GGotW: How did Hearse con get started?
Zach: I started HearseCon in 2007 partially by accident. I had wanted to get all of the hearses in our local club, the Denver Hearse Association together in one place for an aerial picture, a show of force kinda thing "Look at how many hearses we have!" but I knew most people wouldn't stick around for long unless something was happening, so I invited a band. Then I figured screw it, let's invite some dancers. Before long I just decided to do events for 3 days and see how it turned out if I made it open to out-of-towners. Ironically I forgot to take that picture, not just in 2007 but also in 2008 I spaced it out as well.
GGotW: How many people showed up for the first one?
Zach: 32 hearses showed up, 3 from other states.
GGotW: Did you know then that you were going to keep doing it?
Zach: Well after the first one went off well I decided to keep going. I set it up so that I wouldn't lose any money. I had done another meet a few years prior for another club and they left me holding the bag so I decided to make everything free, that was there was not a bunch of money involved, it was simple and affordable which is good because this hobby attracts people who aren't rich (myself included)
GGotW: How did you get your first Hearse?
Zach: I bought my first hearse in 1994 directly from a mortuary in the mountains.
GGotW: Did you have to do much work on it?
Zach: You always have to work on hearses, especially if they are your only car. If you've got a regular car and only bring the hearse out on occasion then you don't have as much to deal with, but a lot of people in this hobby use their cars as their daily drivers so you're pretty much always working on it which is why I advocate learning some automotive skills, it saves money.
GGotW: The HearseCon has gotten a bit of media attention, how did that happen?
Zach: The media stuff always cascades it seems. I had made an ad last year that was an A-Team parody which got noticed by Attack of the Show on the G4 network and it rolled over into Associated Press and Discovery noticing us and sending out reporters to cover the story.
GGotW: Why is Alexi equipped with flamethrowers?
Zach: Because traffic is too congested in Colorado for rocket launchers.
GGotW: I understand you have multiple unusual vehicles, have they caused an police issues?Zach: Alexi causes less attention from police than you would think, I probably only get pulled over 3 or 4 times a year, but in my 1964 Olds I will get fucking harassed non stop because I've got purple scallops on it, and I think cops equate that with the car being a hot rod. Somehow the thought that I might be the kinda guy who would speed is of greater concern than the solid fact that I'm in a car that has fire capabilities.
GGotW: What kind of acts are scheduled for this years HearseCon?
Zach: Good question...well, we usually have dancers and a DJ, we usually invade a diner or two and we always do a graveyard picnic on the last day. As for actual "acts" it all kind of depends on who decides to show up and crash the event.
GGotW: How did the HearseCon commercial come about?
Zach: We do a commercial every year. I do films on the side as sorpfilms.net so making a short video is something I always do to help promote it. People are always willing to take 2 minutes to watch something with girls and cars in it.
GGotW: Who are the HearseGirls?Zach: The Hearse Girls usually start out as friends of mine that I've met at clubs or around town and I ask them to model for me or they are people I've met online and approached that way.
Some of the girls have modeled professionally but quite a few are completely new which is a lot of fun to work with as well because sometimes they think they're not cut out for it. The fact is, if you model for someone and the set comes out bad about 99.9% of the time it's the fault of the photographer because they didn't know how to showcase someone's beauty correctly or what angles would compliment them well. I'm not the worlds most advanced photographer,
I didn't go to art school, I don't own a camera lens that is gigantic (I have a theory that your camera lens should never be longer than your dick because if it is, it's a sign you might suck badly at photography) and I shoot on a fairly cheap Nikon. I feel like if I have all this extra stuff I'll rely on it to make fancy photos instead of just making good, well composed photos.Click on the images that appear with the article to see larger versions. Please feel free to leave comments below, you don't need to be a member to leave comments.
