Tuesday, January 10, 2023

Datura4: Demon Blues 2015

 

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 The 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, Billy Thorpe And The Aztecs and latter era The Master's Apprentices, “Demon Blues” represents Mariani & Hitchcock’s love of hard hitting bell-bottom blues.
                           

Originating in 2009 out of the port city of Fremantle, Western Australia, regarded as one of the most

isolated cities in the world, DATURA4 can be best described as a ballsy return to full-tilt boogie and blues with their own original spin on things. They have recorded and released four impressive albums ‘Demon Blues’ (2015), Hairy Mountain (2016), Blessed is the Boogie (2019) and West Coast Highway Cosmic (2020) and to define the DATURA4 sound.
                                

Combining equal parts vintage psychedelia, no-quarter boogie, rock-infused blues, and classic hard rock and running them all though a big bank of amps, Datura4 are a rock band living in the present

while showing a true appreciation for the sounds of the past. The band debuted their high-impact blues-based sound on 2015's Demon Blues, which blended '70s-style hard rock with boogie blues-rock of similar vintage; the band was stripped from a two-guitar powerhouse to one guitar and a keyboard player without a major change in their impact on 2019's Blessed Is the Boogie.
                          

Datura4 feature several distinguished veterans of the Australian rock scene -- guitarist and lead singer

Dom Mariani founded the popular garage rock revivalists the Stems and later worked with DM3, while guitarist Greg Hitchcock is a former member of You Am I and the New Christs, drummer Warren Hall kept time for the Drones, and bassist Stu Loasby played on DM3's Rippled Soul.
                                 

Longtime friends Mariani and Hitchcock had long wanted to work together in a project that would let

them stretch their musical boundaries, and in 2011, Datura4 (named for a poisonous flower) became their new creative vehicle. Venturing out from their hometown of Fremantle in Western Australia, Datura4 soon earned a reputation for powerful live shows that brought a modern-day energy to sounds from rock & roll's past.
                               

In 2015, they emerged from the recording studio with their debut album, Demon Blues, which was

released by Alive Naturalsound Records in July 2015. The band wasted little time in getting its sophomore outing into the world, releasing Hairy Mountain just one year later. When Datura4 dropped their third album, Blessed Is the Boogie, in 2019, they introduced a new lineup of the band; guitarist Greg Hitchcock was out, and keyboard player Bob Patient was in.
                                  

After touring Australia and the U.K. Datura4 utilized a pair of studios some 242 kilometers apart to

record their fourth album. Fully integrating Patient's keyboards,the band stretched out and got looser in their approach to gritty garage psych and blues-infelctedf boogie. The finished album, titled West Coast Highway Cosmic (referring to their long drive between studios), was released in the spring of 2020.
                               

Released on US label AliveNatural Records all four albums were received enthusiastically by fans and

the music press alike. Since their inception DATURA4 have established an impressive live reputation touring Europe in 2019. They have also had the honour of opening up for the legendary ZZ Top, Little Steven and the Disciples of Soul, The Pretty Things, The Hoodoo Gurus New Zealand guitar legend Kevin Borich, Endless Boogie, Tumbleweed, X and You Am I.
                          


Members:
Dom Mariani - Vocals & Guitar
Warren Hall - Drums  
Stu Loasby - Bass
Greg Hitchcockc - Guitar & Vocals 


              



Datura4 – Demon Blues
Label: Alive Records – ALIVE0172-2
Format:    CD, Album
Country:US
Released: 2015
Genre: Rock
Style: Psychedelic Hard Rock

TRACKS

                                                   


01. Out With The Tide    4:28
02. You Ain't No Friend Of Mine    4:34
03. Another Planet    5:07
04. Journey Home    5:45
05. Hoonsville  (Written-By – D. Mariani, G. Hitchcock)   5:45
06. Demon Blues    3:20
07. Pissing Up The Wall    4:39
08. Killjoy    4:31
09. Gravedigger Man    3:56
10. Love To Burn    7:09
11. If Seven Was Eleven  (Written-By – D. Mariaini, W. Hall)   3:08

MP3 @ 320 Size: 124 MB
Flac   Size: 305 MB

2 comments:

  1. I wonder if there's any connection to Vince Mariani, drummer of psych band Mariani.

    ReplyDelete