The Datsuns Profile

aka Trinket

Murray Cammick

17 Jul 2016

How did they do it? That’s a good question – and there are good answers. Anyone who has seen The Datsuns live knows that they have always been committed to their live performance – from day one to day five thousand and one. There was a buzz after their 2016 gigs at Auckland’s The King’s Arms and Wellington’s Homegrown Festival.

Their story is not about posting online, but about old school packing and posting a vinyl 7-inch single to a person of importance in the music industry – whether a booker in Australia (or Japan) or a radio legend at the BBC. In 2002 The Datsuns broke through in pre-internet ways: live performance, the John Peel radio show and UK magazines including the NME. They hit London town just before the NME lost its star-making power and the conversation about music moved from pieces of paper stapled together to the on-line buffet of audio and video nibbles.

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In Australia and New Zealand there has always been an authentic “garage rock” scene – an underground that loves Radio Birdman, The Saints and sixties sounds whether represented by the legendary US compilation Nuggets or New Zealand’s equivalent, How Is The Air Up There? Auckland had the Frisbee scene and Australia had their indie guitar labels from Phantom to Au Go Go. The NME adopted new millennium groups from The Strokes to The Libertines with The Datsuns and The Vines in there too and packaged them as “garage” – a sound you would read about in their pages.

In The Guardian (22 October 2015) the former NME Editor Conor McNicholas recalls the 2002 to 2003 era when he briefly boosted the magazine’s readership. “We owned the conversation around guitar music. That’s what changed in 2005 – we didn’t any more.”

They had career achievements and highpoints weekly or even daily for several years.

The editor recalls seeing the Arctic Monkeys triumphant at Reading Festival. The band had soared online due to the energy of their fans. “The NME had done virtually nothing, and there was this instant fanbase,” said McNicholas.

When writing a history of a New Zealand band, there are always one or two or 10 highpoints in their career that you can’t miss. When writing about The Datsuns, you have to get choosey as they had career achievements and highpoints weekly or even daily for several years.

With this two part biography AudioCulture tried to document the many key points in their career from their opening for The White Stripes in Hamilton to the numerous John Peel sessions, the NME covers, the high profile tours, Japan, V2 label signing, numerous USA tours, SXSW appearances etc. The volume of gigs, media interviews and photo shoots, distances traversed etc – made one wonder whether sleeping was on their schedule.

At times The Datsuns may have played the retro card – a rock incarnation of That 70s Show. A journalist from the NME (23 January 2003) observed singer-bassist Dolf trying to play a sneak preview of the band’s new recording on the tour bus digital-audio-videogame combo-set-up. A frustrated Datsun said: “If this was the 70s there would be ON and VOLUME.”

Although the Datsuns' heavy gig schedule started to slow down in 2015, they are scheduled to return to New Zealand in March 2018 for two concerts with the D4, in Napier and Wellington.

Read The Datsuns part 1 - here

Read The Datsuns part 2 - here

The Datsuns, St James, 25th October 2003

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Claw Machine

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The Datsuns - MF From Hell

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A Datsuns publicity shot from 2002

Photo credit: Photo by Ian "Blink" Jorgensen

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The Datsuns, 2003: Phil Somervell, Christian Livingstone, Dolf de Borst and Matt Osment

Photo credit: Simon Grigg collection

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Dolf de Borst and Matt Osment, September 2002

Photo credit: Simon Grigg collection

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Phil Somervell, 2004

Photo credit: Simon Grigg collection

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The Datsuns - Girl's Best Friend

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The Datsuns, 2002: Matt Osment, Dolf de Borst, Phil Somervell and Christian Livingstone

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Human Error (7-inch single, 2008)

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The Datsuns, Melbourne, May 2001

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The Datsuns - In Love

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The Datsuns, 2008: Ben Cole, Dolf de Borst, Christian Livingstone and Phil Somervell

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The Datsuns on Top Of The Pops, October 2002

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Smoke & Mirrors (2006)

