In 1997, while still at school, Dolf de Borst (vocals, bass), Phil Buske (guitar), and Matt Osment (drums) formed a band under the name Trinket. Christian Livingstone joined the band in 1997 as a second guitarist. They entered and won the 1999 89FM Battle of the Bands competition in Hamilton, New Zealand.

By 2000 the band had renamed themselves 'The Datsuns'. In August 2000 they released their first single, "Super Gyration!," on 7 inch vinyl only. In July 2002, after featuring several times on John Peel's programme on the UK's BBC Radio 2 and being hailed as "the future of rock" by the British music press, the band signed with the V2 record label. Their self-titled debut album made a strong impression in the UK, as well as in Australia and New Zealand. The Datsuns toured Australia in 2002 with seminal Melbourne band The Specimens & The Cassanovas as well as playing a live to air on PBS radio.

The Datsuns won numerous awards over this period, including NME's 'Best Live Band' and New Zealand Music Awards for 'Best Album', 'Best Group' and 'Breakthrough Artist'.

They played the main stage of the 2004 and 2009 Big Day Out festival and opened for Metallica in their Australian tour in 2004. Metallica drummer Lars Ulrich had previously praised The Datsuns on the revival debut of Headbangers Ball before playing their video for "In Love." Their second album, Outta Sight, Outta Mind, was produced by Led Zeppelin's John Paul Jones.

In October 2006, the Datsuns came back with Smoke & Mirrors, heralded as a return to form in Australia and New Zealand. The album was met with generally positive reviews, although it was not reviewed as widely as the band's first two efforts. After the release of the third album, drummer Matt Osment was replaced by Ben Cole.

The band then completed a tour of Europe to promote Smoke & Mirrors. Although playing mostly locations the band had not previously visited, The Datsuns still managed to sell out the majority of the European dates.

The band's fourth album, Head Stunts (an anagram of The Datsuns), was released October 2008. The band toured New Zealand, Australia and America to try out new songs such as 'Eye Of The Needle', 'Human Error', 'So Long', 'Hey Paranoid People What's In Your Head', 'Your Bones' and the limited edition single 'Highschool Hoodlums'.

Awesome.