🟥 This article is translated from Japanese.

The interview at the Metropole Hotel took place in the afternoon. Despite this, Craig Nicholls, the leader of The Vines from Australia, looked as if he had just woken up from sleep. His words were slurred and his speech was unclear. This kind of attitude could be called shy, but looking back at the band's past, I can't imagine that the man in front of me is shy at all. The band is about to release their first album and tour the UK, and their reputation is very high. He was still a little "green" and didn't seem to have a firm grasp of what was going on.

●You started out in a cover band after you graduated from high school, right?

Craig Nicholls (vocal/guitar): Yeah. We'd been talking about starting a band since high school, but we didn't really start until after graduation. I wanted to do something original that no one else was doing. But I didn't know what that was, so in the early days we just played covers. We did three or four Nirvana songs, and a lot of Kinks songs. We also used to cover songs by You Am I (a popular Australian band similar to The Who. They have a sixth album coming out soon). I love The Kinks. I have over 20 of their albums at home.

●Are you a three-piece or a four-piece? Or is it a foursome? It seems like no one is quite sure about that.

Craig: Yeah, that's right. Half the shows we do as a trio, and the other half we perform as a four-piece. The fourth member (Ryan Griffiths, guitar) is not just a hired hand, he's one of us. And it's not about the money, it's about what fits the song best. It's hard to say (whether we're a trio or a quartet) because it depends on the song. I think it's probably both.

●But the complexity of The Vines isn't just about the lineup, right? Didn't you have to bring in a fill-in drummer for the tour because the original drummer hates flying?

Craig: Yeah, it's a bit complicated, because no one knows if the original drummer really quit or not. Hamish (Rosser, drums) doesn't care about that at all. The old drummer (David Olliffe) needed some time off, and he's been a friend since high school, so we're willing to be patient.

●Are you the one who leads the band, writing songs, singing, and playing guitar?

Craig: Yeah, I would say that's a fair assessment. I do have a major say in most things. As for Dave's (former drummer) not wanting to tour, that's his personal preference, so I can't do anything about it. If he doesn't want to do it, you can't force him to do it. When we were recording in L.A., I was with him the whole time. It's not about the money, like I said. I don't know much about the technical side of things. I can't even read music, but I don't care about that at all, I'm just playing. Even if it's just one or two chords and a simple drum over it, as long as it feels good. Now that we're signed to a major label, people are planning things. I'm sure there are all kinds of ideas out there, but we're not going to let that affect us. It's nice to have people's attention, but it started naturally and without planning, I still feel the same way and the changes in the band were accepted very "organically". It's not a problem at all. In the beginning, we just wanted to write songs. We made a lot of demos, and all we could think about was making an album and writing songs. We had no interest in touring the world at that time. Patrick and I like working in the studio. There's a lot to think about. We write a lot of songs, and then as soon as they're done, we think, "This isn't good enough, we need to write more songs," so we end up with piles of unused songs.

●Your songs are very simple, aren't they? Even your single "Highly Evolved" is only 1 minute and 35 seconds long.

Craig: Yeah. Music is a sacred thing, it's not something that can be explained in words. But I think a song should tell you what you want to say concisely.

●What would you do if someone else was telling you what to do with the music that is so sacred to you?

Craig: I'm not scared of the people around me. Our former drummer was a bit too sensitive about that sort of thing. I was too, but we signed with Capitol because they liked our music, and they didn't try to change who we are. We just want to make an album that we wanted to make, and get it out to as many people as possible. When we signed the contract, we weren't doing a lot of gigs, and we didn't have any special feelings about playing shows, but now we're really enjoying it, especially in the UK (They're not as well known in their home country as they are in the UK). We stayed in the US for a long time to record, and toured in the UK. Before we came here, we did a pub tour in Australia, which was okay. We've heard that the reactions to our radio promotions have been good too. There's still a long way to go in Australia. We toured the country for the first time about a year ago, and we gave out CDs with 8 demos tracks like "Factory", "Country Yard", "Mary Jane", and "Highly Evolved". This time we're going to release a proper CD.

●Why is there such a difference in popularity between your home country and abroad?

Craig: It's a coincidence. Rob Schnapf, the producer, didn't want to leave L.A. because his wife had just had a baby. I said yes to recording in L.A., as long as we could make the album. I didn't mind at all if we had to go to his place. I wasn't afraid to get on the plane at that time at all. On the contrary, I was very excited.

●You say you learned a lot during the recording of the album. Was it technical stuff that you learned?

Craig: No, not really. I just meant that we got to experience doing things in a different place and in a different way than usual. I don't think the process would have been much different if we had done it on our own. We had a lot of songs (the demos were recorded on a 4-track machine), and the only difference was that we were able to do it in a better-equipped studio, with more people than just us listening.

●I heard that your band is named after your father's band, The Vynes. Is he a successful musician too?

