'Don't Listen to the Radio' is now available for Digital download.

'Don't Listen...' backed w/ 'Give Up, Give Out, Give In' and 'Don't Listen...' (instrumental) will be released as an Oz cd single on April 10.

'Gross Out' will be available for digital download starting March 21.

'Anysound' will be released as the first proper UK single in mid-May (tracklisting and formats TBA).


VISION VALLEY ... A VINES UPDATE

‘Vision Valley’, the blistering, stripped-down third album from the Vines, will be released on April 1. Produced by Wayne Connolly (You Am I), ‘Vision Valley’ takes honours as the album most likely to never see the light of day. But this blast of pure rock and roll is very real, and accompanied by a truly remarkable history.

Let’s go back to 2002. The Vines debut album ‘Highly Evolved’ had been released and struck a massive chord all over the world. The Vines were on fire, gracing magazine cover after cover, earning plaudit after plaudit, playing blistering shows and selling massive amounts of records. They were everywhere. However, within a year, the toll of relentless touring and exposure was creating a new set of headlines. The Vines singer & songwriter Craig Nicholls was having immense difficulties, his behaviour becoming more and more erratic.

By the time 2004’s ‘Winning Days’ was released Nicholls had begun to spiral out of control, coming to a head when he was charged with assault after an onstage incident at Sydney’s Annandale Hotel, and resulting in the departure of bassist Patrick Matthews.

Nicholls was soon after diagnosed with Asperger’s Syndrome, a neurobiological disorder and form of autism. People with the condition are generally considered exceptionally intelligent, and often obsessively focus their attention on music or art, but have difficulty reading social situations and coping with change. This, everyone assumed, marked the end of the Vines.

But drummer Hamish Rosser and guitarist Ryan Griffiths stuck by Nicholls through this most difficult period as he’d worked up some new songs. And it was time for the Vines to rise from the ashes.

With producer Wayne Connolly in tow, the trio recorded sessions at a variety of locations in Sydney and came away with an album that has seen the Vines come full circle. Starting over, they simply have nothing to lose. There are no splashy production values, famous studios or endless overdubs here. But there are 13 tremendous new songs that veer from gorgeous summer pop to blistering garage stomp to scattergun punk to epic psychedelia.

The first single ‘Don’t Listen to the Radio’ is an anthemic slab of garage pop, cheery handclaps belying a mountain of guitar crunch and sweetly shredded vocals. Along with ‘Gross Out’, ‘Don’t Listen to the Radio’ is available to purchase as a digital download from March 18 prior to the single’s instore date of April 8. Opening one-two punch ‘Anysound’ and ‘Nothins Comin’ originally intended as demos but stubbornly kept to kick things off, are riff-tastic hard rockers with effortlessly fluid harmonies and beyond-sticky hooks.

Title track ‘Vision Valley’ is one of Nicholls’ trademark skyward bits of grand psychedelia, a trait shared with epic six-minute Floydian closer ‘Spaceship’. All of which makes it hard to believe that this is the same songwriter behind the high-velocity punk assaults of ‘Gross Out’ and ‘Fuk Yeh’.

With Nicholls unable to tour or do much in the way of album promotion, this is music that thankfully speaks for itself. To tap into its power all you have to do is listen.

Now they REALLY got me curious about "Spaceship"

Thanks for sharing.

Aww, only 33 days left. Gotta love it.

And vision valley sounds curious...

i'm happy to see the variety is there, because that's why i fell in love with them in the first place. i'm most in crush with their psychedelic songs and ballads, but to cop an overused phrase....it's all good.

Yeah i just cant wait!!! like reading all those new songs.... yummee....

And isnt Spaceship supposed to be long?
Craig's gonna take us for a ride on his spaceship.
Wonder where he's gonna take us?

*dances around* ONLY 33 MORE DAYS!!!

Haha, I can tell you a few places I'd like to take him But yeah, I thought they were supposed to have some um prank call or something on there?

The countdown begins untill blastoff!

i wish that prank call to hamish would make the light of day - if only they'd make it the hidden track!

Yeah, I remember them saying somewhere that it was 30 minutes long thoug I don't know that I could sit through that. But yeah, I think it would be pretty funny to hear if they do end up putting it as a hidden track or release it online or something.

here's the bit you're remembering - it's posted in the news section of the site...

Amongst the many highlights of the time spent in the studio are Craig’s amazing vocal performance on his new country ballad, and his 20 minute prank phone call to Hamish responding to Hamish’s “Kombi for sale” ad in the local paper.


i can't believe hamish didn't guess it was craig - i mean, how did he understand what craig was saying for a full 20 minutes?

Haha, seriously! Although, my friend actually called me with a prank call for about 10 minutes speaking in an Australian accent (cuz he lived there two years, so he has it down to a science) and I had nooo idea it was him. But you'd think Craig's voice is preeetty easily recognized...unless he does a mean impression or something.

Edit: btw, what the hell is a "kombi" and why did he put an ad in the paper?

^ A kombi is a volkswagan van:

There's a picture of Hamish's volkswagan somewhere with Craig standing out the front holding a picture (or record? I don't remember) in front of his face . I'm not on my computer so I can't upload it, but I'm sure someone else here has it . (unless it's just an ordinary car he's standing in front of my memory isn't very good at remembering things ).

