Like the man said its just a shot away
It happens Lord everyday
And she says it feels good
Damn I make her feel alright
And it’s a damn sight better than I got from you
Damn woman she makes me oh so blue
Like a motherfucker from hell
Oh yes, welcome to the oasis of refined good taste, restraint and grace that is The Datsuns, their self-titled 2002 debut. Obviously they get massive 1537 bonus points for swearing a lot, alluding to a line from ‘Gimme Shelter’ (above) and additional ones for adopting the whole band-name-as-surname-approach I love and even more for peddling their hormonally unhinged brand of maximum volume hard rock. I vaguely remember the Datsuns being lumped in with the Vines as being part of some Antipodean invasion at the time, inventing movements being what bored rock journalists do for fun, shame though because it meant that the Datsuns never got recognized as the king hell rockers they are.
I rather liked the fact they were from New Zealand too, hardly the gleaming hub of the rock world* and without, I hope, being remotely patronising it does have a real, no frills, provincial hard rock sound to it – just the way I love it; being a provincial, real, no frills type myself. When The Datsuns was released it was roundly praised for being very retro but in a non-specific way, I don’t think they sound much like anyone else here at all** and the best I could do is the Stooges covering ‘Highway Star’ as a very general style guide, although there is a touch of Motörhead’s Fast Eddie Clarke on a track or two, ‘What Would I Know’ especially^.
Right from the opening guitar intro to ‘Sittin Pretty’ to the finale of ‘Freeze Sucker’, The Datsuns doesn’t let up for a second; ballads? reflective musical passages? that’s not rock as far as the Datsuns are concerned. The wonderfully alliterative Dolf de Datsun is the real star for me, every single word on every single song on, umm, every single this album, is shouted and bawled as though his very life depended on it being heard three streets away. The Datsuns doesn’t have a lyric sheet with it, but if it did I would expect every single word to have an exclamation mark after it, possibly two to demarcate the bits where he got really excited.
All of which would be nothing without a really loud band behind him, Christian, Matt and Phil Datsun are this and more they are a really tight unit too. Showing just enough virtuosity to tide them over but most of all a real dedication to THE RIFF. When they change it about a bit rhythmically on ‘Harmonic Generator’, with some great Cult-like stop-starting riffery and chick backing vocals it knocks on the door of brilliance, especially when the guitar solo kicks in. Every single dial and switch used in the recording of this record was turned up to the maximum, things red-lining, failing and distorting everywhere – the studio electricity bill must have been skyscraping.
I’m gonna push the button flick the switch today
‘Cause you got nothing I want, I got nothing to say
It’s been 16 days since I seen your ass
Heading to the city, you think your high-class
Like a hyperactive kiddie after two days of eating nothing but blue sweets and drinking bright green fizz, The Datsuns won’t let you read, talk or cogitate whilst it’s on, being far too busy shouting ‘Daddy! Look at me!!’ every 6 seconds. If you can feel the testosterone coursing through your system and you’re in the mood to rawk this album is a great call. Just spin my sweary favourite, ‘MF From Hell’ if you don’t believe me. Wallop! Right between the eyes, no protective irony here, this is just raw, immediate music with everyone involved just going for it, like it was their first and last chance to ever make a record. You gotta love rock debuts.
I case you didn’t get the message from the cover and all the artwork, this is a very black and white LP. I can see how this would just be one long headache for the wrong folk, or even for the right folk on the wrong day but as far as I’m concerned I am bang up for a slice of howling, relentless, two-fisted rock action – just let her rip!
518 Down.
*and that’s a damn good thing. Flight of the Conchords and Crowded House being the only other NZ acts I can think of that I own records by.
**although next time out on their John-Paul Jones produced follow-up they were certainly channelling Deep Purple.
^listen to the intro of that track and tell me it doesn’t sound like a guitar line from Bomber!
… oh, thank heavens! My whole belief system was on the verge of collapse there for a second.
I haven’t spun this since I wrote this one, you inspired me to have a good listen again to them ‘peddling their hormonally unhinged brand of maximum volume hard rock’.
I think Gold Halo may be on their third LP? I didn’t go that far with them.
and thank you for the faith in me.
I saw this band supporting Velvet Revolver in Glasgow. I wasn’t all that into them but they were better than VR!
I’ve never seen them but I’ve decided you’re wrong and they were brilliant that night.
VR that bad? I only liked two tracks (across 2 LPs) of theirs.
VR were a massive yawnfest. And I was on board, I was quite enjoying the debut. But they blew it that night. Never even bothered with the 2nd album. I’ve never spoken to Slash since either. Not been returning Duff’s calls.
Poor Dave Kushner, he’s really sad about the whole thing.
I’m especially disappointed in him. It was mainly him I wanted to see. But all he did was just stand there while all those other numptys did all the hard work! And I never understood why they called the band Velvet Revolver rather than just ‘Dave Kushner’. I guess he wanted it to seem more of a “band” thing for the rest of them?
I dream of the day when he’ll team up in a supergroup with that other bloke from Heart, that guy who stood in on drums for KISS on a B-side once and the fella from Bush.
I’d call it the Dave Kushner Band this time too.
Ooh I don’t know… get all those guys together and you’ve some serious egos going on. Maybe better to give that one a band name and keep everyone happy.
It’s this national spirit that has got the NZ cricket team into the ICC World Cup final (where they will hopefully be soundly beaten by Aus).
I hear their rugby team aren’t awful either.
I thought an India / NZ final was a shop in …
Well, he harrumphed, I’m not going to ‘like’ THAT comment. 😉
Not even ironically?
I’m cricket neutral so I hope you win.
I don’t do irony before my morning coffee.
Yup, any band that can throw in a Stones reference has gotta be at least marginally cool. 😉
I was reading along with this and thinking “I had a CD by these guys but this doesn’t sound like what I had…” so I looked it up and what I had was a CD by a Montreal (bought when I lived there) band called the Datsons (with an “o”). I Wiki’d them and they eventually became a band called the High Dials. Sadly, I no longer have that CD or I’d send you a track.
Anyway, I like the sound of this Datsuns (with a “u”) band. I am all for rocking the hell out. Yay!
Datsons? that’s just craziness.
Not sure about the Montreal version but the New Zealand version wear leather trousers and kick ass.
The Datsuns! Man, I totally forgot about these guys. I believe I picked this album up not so long after picking up Highly Evolved. Haven’t listened to it in ages (and I’m fairly positive that I don’t even have the CD anymore). Definitely better than their fellow NZ rockers The D4 (though they didn’t have anyone with as cool a name as Jimmy Christmas).
They made a splash and then just vanished. I quite liked the Vines first LP too, I might do that one soon.
Had no idea D4 were Kiwis too – loved their track ‘Rebecca’ – I also had absolutely no idea they had someone with such a cool name in, its too cool a name to be a made up one as well.
The first Vines album was really pretty good. Second was pretty good too, actually. I think the whole ‘next Nirvana’ thing really spoiled it all, though.
I actually got this as a added feature when I used to buy Classic Rock Magazine in print form! I completely forgot about these guys! Gonna have to dig this one out!
Great stuff….
Thank you. So pleased you know em, I love this lot – great driving music.