yeah nothing seems to be for you is it? They should all give up, the world is going to end tomorrow, oh no. Was Marvin the Paranoid Android taken?

it's a dirty job and some pack o low down rock n rollin mofo's gotta do it

it will be funny to see them in their next video - with a budget of a million bux or whatever...
when they've signed on the dotted line, home and hosed, wearing incontinence towels, lounging by the pool in malibu or californica or some goddam place

who is great then rdor?

for you to dis the Datsun's just shows and proves, nothing you say is to be taken seriously mofo.

I'm gonna regret this but anyway, bands like the Datsuns, the D4, The Hasslehoff Experiment rely on tounge in cheek redneck cliche's that are funny for about a minute and a half. S.P.U.D did it way better and so do Deja Voodo.

As for me, newish stuff I like includes Dimmer, Sola Rosa, David Kilgour, Ghost Club. Also alot of electronic stuff on Kog like Echinom (spelt wrong of course) -thats where most of the creativity in this country is coming from, mainly becuase it hasn't been sullied and sucked dry by the industry hype you guys seem roll in.

//tounge in cheek redneck cliche's that are funny for about a minute and a half.

I fucking love rock n roll antics, nobody does it better than the Datsun's. The Datsun's put on a mother fucker of a show!! I haven't seen any dissapointed faces. When they are on stage it looks to me like they are having the time of their lives. The music and the antics make me and alot of others feel good, it makes them feel good, so if it's not cool enough for you, or makes you feel a little embarressed, fuck off and be cool somewhere where they are playing house music.

not denying that they work hella hard.

the way i understand it, almost any band, nz or anywhere else, ends up owing money to their record company.

Zed did make it to the nationals. I have photos from the rockquest book of 1998. That bass player won the musican award thing.

Hey
how's those people that turn up and pay everything out for 2 days, and then you never see them again.

excellent

// it's just that a band like Straitjacket Fits did it infinatley better and got nothing for it! Yet roll out the Led Zep revisionist stuff and your a star.

It has to do with timing. I don't think the Straitjacket Fits got nothing for it, they are quite well known even out of this country.

///I fucking love rock n roll antics/

it's all in the stance... once you've got the stance you can go anywhere. anywhere that includes table tops, the splits, dive rolls, crowd surfing, 360 & 720 revolutions.... all while still playing the gat of course;}.
how else could you expect to try and break a sweat mid-opening song??

//it's just that a band like Straitjacket Fits did it infinatley better and got nothing for it! Yet roll out the Led Zep revisionist stuff and your a star

You can 't resent a band for being in the right place at the right time and I don't think you can use the marketing argument with the Datsuns. They have remained staunchly indie and have built up their reputation through a lot of hard work and scorching live perfomances. Less than a year ago you couldn't hear a Datsuns song on the radio and the only place I've ever seen the supergyration video is on this website.

The Datsuns have quietly been doing all the right things without any major label support or media marketing for the last two years plus, releasing a few vinyl only singles, playing NZ and melbourne frequentlyand finally acheived the coup of landing the White Stripes support which has taken them around the world.

Even if I didn't love their music and their gigs, I would still have a helluva lot of respect for all the work they (and their manager no doubt!) have done, the clever decisions they have made and the position they have now reached.

In my mind they've reminded a lot of local bands that there is an alternative to NZ On Air grants and getting signed to a label. Play lots, enjoy it and produce stuff for your fans - you don't need to sell to 'the masses' in NZ before you can be a 'successful' band.

replies have such impeccable logic...

/And don't start any artistic purity vs fame and fortune crap either/

that's not what I'm whinging about, I think the Fits (and the Datsuns if you think they deserve so) and heaps of other new and old NZ acts should and should've been swimming in money and fame. It's really just a 'mechanics of song' thing I'm on about.
There was a certain approach NZ bands of that era ( fits esp.) took to writing their music, anyone who loves them like me will Know what I mean. Hard to put in words.. introverted 'heart on sleeve' emotion coupled with tunes/ chord transitions that sounded amazing, more than just the sum of musical parts. A need to appeal to as many as possible didn't seem to come into it. If you liked it, you liked it on an individual level, never a collective stomp sort of thing. You have to admit this kind of music genius has dissapeared from the local scene almost completely as of late - and worse there seems to be be a conciouse effort to get rid of it or pretend it never existed by industry(this ai'nt about the Datsuns anymore) especially with that "emerging NZ music" nonsence . Carters album sold fuck all, same with Mulcaheys and that album by Lanky(which was really great). That sux by any measure.

