Some Sweet ,Psychedelic Blues-Rock Meet – Datura4

today we “Meet” , Datura4. They transport me instantly back to the days of growing up with WDVE Radio in Pittsburgh. Just total kick ass blues jams, heavy like a louder “Traffic” they play the blues like they mean business. you can just hear that slide whisk you back , your sitting in the corner maybe a little too stoned, wondering what’s playing on the Turntable and your friends are yelling at you..”it’s Datura4″ . This is an album , that , I’ll be adding to my collection, very soon. All the tunes just flow so easily into the next one, the whole album has a very cool vibe…….. “Highly Recommend”

from ..Their Bio on Alive Records

Hailing from Fremantle in Western Australia, DATURA4 is the brainchild of Dom Mariani (frontman of legendary Australian garage rockers The Stems and Power Pop favourites DM3) and Greg Hitchcock (former You Am I and one-time New Christs’ guitarist). In 2011 they joined forces combining a shared passion for full-tilt boogie, psychedelic rock and progressive blues.

Along with drummer Warren Hall who previously played with The Drones and bass player Stu Loasby DATURA4 have been steadily building a reputation in their hometown with their live performances. With a healthy nod to Early ’70’s Australian Psych/Blues/Boogie from the likes of Buffalo, Coloured Balls, The Aztecs and latter era Masters Apprentices, “Demon Blues” represents Mariani & Hitchcock’s love of hard hitting bell-bottom blues.

The psychedelic cover art is by Joshua Marc Levy/Asheville Art Family.

Hi our name is….

Datura4

our sound is……

psychedelic blues-rock

We are…..

Dom Mariani, Greg Hitchcock, Stu Loasby, Warren Hall

We are from……

Fremantle Western Australia

Who are some that have an influence on you….

.all the good stuff! from Little Richard, Elvis, Chuck Berry, CCR, Hendrix, The Beatles, Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath, The Rolling Stones, The Byrds, The Yardbirds, John Lee Hooker, Howlin’ Wolf, Foghat, Neil Young, Link Wray, Masters Apprentices, The Coloured Balls, Buffalo, Robin Trower

How old were all of you when you started to play and who plays what in the band

Dom Mariani guitar vocals – 9yrs, Greg Hitchcock guitar vocals – 10 yrs, Stu Loasby bass – 12 years, Warren Hall drums – 10 years

Can you tell us about the process you use, from writing the songs all the way through getting the songs out

Greg or I will bring a song or an idea to a rehearsal and we take from there. There’s a lot of jamming that goes on to get to the final arrangement, but most of the tunes have a loose structure that allows for improvisation. These tunes are never the same twice. The extended jams make every performance different, and the recording ends up being a take of one of those versions.

what are some of the challenges you face as musicians and how have you overcome those challenges

making it work financially. We all have day jobs in one form or another to pay the bills so to speak.

Getting regular shows, There are a limited number of venues in our town. We also live in one of the most isolated cities in Australia, so touring the east coast is difficult unless the financial guarantees are there.

1st concert you went to and age….

An all-day rock concert at Fremantle Oval featuring mostly local bands and including Lobby Loyde and the Coloured Balls who came from Sydney. I was 16.

coolest band t-shirt you ever bought…

Ramones t-shirt (first album cover)

some albums that you listen to the most….

Chuck Berry’s greatest hits

Revolver

Let it Be

Cosmos Factory

Physical Graffitti

Led Zeppelin IV

Are You Experienced

Electric Ladyland

Underground – The Electric Prunes

Disreali Gears

Tres Hombres

Sticky Fingers

Radio City

Agents of Fortune

Argus – Wishbone Ash

Harvest

If you could open for any Band right now who would that be …

Rolling Stones are still active and filling rooms. We’ll open for the Stones thanks!

My youngest son is 13 and in a Band, what advice would you offer him…

Round up some buddies, listen to some of the aforementioned albums together, flush your devices down the toilet and plug in your instruments and bash away.



your thoughts on the state of music in 2015…..



The internet has created numerous benefits and negatives to musicians. There’s an overload of music out there. Everyone climbing over each other to be heard. Embrace the good parts of technology and discover great music via the web access. Guitar bands are literally redundant on the charts but there are still great albums being produced if you dig deep and find ’em.

Television network talent contests are also making big impact on the music industry by dictating to the masses making music more disposable than it already is.

Our plans for the rest of 2015…..

Work on a new album and play as many shows as possible.

Datura4:

Facebook

Twitter

Alive Records/ Buy Your Album Here…

Alive Records