No Fool’s Gold to be seen as Datura4 debuts in Sydney

It’s too easy to characterise Datura4 as “yet another Dom Mariani band” because he’s had lots of them with sustained prominence over many years. But it would also be very misleading. Greg Hitchcock has been living in Western Australia for 13 years so, from an East Coast perspective, it’s easy to have lost sight of his formidable rock and roll guitar talents. They each bring their own songs to the practice room but Dom and Greg seem like partners in the songs with arrangements evidently involving everybody’s input.

Between Hitchcock and Mariani with their combined 12 strings, there was plenty to leave you slack-jawed. Vocally, each tackles his own songs which invariably means Dom takes the poppier songs while Hitchy sings the ones with more grunt. But there’s more to Datura4 than the frontmen. Stu Loasby’s bass playing was melodic and rocking. For mine, Warren Hall on drums was Most Valuable Player tonight. His playing overflowed with swing and his mighty kick and precise fills combined to put a V-8 Hemi under the songs.

And speaking of songs, Datura4 do love to jam them out. That’s apparent on a number like “Uphill Climb”. The guitarists indulge in chunky riffing and swapping licks, rather than setting off on epic, winding, spidery leads like Neil Young or J Mascis. It’s music birthed by Aussie pub rock. And Datura4 doesn’t noodle, either. – READ THE ENTIRE REVIEW HERE