On the eve of the release of The Datsun's seventh studio album Eye to Eye - singer and songwriter Dolf de Borst curates his favourite musical mixtape, and talks to Charlotte Ryan about living in Sweden, fatherhood, and divulges what he really likes to do after a rock and roll show.
Dolf Datsun Photo: supplied
The album, which comes out on Friday, took three years to make and was ready in 2019, but the Covid-19 pandemic delayed its release.
Releasing an album without being able to tour wasn't ideal, but the band had delayed it long enough, and it was a "mental release" for it to finally be coming out, de Borst said.
The band formed while still in high school in Cambridge in 1995 and went on to tour the world and release six albums, the last which was released in 2014.
"If you think of the kind of band The Datsuns is and the music we made, it still fits very much under that kind of umbrella. It's rock music, obviously influenced by a lot of 60s and 70s stuff," de Borst said of Eye to Eye.
"I think with each record we try to kind of push the boundaries a little bit of what we are and try new sorts of things.
"What I have been hearing from other people is that it very much sounds like us, but probably the most assured we've ever sound, the most confident. There's a lot more thought put into vocal arrangements and things like that."
That was mainly because they had more time to finesse it, de Borst said.
Click here to buy/stream Eye to Eye
While it felt a bit odd not to tour a new album, de Borst told Music 101 he would not miss the partying as he had never really been that into it, and had always preferred to go home after a gig.
"I think I can be quite gregarious and have a conversation or whatever, but I also like to sleep and have my own space, particularly if we've just had a show and you've got lots of people looking at you or whatever."
De Borst, who lives with his young family in Sweden, said the last year had been a "weird kind of limbo, purgatory kind of state to be in", but he was grateful he and his family were healthy.
He had to take a step back from The Datsuns to be more involved with his family, because he didn't want to be travelling the world on tour all the time, he said.
De Borst plays bass for Imperial State Electric and The Helicopters, who he first saw play in New Zealand when he was a teenager, and later toured with on several occasions as part of The Datsuns.
"Playing bass, it's different from being in The Datsuns. I'm not focussing on singing, I'm not focussing on being the frontman, or any of those sorts of things," he said.
"People are looking at the other guys in the band and I can just concentrate on playing. I don't really have that artistic hat on; I just, I play live."
He compared it to running or gardening, where you just focus on one thing and not worry about all the other little things.
"I definitely have learnt a lot living here and playing with those guys and a few different people here, about being a musician, singing, all sorts of different things."
Asked whether his children have showed an interest in music, he said his youngest hums and his eldest daughter who is six composes songs and was learning how to play a small, three-stringed guitar.
"She needs to get over the stage fright now, because she's heard herself recorded a few times. You know how you hear your voice for the first time and you're like 'nah, I don't sound like that'. And I keep saying to her 'well you just need to make friends with that, that will always be there'."
De Borst and his daughter have even recorded themselves playing and singing Hell On Wheels by The Lemon Twigs.
"I think she's got a point of view," de Borst said of his daughter.
"She knows what she likes. She's got a good self-censoring, probably. She's only putting the art out there for her own artistic enjoyment."
So don't expect to hear their version of Hell of Wheels anytime soon, but you can listen to The Lemon Twigs' original in the video below, as it is one of de Borst's picks for his mixtape.
Dolf's Mixtape songs:
T. Rex – Cosmic Dancer
The Lemon Twigs – Hell On Wheels
Big Star – Holocaust
Etta James – Tough Lover (take 1)
Gloria Jones – Tainted Love (Single Version)
The Donnas – I Don’t Wanna Rock’n’Roll
Gene Clark – Some Misunderstanding
