The Datsuns - Northampton Pearl Street Nightclub - 10/4/02
4/5
By: Joshua K
For the uninitiated, young New Zealanders The Datsuns are a lot like their namesake automobile: of the late '60s - mid '70s and made of metal. Think long hair, think blistering guitar solos, think punters throwing devil-signs.
That in mind, 'The Datsuns' was one of rockfeedback's favorite LPs of 2002 precisely because the music transcended cliché to, in the word's of tonight's support act, 'rock our tits off'. It just plain made us smile while other acts came over all dour. And, to paraphrase classic mockumentary 'This Is Spinal Tap', The Datsuns live experience goes to 11, like AC/DC without the cannons.
Near witching-hour, the boys charge into the club, gang tackle their roadie mid-tuning and launch into the percussive chug of opener 'Sittin' Pretty'. Over the next hour we then get the album - from the proto-metal charge of 'our love song, (screams) 'Motherf**ker from Hell' and the sludge-rock of 'Lady' to the romping 'Harmonic Generator' and early Aerosmith screeches of 'In Love' - enhanced by leg-kicks, head-banging, and leaps from the drum-riser. Damn, it's fun.
Of course, at this point you may wonder: are they just the Metal Monkees, the Antipodean Comedy 'DC? Thankfully, two new songs, introduced late-set, point the way forward by suggesting a new diversity to 'the Datsuns sound'. One, currently untitled, is a short, focused firecracker in the vein of The White Stripes' 'Black Math'. The other, even more impressive, is a rock ballad called 'What I've Lost'. All minor keys and plaintive tones (refrain: 'What I've lost / I can't get back'), with proper care and feeding in the studio it could be their 'Wild Horses'. That good.
But enough sentimentality. Here comes set (and album) closer 'Freeze Sucker', tonight extended into a twelve-minute meltdown marked by neo-psychedelic power chords, distortion pedals, and inspired chaos. Seven minutes in, support players are back onstage, plugging in to jam; eight in, there goes the drum kit; nine in, singer Dolf's wearing the bass drum on his head, beating it with his microphone; and ten in he's in the audience watching the destruction, before sprinting out of the venue to parts unknown.
The Datsuns, then: long may they motor along the highway to hell.
Artists in this article: The Datsuns
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