Biography

Although six months earlier people were telling New Zealands Datsuns to give up by mid-2002 Londons music press was hailing them as genius By then the Datsuns had already been playing their brand of garage rock for six years ever since they met at school in Cambridge and formed a band called Trinket Back in 1997 as Trinket they won the local radio stations Battle of the Bands The following year now called the Datsuns they won again In the years that followed the group released only a handful of singles all on vinyl and all on their own record label Hell Squad Records While beloved of student radio and known for their live Who-like performances they were a relatively unknown group even at home Things started to look up in March 2001 when a tour of Australia caused a bit of a stir especially in Melbourne Encouraged the Datsuns made plans to take on London First it was the fickle London music press that flocked to the groups gigs jostling with each other to hail the Datsuns as the greatest thing theyd seen Record companies followed waving checkbooks in their faces One major-label boss flew in from New York to check out the action Their London tour of duty had started with the band sleeping on other peoples couches Before long at least one hopeful record company was fronting hotel bills In July 2002 the band signed with the V2 label The band then prepped for the domestic release of their self-titled effort which appeared in 2002 Two years later the Datsuns returned with Outta SightOutta Mind Smoke Mirrors followed in 2006 Ed Nimmervoll All Music Guide