http://www.smh.com.au/news/entertainment/b...4956197267.html



TWO years ago, the Vines' drummer, Hamish Rosser, was on tour with the band in Brisbane when he got talking to Fabrizio Moretti, drummer from the Strokes. "And Fab said to me: 'You know, wasn't it so great to have been a part of something!' "

Moretti was referring to the low-fi, high-intensity, garage rock revival - "that whole musical movement", as Rosser describes it - that was then being led by bands such as the Strokes and the Vines.

"It was reassuring to hear that, like, we actually did something," Rosser says. "But then a part of me got really depressed when I realised that Fab was speaking in the past tense. I thought, wow, I guess that was that, then."

Except that it wasn't. The once all-conquering Vines are back with Melodia, a rich and raw record that reprises their signature buzz-saw intensity with a certain sweetness and light - from the sugary warmth of Orange Amber to the melancholy of True As The Night.

"I don't think I've ever heard Craig [Nicholls, lead singer] sing anything as personal as on this record," Rosser says. "There are actually love songs on Melodia, like A Girl I Knew, about a very painful break-up he went through four years ago, and a song called Kara Jane, which is about his new girlfriend."

Given what the band has been through, it's remarkable they're even still together, let alone releasing their fourth LP. Certainly, the party seemed over in 2004, following Nicholls's very public meltdown at a gig at the Annandale Hotel, during which he abused the crowd - "You're all a bunch of sheep," he screamed, "can you go baa?" - before kicking a photographer and abandoning the stage. Triple M, which had sponsored the show, banned Vines songs from the station forever and Nicholls faced assault charges.

Once described by The Guardian as a "prodigious and ostentatious marijuana smoker who survives on a burger-only diet", the 31-year-old Nicholls has always been a handful for the band, famous for trashing the sets of both The David Letterman Show and The Tonight Show With Jay Leno.

But it was his performance during an interview with NME in Britain that perhaps proved most damaging. Nicholls reportedly attempted to smash the journalist's tape recorder before locking himself in the bathroom for 90 minutes.

"Yes, well, that wasn't great," Rosser concedes. "It kind of tripped up the momentum we had been developing. I certainly knew that Craig had the ability to write great songs but his ability to promote and function in normal society was questionable."

Four years later and Nicholls is still touch and go. Diagnosed with Asperger syndrome, a mild type of autism, he still finds touring "stressful", Rosser says.

"He just gets totally freaked out by changes in his environment."

But musically, at least, the band has emerged better than ever from the turmoil, Rosser says.

"The accolades are great when they're coming but they can't be heaped on you forever.

"Now that that part of our development is over, we are actually a better band. We're certainly more experienced than we were and our live shows are better than they were."

A second flowering of the Vines, then? "Hopefully, yeah."


THE VINES
Saturday (sold out) and Sunday, 8pm, Metro Theatre, city, 9550 3666, $38.50.

Yay Hammish! But I swear, every article follows the exact same format these days.

Rise to stardom...Craig flips out...everyone thinks its over...Asperger's syndrome, poor thing...come back from the ashes.

YAWN.

Really?

The garage rock revival have made it's first big step through The Strokes, but still The Vines have much more to say.

The garage Rock is so big, many past bands are being left behind.

Yes I have also noticed that trend. But I suppose, it's for those people who've had their heads in the ground the entire time, return to the surface for a breather, spot this article and they're like "really?, oh wow! what a struggle!, I shall check these guys out".. so yeh. *shrugs*
An article is an article.

I have to remind myself of that...these articles aren't for the die hard fans like us

I just wish there'd be an article eventually for us...something different. I guess to put it bluntly, I WANT A NEW DAMN INTERVIEW!

*stomps around like a petulant child* My sorry American ass can't see them live, so the only new Vines-ness I can get are some live pics, shaky youtube clips, and the occasional interview

As much as your post has already been quoted, it's true.

Every single article I've seen has the format you mentioned.

Why do they all feel they have to talk about it in every article?

It's just annoying.

+ this spam is getting annoying.

^ Tell me about it! I've lost track of how many porn/drug spams I have deleted from this thread. It's just ridiculous .

lol thank you, I'm not crazy on this. I dunno maybe it's because I'm kinda on the spectrum as well, so it just stands out to me every time I hope in the next round of press for the band after the next album (GIMME NAO), it won't be mentioned quite so much and they'll focus on the non Aspergery sides of Craigums.

Jeez.

This spam is starting to really annoy me.

There should be a one hour wait after joining before you can post, that would stop it.

^ Tell me about it! I'm in a public library at the moment and I don't particularly like having porn suddenly appear on the computer . I swear they spam as fast as I can delete their posts and ban them! I've been tracking their IP addresses so I know there are people who do this repeatedly. I've asked Lizzy to ban their IP addresses so they can't even see the forum yet alone spam it up. I don't think we can ever get rid them all completely though, I think it'll just be an ongoing battle. But it has been really helpful having people report spam posts - it's been much easier to track them down and get rid of them! So thanks to those who have pressed the report button!

They seem to spam this thread more than anything, maybe we should delete this thread?

I'm an admin on another message board and before we upgraded our board, one of the other admins made a queue to where all new users and their first post would be under moderation until approved to go on the board. We could accept it or delete it. Since we've upgraded, we haven't had any spam problems and we use vbulletin.

^ Hey thanks for the suggestion, I've put it to Lizzy (the admin) to see what she thinks .

In the mean time I'm locking this thread to try and stop the spammers. If they just spam up other threads I'll unlock it again, but hey it's worth a try .
The content of this article has been spoken about many times on this forum and can continue to be talked about in other threads. If anyone really wants to add to this thread PM me and I'll unlock the thread for you.