Viva Wahroonga

Many will no doubt recall a Saturday afternoon or two spent on your belly with chin propped up on hands and legs kicked back up at the knee and an old movie playing before the footy started on Nine or Seven. Perhaps Elvis was a pilot or a cowboy, pulling a guitar from somewhere at some point to flash a smile and break into song.

Rusty Pinto’s childhood was no different, but hindsight’s had the fortune of revealing those afternoons were more like work experience for the youngster. As a solo artist, and with his bands the Rusty Pinto Combo and Shotdown From Sugartown, Pinto, a Perth native, has travelled as far as England, Germany, Holland, Sweden, Italy and the US delivering classic rock’n’roll and honky tonk blues. And according to him, the seed was planted with those daytime movies.

“Growing up, all those Saturday afternoon ‘50s movies – Dean Martin, a bit of Elvis, a bit of Jerry Lewis – that style interested me and continued through the years. After that it was rock’n’roll music; mum bought me a record that had all the classics on it – Little Richard and Elvis and stuff like that. At that early age Elvis was the biggest influence.”
It’s fitting given the places you’ll so often find Pinto thrive on a similar nostalgia for bygone eras. This weekend, Pinto makes the trip east yet again with Shotdown From Sugartown, a band which also features double bassist Jay McIvor and guitarist Jon Matthews, to perform at the Fifties Fair, held annually at Wahroonga’s historic Rose Seidler House. “We’ve been playing a few rockabilly festivals, like Camperdown Festival in Melbourne. It’s those kind of alternative, ‘50s festivals that we’ve been going to, those whole-day affairs.”

Also on the agenda for the day is music from singer and guitarist Pat Capocci, food from Porteño’s Ben Milgate and Elvis Abrahanowicz, Madame Pop and the team at the Nighthawk Diner; swing dancing demonstrations and a classic car display. There’s also an on-site barber shop, a beauty salon and plenty of stalls.

While Pinto will be delivering some classics he and the band will also be taking the opportunity to road-test some original material before hitting the studio to record their debut album.

“When we started it was just a bit of fun – the guys, we all knew each other from other bands – but now it’s getting a bit more serious, we’re writing a record that we want to have out soon,” Pinto explains.

“We’ve been working on things, nothing we’ve played live yet as we’re keeping it under wraps – but I think we’ll probably run through in a couple of new originals to road-test them before we record the album.”

24 Aug, Rose Seidler House