//None of our 'top' acts that stay here will ever be able to support themselves and make a living from music.

i disagree. the zed boys have made millions. stellar charges on average $20,000 per one hour set - tadpole even more. bic runga made her first million by 20.

anika moa has a veeeeery nice house in america, plus a nice lil car to drive around in, plus practically unlimited plane tickets (not to mention a 5 record deal) that her record company is only too willing to pay for.....

ha, ha...where you hear those marvellous porkies....

shit why would you ever leave NZ, if a band can be millionaires on just 1 good selling nz album, SHIHAD come back...they could be billionaires without ever leaving wellington. Tadpole...more then $20 G a show, fuck me, you would need a thousand kids paying $20 a head just to cover that charge, don't you think that is a bit bollocks.

I am sure there are many stories as too what Anika really got going around, i'd love to hear some facts. I wonder why her american label is taking so long to release it over in the states, i'd heard they were doing a 3 month test here in NZ, is that over yet?
Has that album really sold enough copies in her homeland to justify spending big bucks on overseas promotion?

heh heh. exaggerations are great aren't they. however

zeddies may not be millionaires, but they are not exactly struggling. i would call them well off - this is not struggling. this is after their aussie trip.
stellar do charge that much - 20,000 was how much they were paid for their one hour set at sand'pit in nelson - didn't get this info from rockquest guys, in any case it's pretty common knowledge round these here parts. and tadpole do charge more. this may have variations erring to the lower side, because it does seem amazing to be able to charge that much. I'm guessing they would be able to scam money off event sponsors at certain events - coke (i think it was coke) at sand'pit for instance.

bic runga is true, although it was by 21, not 20. she gets a fuckload of royalties and product tie ins blah blah.

anika moa has it sweet mate, have no doubt about it. but not as sweet as i painted it. the thing is, i am just trying to break the perpetual myth that it's impossible to make any money trying to be a band in nz. true, a lot of bands will be getting financially fucked trying to break in, but it's a false preconception that no nz musicians are making any money, and aren't well off on top of that.

there wouldn't be much point in the rockquest guys telling me wonderful stories about the great things rq can do for ya - zed didn't even get to the national final, their best placing was a 2nd at the chch regionals.

i think high praise and international hype about the datsuns is the most sane response i've heard from the mass media in ages... i wouldn't go so far as to say their video's any good, neither (apparently) is their recording(s)... I hope they don't get the pacifier over-production gloss treatment like others who've fallen for the big budget production line ... SEE, the datsuns live gig is so refreshingly uninhibited pure rock n roll - yeah tongue in cheek - but they fekken mean it and they fekken love it - and it's damn contagious when they're crankin it up - yeah man - there's no bad violence vibe - no nazi fanatacism - but they are just as skanky and funky and harrd as they come

quite often - but not always... my personal preference, mind... but i prefer more raw dynamic music that's less overcharged with gloss... unfortunately young listeners are used to hearing TV commercial intensity all the way thru a piece of music - so when they hear a good gritty cranked recording they think it's weak if it's got space in it (excuse my generalisation :))

here's how i see it... there's particular frequencies in music that, when beefed up to the max, give an immediate impression of PHAT... but actually it's a sham - like too much special effects in a b-grade movie... (eg. notice how the ads are always louder than the shows on tv?)

good dynamic recordings are about mic-placement and quality of mic... and good gear... and respect being given to all the resonant frequencies in a sound (not just the money shots...)

over-produced recordings are about compression and synthesizing or augmenting the recorded signal to make it PHATTER than it was when it was generated in the amp... = on steroids

impressions i've gathered over the past 8 years of producing sound for TV and recording bands for kicks... and seeing the trend move from 80's-90's horrific over-production... back to capturing the real sound of good equipment when it's being CRANKED... like in the good old days of led zeppelin / pink floyd... good on steve albini for instance