They have the wigs, the flares, the gold glasses and the bejewelled fits, however Scott McAleer and Darren Hinge do not contemplate themselves skilled Elvis impersonators.
“We’re professionals at making people happy,” Mr McAleer instructed AAP on the Parkes Elvis Festival.
Mr McAleer, a firefighter from Jervis Bay, and Mr Hinge, an electronics technician from Brisbane, got here to the competition in central west NSW purely to thrill followers at Australia’s largest Elvis celebration.
“They squeeze the hell out of you because they think you’re Elvis – they’re that in love with the bloke,” Mr McAleer mentioned.
“We’re here just to make people laugh and have a great time.”
Mr Hinge mentioned magic occurs as quickly as they pull on their polyester jumpsuits, full with glittering collars and purple flared pants.
“It can take us two hours to walk 200 metres down the main street, but we love it.”
The associates gown up as different rock stars, together with KISS, when bands tour Australia, however they by no means get a greater response than once they turn into the king.
“The demographics here are those who grew up with Elvis, and they carry on the tradition,” Mr McAleer mentioned.
“He was such an amazing performer.”
On Friday, a few of Australia’s finest Elvis tribute artists will vie for a spot within the Ultimate Elvis Tribute Artist Contest semi-final, to be held in Memphis in August.
The winner of the Miss Priscilla competitors, a pageant honouring Elvis’s glamorous spouse, will start her function as a competition ambassador, alongside US tribute artists Dean Z and Victor Trevino Jr.
The competition is celebrating its thirtieth anniversary, having began as a small dinner and dance in 1993 to draw guests throughout the dry warmth of a rustic summer season.
About 24,000 revellers are anticipated to rejoice this 12 months’s theme of Blue Hawaii, certainly one of Presley’s three musical movies set on the island, with many dressing in leis, floral shirts and grass skirts.
Tribute artist Dean Vegas stunned Cowra band Plus One by becoming a member of them as they busked on Clarinda Street on Thursday afternoon.
He gave $50 to the younger musicians as they launched into an Elvis cowl.
“There goes my drinking money,” Mr Vegas instructed the gang.
“These guys are going to be stars – remember me when you’re famous.”
Mr Vegas’s tribute act has taken him to China, Las Vegas, Dubai and Sweden, and earned him followers from Elvis’s birthplace, Tupelo, Mississippi.
“Elvis was my idol. I never thought one day I would be doing this as a profession,” Mr Vegas instructed AAP.
“Everything I own, I say thank you to Elvis.”