Awww but that is such a cute article! And I really cannot wait to get those singles!!!! I wonder what the b-sides will be?!?!

Haha, my friends older brother that we all thought was hot had one...we called it his shaggin' wagon cuz he basically got some in there all the time. Took out the seats and all...I guess I can imagine that of Hamish. So, they really must not make a lot of money then? If Hamish only had a vw bus...well unless he just really liked it hehe.

Haha they should make a second disc with the prank call on it alone. That would be really funny. Im pretty excited about the album, I really want to hear it so I can judge if it is a good album. I hope it is.

and this is why we need allie back full-time on her own pooter!

hamish's kombi...or what used to be hamish's kombi.




live tracks? demos of some songs? dunno.

Haha, I would probably pee my pants if I wanted to buy one and then as I go to check it out it's Hamish.

Do Australians call Volkswagan's..."Kombi's"??? ...cause i've never heard that term out here...

Ah hell, Ive head a countdown going for months now

..actually i dont think its been that long, but you get the point





My uncle has a van like that from the 60's. it smells so fucking bad, Who knows what hes done in there. Hell, I bet he still has a stash or two in there as well

*sneaks off to the garage*

i usually hear them being called kombi vans...or something like that

i thought singles came out before albums

Yeah, we call the vans kombis and the little cars beetles or punch buggies . I dunno if they do this in other countries too, but there used to be a big thing that if you saw a punch buggie you yelled out "PUNCH BUGGY" and hit the person nearest you. Good times, good times .

Jen - I hope it's live tracks or demos! Or even an enhanced single with a live video of them performing the song!

yeah, usually. in this case, the digital versions will be first.




video footage works for me! the 'don't listen...' video will probably be included, which may be why they're holding off on the CD single until they've squared away the CD extras.

Yeah, we have that game here...except you yell out "slug bug" and you have to point out the car and can only hit the person if they're not wearing the color of the car. BUT! If you hit them without realizing their underwear or something is the color (AND they show you) then they get to hit you back. It's a very complex game here.

I have so many car games. I used to travel alot. I like pediddle (sp?)

I was just informed that 'Gross Out' will be available as a digital download on March 21st.

that must have something to do with the different countries - australia being on saturays and the states on tuesdays. i'll edit my original post.

Yeah but what confused me (because I did think about that) is that this is a digital download so the rules shouldn't apply. Or should they? Dunno. Also this is a UK report, not US.

I also found out via EMI that 'Anysound' will be released as a single on May 15th.

i know iTunes is different in different countries because australia just got it last fall (justine spent about $100 in one day ). digital tracks are figured into sales and chart positions now so the release date matters.

i figured they were gearing up for 'anysound' as the next single since capitol was 'product testing' it thru that jukebox site. testing-driving songs? crazy, man, crazy.

Doesn't seem fair tho. I can understand it with an actual CD but a download?

but for singles, both sales - in store and digital - and radio airplay ( ) are figured in. the radio airplay thing gets to me more than anything because that automatically gives more mainstream acts an edge.

Well it still blows. *kicks dirt*

Im still waiting for US radio stations to play "Dont Listen.."

they are! well, shayla heard 'don't listen...' on her local station (she's in new york), and i've heard it on XM 47 Ethel, the alternative station on satellite radio.

one thing forum peeps can do to help is to call your local stations - if you have some that play modern rock (i don't, which is why i have satellite radio ) - and request the vines. do it periodically throughout the day, get some of your friends to call (even if they don't care, guilt them! ) or email in your requests.

I havent heard a damn thing.
They play the strokes alot tho, heart in a cage yeah! .....but no vines.

I could e-mail my request, that much i could do.

Don't Listen to the Radio is now available via iTunes and all other digital download outlets.

Thats good to hear. Do you know if there is anyway of checking how many downloads there have been for a song?

It turns out 'Gross Out' will not be available in the US as a digital download until the April 4th album release date.

why don't you make a new topic about that

and I'll archive it in the news archive

I think its a big enough bit of news

Yeah alot of people use itunes.

right...isnt it great?

Thanks Lizzy. Done.

That's one day before my b'day. What an awful early birthday present.

...I still can't stand that song..

aww, fee. maybe the b-sides will your gift.

oh, and i've edited the first post - let's show the band we support them by buying the song!!


edit: i just noticed in the article allie scanned, that the drum media said 'don't listen...' won't be available for download until march 18 in oz. maddie was able to get it, so the paper is wrong - but it sucks they didn't get the new information to the paper in time so people would know.

At the moment there are no plans to release Don't Listen to the Radio in the US as a CD single.

there never were plans to release it as a cd single in stores here were there? it was intended to be radio/download only.

the jukebox thingie leads me to believe capitol is 'testing' what songs from the album might go over in the states. apparently we're a finicky lot.

There were to do both at first and Gross Out was supposed to be released in the UK but now that is not the case.

Even though Capitol US has stated Gross Out will not be available until the album release April 4th, EMI UK said Gross Out will be available as a digital download on March 20th.

that's what i've been told all along. i think the confusion is coming in part from the band doing different 'singles' in different countries. the labels seem to forget if a song is added to iTunes, it doesn't matter where you are in the world...you can get it.