Scene News: The Datsuns new album ‘EYE TO EYE” out today!

Seven years hath passed since the last release action from NewZild‘s most noted crafters of classic (as in some of sort of ‘70s-inspired grunge-metal meets garage) rock. And two whole decades are done and dusted since they took the Northern hemisphere by storm, leading the back-to-rock charge at the beginning of the millennium alongside The White Stripes and The Hives. That was when they scored a Peel Session and an NME cover; when they toured Europe and the States and headed back to hit Aus & NZ for the Big Day Out; when they played the main stage at Ozzfest and toured with Metallica. And while time has not stood still, it hasn’t slowed them down either – The Datsuns are now making the best music they’ve ever made.

The Datsuns were always more over-the-top than their new millenium rock contemporaries. And less gimmicky. They came from a heavier place;  heavy in the early ‘70s use of the term, but with a garage-rock rawness and a punk-inspired energy and pace. Heavy music of course has never stayed fashionable for lengthy periods, and The Datsuns paid the price; after smashing it with their self-titled first album, the fickle tastemakers of the time decided that their second album – produced by Led Zeppelin’s John Paul Jones no less, and in many ways anticipating Jones’ return to rock alongside Josh Homme and Dave Grohl in Them Crooked Vultures – was just so much more old hat. They duly retreated from the limelight as new trends emerged, but they never gave it up. More albums followed, and more tours. Tours of New Zealand. Tours of Japan. Tours of Europe. All managed despite beingspread across hemispheres, with front man Dolf de Borstan honorary Swede (and also a member of both the legendary action rock trailblazers The Hellacopters and  Hellacopters’ power pop rock spin-off Imperial State Electric), and guitarist Christian Livingstone living in London and making guitar FX pedals.    Having stuck it out through the leans times, The Datsuns return to the fray now as new variations on their preferred themes of heavy music – new forms of garage, psych and metal, and cross-pollinations of the lot –  have established new audiences.