Craig: No, not really. He only played in Sydney and released one album independently. I don't really have any musical influences from him. When I bought my first guitar, my dad taught me 12-bar blues, but everything else I learned on my own. I didn't start a band because of his influence. It was more of a coincidence that he also liked music. When I told my parents I wanted to be a musician, there was no conflict of opinion with my parents either. He still plays in a small band. I didn't want to bother with a new name when I already had one, so I changed the spelling to "i" and decided on this one. In the beginning, we used to call ourselves Rishi Kesh, named after the place in India where the Beatles went for meditation. I don't do meditation myself, though. I just watch TV.

●Are you from a wealthy family? Or did you work at McDonald's to help out?

Craig: We're middle class. We have money, but we're not that wealthy. I worked at McDonald's because I needed money for cigarettes.

●The former drummer hates touring and you hate flying. I heard that you didn't go back to Australia for 6 months while recording?

Craig: Yeah. I hate flying. I try to stay calm on the plane though.

●What do you do to distract yourself before getting on a plane?

Craig: I hardly ever drink alcohol, but I do take sleeping pills. I've always had a bit of insomnia and can't sleep well. I don't like to travel. I don't want to go anywhere. I didn't want to go back and forth between L.A. and Australia. A boat trip is out of the question. So I had to put up with it. Before I made the album, I was really lazy. I had no regular routine. I slept until the afternoon, woke up to write and record, and stayed up late at night. My house was in the suburbs, so it was boring. I think making the album has helped me get back on track. When the tour starts, I'll try to hold on as much as I can. I'm OK for now, but I don't know how long this will last. I'm in charge of the band, so I can do whatever I want with the band. If I ever retire, we'll just hire another guitarist.

●You are often compared to Nirvana and the Strokes. Do you ever feel pressured by that?

Craig: Yes and no. We believe we're an interesting band and we want people to listen to us, but we don't want to be labeled as "the next Nirvana". We're influenced by Nirvana and The Beatles, but we're just The Vines. We don't sound like The Strokes at all. Well, I guess it's better than not being talked about. But the main thing is for people to listen to our music.

●The song "1969" is a key song on the album, yet it's included as a hidden track at the end of the CD. Why did you do that?

Craig: At first, that was the plan. But the CD wasn't finished yet, so we decided to re-record it properly later. It's not a hidden track anymore. It's a key song, after all. We're heavily influenced by the Beatles and the Kinks, but our biggest influence is definitely the music of the 90s. Our influences from the 60s are overshadowed by the other bands that have come in between.

●When you write a song, do you collaborate with the other members? Or do you come up with a concept and then get everyone's approval?

Craig: Well, I think there are no bad songs we've recorded, but sometimes I forget the songs I wrote and what I did with them. Sometimes I'll show them a song I wrote and they don't know what to do with it. Because sometimes I bring only a part of a song, or something I wrote two years ago. I get a lot of help from them. Patrick (Matthews, bass.) is very good at putting ideas together, and he gives me really inspiring feedback. He comes up with bass lines that not only match the songs, but also make the songs stand out. Dave is great, too. It's all about the feeling. I do listen to everyone's opinions. Since I write the songs, my opinion is reflected the most, and I think I understand best what the final idea for how the songs will turn out. I also respect Ryan a lot. I used to play in a band with him in school before I started playing with Patrick. He fits in really well with the band. It's fun to play on stage with him。

●Why didn't you like playing live in the beginning?

Craig: I guess I was too obsessed with making the album. I couldn't get it out of my head, and I didn't really care about anything else. But now that it's done, I feel mentally free from what I had been constantly thinking about. I was worried that we would accidentally choose songs that weren't that great because there were so many songs. I think I can make the next two albums with a more relaxed attitude. I want to start making them soon and won't keep people waiting.

●Do you get homesick when you go abroad?

Craig: Yeah. But now my girlfriend is here with me, so it's fun. I'm okay. I try not to think about it too much.

●Why did you write a song about working in a factory even though you've never worked in a factory?

Craig: The inspiration for this song came from the stress I felt working at McDonald's. I listen to the Kinks a lot, so I tried to imagine a character. It's pretty simple. I was starting to have fun with songwriting and thought I'd write about a boring guy working in a factory. But the song itself is very happy and childish.

●Are you happy too?

Craig: Well, I don't know.

●But your girlfriend is smiling and saying yes.

Craig: I guess I'm happier than I've ever been. At least I don't have to work at McDonald's anymore.

●You seem to like to write songs about the darker side of yourself.

Craig: Because the songs are old (written about 1~3 years ago). If I wrote the lyrics now, they would be more poetic and sophisticated. I changed some of the lyrics in the studio to better fit what I thought was right. The songs I'm writing now are completely different. The old songs are sarcastic and childish, but not too serious. I used to write the guitar riffs and melody first, then the lyrics, but now I write the lyrics first, then add the music.

●How quickly do you change styles when you're writing a song?

Craig: It's hard to say how it will turn out until we actually record it. But the recent songs are getting more serious than before.