The Datsuns Tour Of Duty

I’d quite like to be able to finish a book,” says Dolf, lead singer of The Datsuns. “I just miss doing nothing.” If he and fellow Datsuns’ guitarist, Christian, seem a little jaded with the touring game it’s probably because they are.

For the unitiated, The Datsuns are from New Zealand. They’re the first band from their home country to make a real impression on the international scene since Crowded House, surfing in late in 2002 on the post Strokes/Hives/White Stripes wave that also gave us The Vines.

A quick glance at The Datsuns’ ‘Showography’ reveals extensive touring around Europe and the UK, and two tours each of North America, Australia and Japan. It seems they haven’t had more than two days off all year. When I caught up with them at Witnness they were at the tail end of their European festival circuit.

“It’s really different for us because we’re so used to doing our own shows, like six or seven nights a week, and you just keep going and going and going,” says Dolf. “So doing like three or four festivals a week with a day off in between is kind of a bit laid back for us. We get to change down a gear. It’s nice.”

“Luxurious,” adds a mostly monosyllabic Christian, stretching the word out.

“It’s a bit of a holiday, really,” continues Dolf. “You get to hang out with a bunch of musicians. There’s always free alcohol on tap. Nice weather… sometimes. And people who are obviously there to have a good time, not just to check out the show. They’re there because they wanna party or whatever.”

Having played over thirteen festivals across Europe and the UK in just one month, they seem stumped when I ask them to identify their most memorable gig.

“They’re all kinda blurring into one big mess of people and tents and sound and bad food and whatever,” admits Dolf. “They’ve all been really good, we haven’t had any bad ones – touch wood – so far.”

He bangs out a rhythm on the plastic table while he contemplates before dredging up a culturally specific anecdote.

“In Switzerland instead of cheering they do this weird sorta low rumble,” he says, “like oooooh (makes scary ghost sound). And it builds up, which is really ominous but awesome.”

“It’s like playing to a whole lot of monks,” adds Christian, who perks up when I ask him to devise his dream festival line-up. “Tiny Tim would be on it. The band from The Muppet Show would be on it – they never played enough gigs outside The Muppet Show, they deserved a career. The Cantina Band from Star Wars would be on it. I dunno, us, I suppose, we’d get to play that’s fine. The cast from My Fair Lady would do an appearance. It would be very eclectic.”

So what’s next for The Datsuns? Why round two of the European festival circuit, of course.