The Datsuns w/ Turbo Fruits @ The Horseshoe

When The Datsuns emerged on the scene at the turn of the century, their testosterone fueled hard rock sound was exactly what I was into at the time. The New Zealand band's self titled debut was in heavy rotation on my CD player at a time when garage rock that was heavy on the swagger and nil on the social commentary was my definition of a perfect soundtrack to a Saturday night.

Since then, I've mellowed out quite a bit, and although there is still a steady diet of rock feeding my musical appetite these days, it seems to be more steeped in melody and psychedelia, than just a balls-to-the-wall attitude. That being the case, I really haven't paid much attention to The Datsuns since that first album, and my attendance at this show on a Monday night was more due to circumstance and the kindness of others, as opposed to personal overwhelming desire. But boy, am I glad that I went!

Starting the evening off was Turbo Fruits from Nashville, Tennessee. The band is a side project of the now defunct Be Your Own Pet featuring Jonas Stein and John Eatherly from that band, along with their friend Max Peebles on bass. Boasting more of a straightforward garage rock sound than the slightly artsier sounds of the band from which they were spawned, they put on a show that was so energetic that I honestly would have been satisfied if theirs was the only performance of the night. Their set was heavy on standard punk garage rock fare, with a few slower 60's inspired dance numbers. In much the same way that The Clash or The Who were way too talented to be pigeonholed as strictly punk rock, Turbo Fruits showed that, although it was relatively easy to tell where they were coming from in terms of rocking out, there was definitely a greater sense of inventiveness lying beneath the surface. With only one album under their belt, they fleshed out the set with a few choice covers, including an faster upbeat version of the Velvet Underground's Who Loves The Sun and a killer rendition of The Undertones' Teenage Kicks.

Photos: Turbo Fruits @ The Horseshoe on flickr
Myspace: Turbo Fruits

The Datsuns have always had a reputation for being a killer live band and I think what resonated the most with me upon seeing them was the fact that they always seemed much more authentic than many of their contemporaries. To the untrained ear, it might be easy to lump them in with other nouveau garage bands like Jet or The Hives, but where those bands come across with an air of corporate schtickiness, The Datsuns just seem like a bunch of guys who genuinely love to play rock music without any tie induced agenda. I'm not saying that the business side of things isn't there, I'm just saying that it doesn't look like there is. In fact, 'love to play' may not be a strong enough expression to advertise how much fun it is to watch The Datsuns perform. Perhaps 'live to play' is a more accurate description of what I witnessed on that stage as the band shifted seamlessly from song to song, keeping the energy high throughout their set, while everything came together with a solid barrage of hooks, poses, swagger, and crazy rock star face contorting.

Their set actually had me reflect back to when I saw The Hives play Kool Haus last year and I couldn't help but think about what a shame it is that an entertaining, yet overall vapid band like The Hives can fill out a place like Kool Haus while a significantly more interesting and heavier rocking band like The Datsuns continues to play smaller venues like The Horseshoe. Many of my friends left The Hives show with declarations of 'best live show ever' which left me responding with a confused 'really?' look on my face. Meanwhile, I couldn't help but feel sorry for those that missed out on seeing this show, which was by far the more mind blowing of the two. It's unlikely that this scenario is going to change any time soon which, for now, will have to continue to be an unfortunate component of the current musical climate, I guess. However, if it were left up to me, The Datsuns would be marching alongside The White Stripes and Little Steven on the road to keeping the true spirit of authentic sounding garage rock alive.

Photos: The Datsuns @ The Horseshoe on flickr.
Myspace: The Datsuns