. I had no idea what was about to happen and I started to get very nervous! Eventually the fun began and a girl who must have only been about 18 got onto a motorbike and began whizzing round the dome, eventually gaining enough speed and momentum to ride vertically around the "wall of death". I couldn't believe my eyes but this was only a taster. Next up was a young lad who began in the same way, whizzing round and round the walls of the dome. Except he came up to the barriers. I was so scared I hid behind Simon. The next two performers broke all the rules. They went round the dome with no hands, sat on the side of the bike, t shirts over the faces so they couldn't see. It was truly unbelievable but very entertaining. The photo doesn't really convey the spectacle, plus my hands were shaking so much I couldn't really take many photos!


I had brought my new dress with me (again in vain hope) It's a gorgeous vintage 1950s Hawaiian sarong number that I bought off ebay. I wasn't sure if I would actually get to wear it or not but Saturday was such a pleasant day that I thought why not? So I ventured back to the plug socket and curled my hair, which sort of worked. And then changed into the dress. There were lots of women dressed up so I'm glad I took it with me.

Saturday night was great, we didn't really watch the bands though. We spent most of the evening in the marquee attached to the pavilion, or outside looking at all the cars. It was a great evening though and we did some more dancing. The DJ played one of my recent favourites - Darlene by Jack Southern. It's a really obscure track but I've managed to get it on a record called Rumble Rock vol 3. We bought some food at the burger stand and then stumbled back to the tent, exhausted. We slept much better that night and when we woke up on Sunday we went and got a proper breakfast in one of the other pavilions on site. At lunchtime the Bonneville Barons played a set outside the pavilion which was perfect Sunday afternoon music. And then it was time for the Soapbox Derby, in which people race each other in box cars they have made themselves. It was very entertaining and authentic with bales of hay to safeguard against crashes.

And then it was time to go home... we got back home both very tired, hungry and aching all over. All the hallmarks of a great weekender. I can't wait for next year's Hotrod Hayride, I even enjoyed the camping. Well, sort of...