Seeking refuge from the demands of touring and band life, The Datsuns’ frontman Dolf de Borst lays low in Sweden.
De Borst resides in the country’s capital, with his own studio playing host to the recording of the group's latest full-length record, Death Rattle Boogie, or most of it anyway — the rest being exported to Neil Finn's Auckland studio for finishing.
“They couldn't be more different,” De Borst admits, comparing Finn's extravagant, three-storey beauty to his slightly more eclectic space.
“Neil's is easily one of the best I've seen in the world. Three different levels with beautiful equipment, the whole building is amazing. Whereas my studio here in Stockholm was built in an old condemned school and is pretty ramshackle."
The writing process for the group’s freshly released fifth album remained a highly collaborative affair.
“A lot of the writing gets done with all four people in the same room. I'll bring maybe one or two rough idea's and we work it out in the practice room,” De Borf says. “We don't like rehearsing very much, we find going over the old stuff really tedious. So a lot of the songs for this record were written during rehearsal days instead of rehearsing, and also while touring. I find it's the best way for us to write, instead of saying, ‘oh yeah, we've got two weeks, let's sit down and write songs’.”
Free reign was granted to director Sam Kristofski to produce the film clip for new single, ‘Gold Halo’. The band had some obvious requirements, however.
“We knew we wanted it to be filled with lots of 'wig-out' moments and a lot of eye candy; just weird shit really,” De Borf says with a chuckle. “I knew we couldn't be in the video because we live in different countries so we just said to him go for it man. And it turned out to be exactly what we wanted.”
De Borst likes to keep up with music from back home in New Zealand, and tells of a seven inch vinyl label he's started recently featuring young power-trio The Transistors.
“They were going on tour with Guitar Wolf and needed merchandise, so I helped them press some singles; that's how it started. I have a bunch of other stuff coming out too from a few different bands.”
The Datsuns Tour Dates
Wed Dec 12 — The Zoo (Brisbane)Thu Dec 13 — Spotted Cow (Toowoomba)
Fri Dec 14 — Coolangatta Hotel
Sat Dec 15 — Festival Of The Sun (Port Macquarie)
Sun Dec 16 — The Annandale (Sydney)
Wed Dec 19 — Karova Lounge (Ballarat)
Thu Dec 20 — The Espy (Melbourne)
Fri Dec 21 — The Espy (Melbourne)
Death Rattle Boogie is out now.
