The Vines

   

The Vines
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The Vines

The Vines are an Australian garage rock band that emerged along with a new breed of alternative rockers such as The Strokes, The Hives and The White Stripes in 2002 (see 2002 in music).

Garage days

The original version of the Vines met in suburban Sydney in the mid 1990s where Craig Nicholls, Patrick Matthews and David Oliffe met while working at their local McDonalds. They decided to form a band with Nicholls on guitar and vocals, Matthews on bass and vocals and Oliffe on drums. The band played Nirvana covers at parties while working on developing a sound of their own on Nicholls' four-track recorder. The band was named the Vines because Nicholls' father played in a Sydney band called the Vynes.

Highly Evolved - worldwide success

Album cover for 'Highly Evolved'
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Album cover for 'Highly Evolved'

Their debut single "Factory" attracted little interest in their native land, but the Vines signed with Heavenly Records in the United Kingdom. They funded the recording of Highly Evolved with Rob Schnapf who had worked with the Foo Fighters, Beck and Elliott Smith. The single "Highly Evolved" earned them more critical hype as NME voted it as the single of the week in March 2002. That single also charted in the UK at #32 on the singles chart and also in Australia's ARIAnet top 100 singles chart. The release of the album saw more critical success with the band appearing on the cover of Rolling Stone and the NME. The album debuted at #3 in the UK's albums chart, #5 in Australia's ARIAnet albums chart and #11 in the US Billboard Hot 100 albums chart. With the band playing high-profile slots on Late Night with David Letterman and the MTV Video Music Awards. A few more singles were released from the album, including "Get Free" which charted in the UK at #24 and Australia at #44, while also being the #5 song in Australia's Triple J Hot 100 of 2002. A third single, "Outtathaway" also charted in the UK, at #20, and also in Australia at #38. A fourth single was also released in Australia titled "Homesick", reaching #50. Highly Evolved then went on to sell 1.5 million albums throughout the world with distribution through Capitol Records.

The instant success put great strain on the band. Oliffe did not like touring and the band added guitarist Ryan Griffiths and drummer Hamish Rosser. Nicholls and Matthews had a serious fight after a gig in Boston in late 2002.

In May 2003, the band went into a studio in Woodstock, New York with Rob Schnapf again on production. While Craig Nicholls had talked of having a highly produced album, he told the Australian edition of Rolling Stone in March 2004 that they decided to stick to a less-is-more philosophy. "I wanted it to be - in my head - something grand, with big ideas and that vision sort of thing. But at the same time, that doesn't mean that something can't be special if it's just simple. Because I think that the songs are the main thing".

Winning Days

Album cover for 'Winning Days'
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Album cover for 'Winning Days'
Their second album, Winning Days, was released on March 29, 2004 and debuted at #7 in Australia, #23 in the US and #32 in the UK. "Ride" is the first single off the album, reaching #25 in the UK and #44 in Australia. The Vines had recently finished their "Australian Invasion" tour with Jet and The Living End, which started on March 11, 2004 in Houston, Texas. A second single off the album, the title track "Winning Days" was released in the UK and charted at #42. There is speculation that "Animal Machine" will be the next American/worldwide single, as the Vines have only released high-tempo, distorted songs as singles in the US.

However, after the conclusion of the tour, the band found itself in harder times. Winning Days had not lived up to the success of Highly Evolved, and had gotten a lukewarm reception from both critics and audiences. Lead singer Craig Nicholls was becoming increasingly erratic, and had to be barred from doing media interviews after several bad experiences on the American tour.

This came to a head in late May 2004, when bassist Patrick Matthews walked off stage, joined the crowd, and quit the band, during the first song of a radio promotion performance for national station Triple M at the Annandale Hotel in Sydney. In the aftermath, Nicholls assaulted a photographer, and charges were pressed. Triple M also permanently banned The Vines from airplay on their network. The band's management state that the Vines will cease touring in support of Winning Days, but will record another album.

Aspergers Syndrome

On the 19th of Novemeber 2004 it was revealed that Craig Nicholls suffers from a brain disorder called Aspergers Syndrome. Craig Nicholls admitted to the disorder at an appearance in the Balmain Local Court in Sydney where magistrate Susan Seagrave dropped charges that he kicked a female photographer and caused damage to her camera during the infamous gig at the Annandale Hotel on May 27. The Vines will never be unable to undertake major tours because of Nicholls' condition but plan to perform occasional concerts.


Band members

As of 2004, the band consisted of:
Vines frontman Craig Nicholls
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Vines frontman Craig Nicholls

David Oliffe was in the band until late 2002.

Discography

Albums

Singles

  • "Highly Evolved"
  • "Get Free"
  • "Outtathaway!"
  • "Homesick" (Australia)
  • "Ride"
  • "Winning Days" (U.K. & Australia)

External links


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