(RockAndMetal.com) (09/13/04)

Edited By Michael Bennett

NEW YORK, NY, USA - THE DATSUNS' new album, "Outta Sight/Outta Mind," will be released tomorrow via V2 Music.

"Rock has become a marketing tool just like anything else -- you see a pop idol or a movie star wearing an AC/DC t-shirt," proclaims Christian Datsun, lead guitarist and songwriter for New Zealand's The Datsuns.

"It has morphed from a form of music into something else. As a band, we want to enjoy what rock and roll music was about in the first place -- a high energy, spontaneous show, the combination of a good atmosphere, a good crowd and loud music and the excitement that comes with it, instead of selling Diet Pepsi or something."

And that is what The Datsuns have imparted to rock and roll fans all over the globe since the release of their self-titled 2002 debut, an intention which continues on "Outta Sight/Outta Mind," a Molotov cocktail comprised of 21st century Boogie and pull-no-punches Punk.

Produced by John Paul Jones, the surviving half of the rhythm section for Led Zeppelin (as well as knobsman for R.E.M., Butthole Surfers and Diamanda Galas), "Outta Sight/Outta Mind" is the work of four young men for whom rock 'n' roll neither breathed its last 25 years ago, nor is it a merely an excuse for journalists to ask stupid questions regarding sex and drugs.

It's a living, breathing, throttling and thrilling thing. If it's not as serious as a heart attack, it's certainly as arresting.

Now you know that they are true believers, so forget about asking Christian what his last name is and that stands for Dolph (lead vocals, bass), Phil (guitar) and Matt (drums), as well.

Just be satisfied that they're The Datsuns, so dubbed since 1999, but a unit since 1994.

Christian cites, as have many band members in the past 45 years, "the boredom of a small town" as a chief inspiration to rock. "Cambridge is a sporting community," he confides.

"Most teenagers play rugby, but we were into music. We didn't like to hang out with the people that played rugby."

"The American term, I think, would be jocks. We didn't fit in, so we started a band."

This isn't to say that the band, then called Trinket, and a trio lacking Christian, were completely divorced from athletic activity.

Phil left the band in the mid '90s to pursue a career as world class squash player.

But he chose to rejoin ("a valiant choice" says Christian) and the trio Trinket became, with Christian on board by 1996, a quartet called The Datsuns.

So what about the name? Are the band members fans of the venerable Japanese automobile?

"Yeah," says Christian.

"We used to buy '60s and '70s National Geographic magazines and we used to cut the pictures out and make collages. At the front and the back, they used to have ads."

"Datsun used to have these really cool looking ads. Our favorite had this guy leaning against a car, with some text reading 'my name's Antonio, and I work at a massage parlor. So I have to know to handle the curves of a lady - a lot like how the Datsun handles the curves of the road."

He chuckles at the memory. "It also just sounds and looks good written down."

"The other guys liked local punk bands, like Nothing At All," he continues.

"When I first joined, the songs they had were all 1:45 blasts of energy. So I injected Zeppelin riffs into it."

"Someone described us as if Jimmy Page had grown up as a punk. So you have those two approaches as a hybrid."

Christian is quick to disavow the influence of the obvious classic rock institution that every hard rock band of antipodean extraction must contend with.

"We're compared to AC/DC. While they are a great band, I never listened to them. I've always thought we come from a Deep Purple kind of sound."

At the same time, there's another, altogether more twee variety of Down Under music that The Datsuns were far more eager to disassociate themselves from.

"We came up against Flying Nun kiwi-pop like The Chills and The Clean. We were doing rock and roll while grunge music and electronic music was popular."

"People didn't understand what we were doing -- why would we even bother with guitars, since guitar music is dead, and electronic music is the wave of the future?"

"But we just did it for fun, and as the years went on, it became more serious and took up more time."

"In short order, The Datsuns recorded three 45's, played around New Zealand, then moved onto Australia by 1999.

But it was a couple of shows at Austin's annual rock and roll industry gangbang South By Southwest that turned more than a few heads above the equator.

The band soon toured with The White Stripes and Mooney Suzuki, and were invited to play live on influential English DJ John Peel's radio show.

It was then that the record labels came calling, hats in hand. But The Datsuns kept their cool.

They recorded the first album in 18 days in England in April 2002, and resolved to license it to V2, home of The White Stripes.

"We recorded it while they were banging on our door, literally," says Christian. We're not that good in the studio; we're a band that likes to play a show."

"But we spent five weeks on the second record -- we just pressed "record" and played the songs we'd been playing live. We recorded a couple of songs in New Zealand afterwards."

And then the debut came out, it became hugely popular, and -- as Christian puts it -- "we toured our asses off around the world for the next two years."

No South America, no Africa ("rock and roll music doesn't come to Africa" quips Christian, "but all music comes from there"), no Middle East, but everywhere else, with the likes of The Von Bondies, The Hellacopters, Sahara Hotnights, The Greenhornes, and Supergrass.

"We get to meet people and visit places, being four guys from New Zealand, that we never thought we'd ever get to go to, and play rock and roll. As the English say, 'not too shabby.'"

By August 2003, the band took their first break in several years and reconvened in October in New Zealand to develop some tunes that had been developed on the road, and some brand new ones.

"When we came off the road, I was freaking out a bit, like 'are we rushing this?,' but in retrospect, it was good," says Christian, "because we didn't have time to worry about things that we didn't have to worry about."

"We just went in and did the best way we could."

Then it was back to England for recording sessions (completed in 5 weeks from November to January, an epic amount of time for the band) with John Paul Jones that would yield their second album, one that would showcase more a groove than the all-high-octane, all-the-time Datsuns.

"We really wanted to broaden our scope a bit and explore the advantages of the studio. So we wanted to slow down and groove and swing a little more."

"'Got No Words' is more about the space of the song than the speed of it. All rock bands that I liked had energy, but they also made sure to swing."

"There's a couple of tracks, 'Messing Around' and 'You Can't Find Me,' where we're living out our glam fantasies, like The Sweet or T. Rex," Christian says.

"Otherwise, we just want to record songs that please us, while also trying to progress. All of my favorite bands evolved from record to record in a natural way."

"That's what this record feels like to us."

"The last record's lyrics were completely stream of conscious, but for this one it's more coherent, since we wrote it on the road," says bassist/vocalist Dolph.

"It's not necessarily about the road, but they're pretty much observations from a nomadic, warped standpoint, where we're in a different town every night, and shit invariably happens, with bored people getting drunk and getting in fights."

"You might make a connection with someone, or something really uncomfortable happens, but the next day you're gone."

"That's the kind of stuff that's grist for the mill."

"The record was shaped in a big way by being on the road,' concurs Christian.

"The music reflects what you've been through as people. The last two and a half years of our lives has been touring, and it's a collection of songs that are cohesive and that we really like."

"It's a complete album -- no one tune stands out."

"You don't buy this one because there's a hit song on it. When you only have one record, that's what defines you as a band, so it's great to have two records of material."

"The first record is the best of of your entire career, whereas the second is what you come up with afterwards."

"But between the two, we got better and better as a touring band, so we made a better record."

"The States has resisted us, and it seems like a good way to get out and play shows in front of people who might be open-minded and appreciative for what we do," concludes Christian, "as opposed to trying to attract people who've never heard of us and aren't interested.

So it seems like a good opportunity to meet new people, hang out with friends like The Von Bondies, do some good shows, enjoy ourselves and maybe discover a truck stop we've never stopped at before."

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