Rock and Roll. You could be forgiven for thinking there isn't much of it around these days. New Zealand's The Datsuns are here to convince you otherwise, or rather wrestle you into a sweaty choke-hold of stomping 70's guitar riffery, skin-searing solos and paint-stripper vocals. They play their own brand of in-your-face hard rock, obviously influenced by bands such as Thin Lizzy, T-Rex and Deep Purple, and like those bands they still retain a pop edge.This all sounds like a recipe for a great live experience, but the lack of audience members present at the Leadmill tonight seems to sap at their confidence and The Datsuns play with slightly less zeal than you might expect. As a result, the audience response is muted and not at all typical of a rock crowd. Eventually when the bigger songs are played mid-set a few people start to dance or head-bang (almost half-heartedly, which is a depressing sight I can tell you) and you can't help but think that their other songs should sound a bit more like the blistering 'MF From Hell'.
Thankfully The Datsuns haven't fallen into the trap many of their peers (by writing longer, duller songs) and four albums into their career they have stuck to their guns and continued to write 3 – 4 minute wonders, which suits them perfectly. Also on the positive, The Datsuns pull off a very tight live set tonight and the sound quality is perfect, not too clean as to tear all the personality away from their sound, but not too dirty as to make them sound muddy. All in all fans of this genre could do a lot worse than see this band - but don't expect to see anything new, just a rock band playing the music they love.
Guy Favill
Photo source: Justin Edwards @ This Is Not A Photo Opportunity
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