19 Apr 2009 // A review by amandashootsbands
The last time I saw The Datsuns play in the Tron was when they tore it up at The Yellow Submarine in mid 2008, drawing in one of the most energetic and dare I say, messy crowds I’d ever seen down there. We’re talking arms and legs batting others over the head, crowd surfing, yelling and a whole lot of jumping up and down, making it one of my most memorable gigs to date.
Since then the rockers have performed their way round some of the most talked about venues in the UK, and now they’ve come home to tour our country once more.

They’ve got a massive following and as soon as I saw their Hamilton date, it was penned into my diary and covered in hi-lighter so I could be part of the action at The Altitude on Thursday night. Who cares about work the next day, this is one band that can’t be passed up for anything - even with the risk of feeling pretty shitty the morning after. I don’t think the lads would have it any other way, really…

Opening their electric set with Yeah, Yeah, Just Another Mistake, Sittin’ Pretty and Little Bruise, I was surprised to see a somewhat tame crowd tapping their feet delicately to the heavy tunes. But as soon as they started System Overload off 2006 release, Smoke & Mirrors the mass was whipped into the frenzy I remember so lovingly. Pushing, shoving and long hair comin’ at ya’ from all directions were the treats on offer, and I couldn’t help but chuckle at some of the people getting involved. I think my favourite was seeing this girl and guy flip each other the bird before starting a yelling match. That chick was fierce. Tyra would have loved her!

Playing off the energy from the munters in the crowd, the lads pulled out their trademark rock n’ roll moves, stretching back and whipping their guitars effortlessly into the air while they enjoyed the view off stage. Watching front-man Dolfe de Borst scream into the mic during songs like Stuck Here For Days and Hong Kong Fury was a devilish delight that had me and many others gagging for more which of course we received throughout the show.

It can’t go without mention how envious I am of these guys’ stamina and skill. Rocking an impressive 19 song set, not tiring once, only to come back on stage to give us three more tunes including radio hit, High school Hoodlums. They’re not the type of lads to bust out a smile mid-song, but it’s obvious that they love what they do, and are quietly excited with the reactions from the crowds they pull. I’d have to say the songs of the show that will stay locked in my memory box are Who Are You Stamping Your Foot For?, Mother Fucker From Hell and Harmonic Generator. Each performed to the dirty Datsuns perfection we know so well. Catch them while you can!

Amanda Ratcliffe

A record that sprang from an experiment in Space and Time: The geographical Space between the four band members who all live in different parts of the world, and the short pocket of Time they had together in the same country to put something to tape.

‘The narrative of Deep Sleep is this: we got together, we wrote some songs and we recorded them in the space of ten days,’ says de Borst, ‘It was basically an experiment to see if we could do it and this is what we got, for better or worse. We had this manifesto of ‘we have to do this fast, it needs to fit within these sonic parameters, and we want to keep it simple.’’

Their almost nuclear family-like existence changed around five years ago when the four members settled in separate cities. Singer/bassist Dolf de Borst put down roots in Stockholm, Sweden, building a recording studio with Nicke Andersson (The Hellacopters, Imperial State Electric); guitarist Christian Livingstone returned to London, embracing the ways of a mad fuzz scientist and birthing his own FX pedal company, Magnetic Effects; guitarist Phil Somervell returned from Germany to Auckland, New Zealand, continuing his work as a squash coach and dabbling with other musical projects; and drummer Ben Cole, based himself permanently out of Wellington working as a session musician and playing with The Joint Chiefs and the Craig Terris Band.

Visit the muzic.net.nz Profile for The Datsuns

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