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The Datsuns: Christian Livingstone, Matt Osment, Phil Somervell and Dolf de Borst

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A Datsuns publicity shot: Phil Somervell, Matt Osment, Christian Livingstone and Dolf de Borst

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Deep Sleep (2014)

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The Datsuns - Stuck Here For Days documentary (2014)

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The Datsuns in Melbourne, December 2000

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The Datsuns - Blacken My Thumb

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Gold Halo (7-inch single, 2012)

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Outta Sight / Outta Mind (2004)

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Matt Osment, John Peel and Dolf de Borst, May 2002

Photo credit: Simon Grigg collection

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The Datsuns in 2003, with Led Zeppelin's John Paul Jones, producer of their second album, Outta Sight /Outta Mind: Dolf de Borst, Jones, Matt Osment, Phil Somervell and Christian Livingstone

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The Datsuns, 2003: Matt Osment, Dolf de Borst, Christian Livingstone and Phil Somervell

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The Datsuns - Super Gyration

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Dolf de Borst, 2004

Photo credit: Simon Grigg collection

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The Datsuns record for John Peel, May 2002

Photo credit: Simon Grigg collection

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The Datsuns on tour in Australia, 2000`

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The Datsuns - Stuck here For Days (2006)

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The Datsuns - System Overload

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Dolf de Borst, 2000

Photo credit: Simon Grigg collection

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The Datsuns, Kings Arms, Auckland, 2002

Photo credit: Simon Grigg collection

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The Datsuns - So Long

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The Datsuns - Gold Halo

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The poster for the canceled 2004 Lollapalooza tour

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The Datsuns, Kings Arms, Auckland, 2002

Photo credit: Simon Grigg collection

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The Datsuns new lineup, 2008: Phil Somervell, Christian Livingstone, Ben Cole and Dolf de Borst

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The Datsuns - In Love (2002)

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Headstunts (2008)

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The Datsuns, 2002: Dolf de Borst, Matt Osment, Christian Livingstone and Phil Somervell

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The Datsuns in Europe in the mid-2000s: Matt Osment, Phil Somervell, Dolf de Borst and Christian Livingstone

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The Datsuns (2002)

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The Datsuns in Germany, 2004

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The Datsuns, 2002: Dolf de Borst, Matt Osment, Christian Livingstone and Phil Somervell

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The Datsuns - Gods Are Bored

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The Datsuns - Harmonic Generator

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The Datsuns: Christian Livingstone, Ben Cole, Phil Somervell and Dolf de Borst

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Dolf de Borst during The Datsuns' first John Peel Session, May 2002

Photo credit: Simon Grigg collection

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The Datsuns, 2012: Ben Cole, Phil Somervell, Christian Livingstone and Dolf de Borst

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The Datsuns - Stuck Here For Days

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The Datsuns - Human Error

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The Datsuns in Sydney, January 2003

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The Datsuns - Super Gyration (2000) - directed by Greg Page

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The Datsuns - Bullseye

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Death Rattle Boogie (2012)

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The Datsuns, 2012: Dolf de Borst, Ben Cole, Christian Livingstone and Phil Somervell

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Bad Taste (2014)

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The Datsuns - Waiting For Your Time To Come

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Lady (7-inch, 2001)

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The Datsuns at Espy, Melbourne, January 2002

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The Datsuns - In Love (live on the UK's Top of the Tops, 2002)

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The Datsuns, 2003: Matt Osment, Dolf de Borst, Christian Livingstone and Phil Somervell

Photo credit: Simon Grigg collection

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Promo clip for the Datsuns Death Rattle Fuzz guitar pedal box - an effects pedal designed by guitarist Christian Livingstone

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Official website

NZ On Screen profile

Seven records that changed the Datsuns' lives

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Dolf de Borst - vocals, bass

Christian Livingstone - guitar

Phil Buscke Somervell - guitar

Ben Cole - drums

Matt Osment - drums

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Hellsquad Records

Cooking Vinyl

EMI