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Dolf De Datsun – vocals/bass
Chrisitan Datsun – guitar
Matt Datsun – drums
Phil Datsun - guitar
Traveling the states, the New Zealand guys in The Datsuns
haven’t seen much of our U.S. lands, using their
many hours of bus travel time to refresh and “just
trying to stay sane,” says guitarist, Christian
Datsun. Having taken their name from a lost virginity
experience in the back of said car model is quite fitting,
like an episode of That ‘70s Show that’s
only shown in the wee morning hours due to content that
is not suitable for children.
The Datsuns’ self-titled debut on V2 is pure
rock and roll - fine-tuned and full of tenacity. Even
if you haven’t seen their live show, you know
after the first few seconds of the first track “Sittin’
Pretty” that you’ll be in for a sweaty ride.
The Datsuns’ down and dirty rock may have a heavy
‘70s vibe, but their rippin’ guitar riffs,
cow bell thumps and “YEA, YEA, YEA” vocal
screams are built for a modern audience, void of mullet
haired guys pulling air-guitar poses in an attempt to
relive their youth.
“Motherfucker From Hell” boils over with
wild, shaky abandon; “Lady” takes us back
to a simpler time of sex, drugs, and rock and roll,
with a vocal edge that leans towards the early days
of punk; and if The Cramps along with Kate and Cindy
from the B52s shared a body shot, they could pull off
a fabulous remake of “Harmonic Generator.”
Using female backing vocals on this track and “In
Love” was a first for the band, but something
they’ve wanted to do for a while. When playing
those songs live, “I just sing really high,”
laughs Christian, who lends his background vocal skills
to pull it all off.
When the boys first started out they were just learning
their instruments and messing around. But now in their
eighth year they’ve fallen into their own groove,
filling out their musical skin and tight jeans, and
doing everything they can to keep doing what they do,
and more.
Christian feels bands need to spend time building their
foundation – honing their skills and building
a buzz through a lot of hard work, “Especially
for a rock and roll band. Sometimes you get the feeling
that bands get together, then three months later they
have a record deal and an album out before they even
know how to play,” he states with conviction.
“We did it the other way around. We played out
for years and got our act together before doing a record.
It allowed us to find our sound and create some sort
of chemistry between us naturally. We’re pretty
good live because we learned how to play together as
a band.”
As with most bands that are really serious about their
musical career, The Datsuns knew that if anything was
going to be done right or at all, it had to be done
by them. To get their music out there they created their
own label, Hell Squad Records, to release their
singles and albums. “No one was interested in
booking us so we just started booking our own shows,”
Christian explains. “We gradually built it up,
touring New Zealand and Australia. Over the course of
a few years we started getting over on this side of
the world. Record companies and the media were interested
in rock and roll again and we happen to be here at the
right time.”
Although the group embraced the opportunity to get
that attention, they didn’t necessarily agree
that there was any revolution going on when it came
to the whole “rock is back” mentality. They
believed that it was just a matter of what the media’s
attention had been on for a number of years, that it
was “dance music or nu-metal or whatever”
that had switched, featuring The Strokes on the covers
of magazines versus Fat Boy Slim.
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Big names from the biz have been mentioned as contributors
to their careers, including fellow kiwi, Neil Finn,
but Christian doesn’t feel their accomplishments
can be nailed down to any one thing. Touring has been
their number one past time, having been on the road
non-stop for over a year and a half. “We’re
getting pretty of tired, especially here. It’s
just a big country. You can tour for months and not
go to the same town twice. It’s almost like it’s
a whole lot of countries lumped together. You can go
to other countries like England and things can happen
there kind of quickly, because everything is nationwide
like the music, TV, and the radio…the press and
word of mouth.”
What they discovered in the U.S. is they have had to
work a lot harder to get recognition state-by-state,
audience-by-audience. Plus, they see a big difference
in the way the radio works here, noticing that it’s
all run by Clear Channel. “In other parts of the
world you see rock and roll on TV and hear it on the
radio, but over here…we have satellites on the
bus and watch music channels. We don’t see ANY
rock and roll. It’s all pop punk or metal, like
Good Charlotte and Godsmack,” Christian says with
level of confused irritation. Yea, welcome to our world.
Pointing out that some friends in D4 did appear on
David Letterman, Christian felt it strange that late
night talk shows are the media spot to hear rock music,
as opposed to TV stations that are supposed to be dedicated
to music. When rock does make its way into the picture,
it’s for all the wrong reasons, “MTV, when
they’re trying to be hip, they’ll have dabs
of rock and roll in their awards shows or whatever.
Then you see rock and roll in fashion when people are
trying to be cool, but they don’t listen to it…Mandy
Moore or Justin Timberlake wearing an AC/DC T-shirt…that’s
supposed to be a revolution? That’s not rock and
roll.”
Hear and see the real stuff from The Datsuns
at the BlueBird in Denver, playing
Saturday, May 31 with The Paybacks,
The Star Spangles.
www.thedatsuns.com
www.v2music.com
- Kim Owens
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