History
The Datura Blues literally evolved out of a joke - the original idea was to start a punk rock group in one day, as an excuse to go "on tour" to Tijuana. Later, after several incarnations, the Datura Blues have found it impossible to test fate and settle down with one set group of musicians. The songs continue to develop as new pianists, celloists, bassoonists, trumpet players etc. collaborate, often on a whim. Likewise, random gong-beaters and self-taught bell-ringers are always encouraged during live shows.
Purpose
The band, now a bit more focused, is obviously influenced by such groups as the dirty three and godspeed you black emperor. Yet the underlying principle that structures our music comes from something much more rooted in the past.
We like to tell stories. In fact, many of the 'songs' are really rough outline storyboards with repeatable hooks and emotions. We use familiar cowboy licks, classical violin melodies, Christian hymns and spirituals, 'rock n' roll', tacky 60's psychdelia, ancient and popularized Hindu/Buddhist/Christian/Islamic mythology, world instrumentation,punk ethics, free-jazz, - all part of the new Western collective consciousness - and tweak them. Mixing and effectively translating these sentiments often remains a lofty ideal; a more likely case is that we will come across as dark-humored music. Tongue-in-cheek eeriness. The Spinal Tap of spirituality.
Furthermore, though at one moment we put on the air of complete seriousness, it is always done with a flirtation of being 'over-the-top'. We do this because living in a secularized world where conceptions of the sacred repel most people, we believe that the only way to make sincere contact with an audience is by creating a genuine �pop-mysticism�. For us, there is hardly a moment too sacred that it does not allow for its own destruction. In this, a new connection to the holy is made through grandiose meticulous orchestration and an openess to spontaneous uproar, all while attempting to reveal the deification of the secular (think: GI JOE's in Kmart Easter baskets) 
The songs themselves stand as representations of this new mix within Western Culture - the bastardization of ancient myth with a new mysticism for the blue collar GAP salesman. We aim to be working class oracles, and though we sometimes stutter, we seek to bring the darkest message of truth.
For example: Our outline for �The Dresser of Sycamore Trees� alludes to the Biblical prophet Amos who worked the shittiest manual labor in all of Israel ('dressing' sycamore trees). Yet, despite his lack of authority, he did not hesitate to speak venomous words to his countrymen. Most people have forgotten the story, it's specific details are nearly lost. But we aim to revive it through a musical encounter; the saxophone opens the song with a dark solo, reminiscent of so many Hollywood representations of the street-corner jazz musician. �This is the word on the street� he says, �Things are not as perfect as you may think�. The song hangs in suspense, jangling with the business of the mundane world - only to erupt into a wrath of noise.
This rising and falling pattern is repeated over and over again through the course of a show. The songs blend together, moving in a spontaneous rock opera. Typically, we will open a set with �Beast, Please Be Still� � our own meditation on the subconscious where the aim is to still the mind and to create a drone (much like the muezzin crier calling fellow Muslims to prayer). Two notes repeat over and over again on bass, guitars hum with subtle feedback, the clarinet vibrates, cymbals whirr. This beginning invocation lasts for as long as necessary while the audience rings their bells, chants, hums, or simply watches. Eye contact is made and everyone moves forward. No words need be spoken. It is an unwritten contract: and if the intention is right, everyone just 'knows' how to move, just what to emphasize.
Later, as the set moves into songs like �Master, the Tempest is Raging� featuring the Gregorian version of �Ave Maria� played on violin, the mood shifts from warm and sentimental, to carnival-esque mad-house. In this rise from simplicity to enormous disorder, the pattern reemerges.
The audience participates however they may. We long for a breakdown of the distinction between audience and performer, encouraging their participation - dancing, bells, shakers, gongs. In the past, some shows have been completely improvised with new audience members-made musicians. In one event in particular, the attempt to mediate with the ghost haunting a college-dropout Victorian was passed around among friends who would understand our motive. In this musical seance, we hoped to fulfill an equation between the creation of sound as an ability to communicate with �the other side� (much like Sun Ra�s mythological jazz).
This is not to say that people always participate in the experience- it can only be encouraged. Coming from an isolated region of Humboldt County where venues exclusively book the typical reggae, punk, jamband-garbage, we too have tended to fall into the trap of the typical musician/audience relationship. In this, we remain fundamentally a rock band. This works for us at the present, but we long for something more fulfilling. But go ahead and see for your self with: A Sample of the Howls