Best Buy Interview with Craig Nicholls

Interview and questions by Rob Stephenson, staff writer.

(Ed. note: The transcript has been edited a bit for length and clarity.)

ROB STEPHENSON (staff writer): Are you officially from Sydney?

CRAIG NICHOLLS (lead singer, The Vines): Yeah, that's right.

RS: So, Sydney apparently shares a hometown with AC/DC, Midnight Oil, Lime Spiders, The Church and the like. How tight is the music community in Sydney? It seems like more and more acts are coming from Sydney.

CN: Yeah, it's a great thing, there's lots of good bands in Sydney and lots of good places to play. Yeah, there's a band called Youth Group who are really good. And Jebediah are really good.

RS: Would that be a Sydney-sound? Is there something that people can identify if there's enough of a group base to call it a Sydney sound?

CN: It's more like rock music for the wild in Sydney. There are lots of bands, but I guess you could say it's an Australian sound, I guess.

RS: I know that your album Highly Evolved just came out in the UK on [July 8] and it's getting ready to drop over here [July 16]. Have you heard what kind of reception the album has been getting in stores so far? I know the press has been really positive on you guys. Any idea on how the album's doing?

CN: I think everything is going well for us, yeah. The album comes out in about a week in America here. We've been playing in America for a bit and we played a handful of shows. We played in England so, you know, we're really proud of the album and we're having a really good time playing those song on stage for people who want to come see it.

RS: Are you playing mainly club venues or are you playing anything larger than that? Are you opening for anybody?

CN: I think we played for 700 people last night and that was a really big one for us. Usually we're used to playing for 200 people or something like that. It's been going really well, so we're really glad. The more people the better.

RS: Are you playing with anybody or are you mainly a headliner act in the smaller clubs?

CN: We're playing with a band called OK GO. They're a band that's on Capitol. They're really good and their album comes out in a couple months. We met them while we were making our album in Hollywood and they're just really cool guys, so it's really cool to have them on the tour.

RS: I was checking out some of the early press releases and some of the British rock magazines want to call you the second coming of Nirvana. What do you think about that, is that accurate?

CN: Well, I mean, we were influenced by Nirvana, but we were also influenced by a lot of other bands as well. Of course they were a really important band and what they contributed to rock 'n' roll... and I'm strictly talking about the sound and the poetry of the songs. We don't want to be Nirvana No.2, we're The Vines. People are going to make comparisons and that's okay. Obviously, it's an honor for us to be mentioned in the same breath as that band but we don't want to try and be them because only they could be them and that was what was so cool about them. They were a very unique band, so I don't think anyone can really do that again or anyone ever did.

RS: Do you guys ever do any Nirvana covers during your shows as a kind of tongue and cheek?

CN: No, but when we first started out we played Nirvana covers. But as we were looking for an audience we never really had this intention in starting a band, we just had instruments. We played a couple of Kinks songs and a couple of Nirvana songs, as well. That's because those were the bands we were into at the time. While we had those influences we got more curious and started writing songs of our own.

RS: Is there a comparison that you think is more fitting than Nirvana and Kurt Cobain or is there a multi-band thing that best describes you?

CN: I wish people would just appreciate the music and not necessarily having to try to do what another band did. We were influenced by The Kinks, The Beatles, Nirvana, Supergrass, The Verve so there's stuff on the album that sounds a million miles away from Nirvana and there's stuff that sounds like there's a definite influence there. When I was writing all those songs that wasn't long after the time I had been listening to Nirvana for a long time, but that was the only thing I knew of music and it really affected me. We just think that Nirvana should be remembered for what they contributed to music. We can appreciate that and they've been an influence on us. At the same time I'm trying to do my own thing with The Vines. I have a lot of ambition and I have a lot of new songs which some people may want to call us the new Radiohead, if it's more ballads or more spacey or something like that. 

RS: I think you said you played your first gigs in England and only a handful in the states.

CN: Yeah, we did a lot of festivals. I guess we've done about 15 or 20 shows in America.

RS: Can you draw any comparisons yet between the audiences in the UK and the audiences here?

CN: No, not really. It's pretty much the same. Some people jumping around, some people standing still, some people cheering, some people not saying anything, you know. It's good, you know? We just like playing in the band. We had people come to see us, who like our music and come to see us play, it's a good thing. It's been positive both here and in England.

RS: Any stereotypes about American's that has been proven or disproved so far?

CN: No, not really. I don't really know too much about anything other than what I'm doing which is like writing songs, drawing pictures and scenes and listening to music. I think America's a cool place. In Australia, we get influenced by America and we get influenced by England and — especially musically — it's a good thing. What I noticed was that in America there's some bands that I really love like Slade, Supergrass and Muse and nobody really knows them here and in England their huge. They're different, but there's not that much difference.

RS: I was reading that all you guys met in high school and that you all were working in McDonalds in Sydney at the same time. Is that right?

CN: Well, 2 of us did, yeah; me and the bass player, Patrick [Matthews]. So yeah, we had to do it for money, you know?

RS: And you survived?

CN: Yeah, we did survive.

RS: On a 1 to 10 scale how awful was the fast-food gulag that you guys were in?

CN: It wasn't too bad. We got to meet some cool people. Sometimes you don't feel like working, but you gotta do something, you gotta get some money. I had to get money so I could buy cigarettes or something. Or I could buy a new CD. So that's why I did it.

RS: Were you and Patrick there for a while or just there enough to get a taste?

CN: Well, I was there for a few years, at least, but it wasn't like I was working full time. It was like one or two shifts a week. My parents, they helped me out. They would give me some money sometimes, so that was good. But all this time I was playing in the band, but it wasn't very. We were just kind of in the underground. I was just in my bedroom writing songs. We'd go into a rehearsal studio once a week; sometimes we'd record stuff on a four-track like the rhythm track and I'd take it back home and do the vocals in my bedroom. 

I would just write songs because I loved it. That's what I loved about being in a band. It wasn't this intention to start a band, but as soon as we started playing music I thought, "Oh, I wonder if I could write a song?" And then I did it. Then I wrote some more. And then I wanted to get better. I felt I got better, and then that was enough for me, I didn't need to get any recognition or any attention at that point because we were just starting out. It was this kind of mental journey I was going on. I was kind of sleeping really late and just doing whatever I felt like because I knew I could do something. Then I was this songwriter, and I knew this was really important to me, the whole thing with The Vines, it was going to be serious. It was what I was going to be doing with my life. I was constantly trying to make it better and improve on it. That doesn't necessarily mean working harder. It just means having an understanding of what you can do and where you are and what the situation is. 

RS: How did the relationship with [Highly Evolved producer] Rob Schnapf develop? He's produced for Beck and Foo Fighters and some others...

CN: Yeah, yeah, he had our demos and he really wanted to record the album. So we thought it was great that he liked it. We just kind of spoke to him on the phone, we had a conference, flew him back to Australia, he seemed pretty cool. And then when he got there, he was really cool, he was really smart. We had a similar type way as Rob of recording things. Like how a simplistic way of doubling the vocals, or doubling the guitar tracks, or stuff like that. We just got along well and it worked out great from the first track we did, which I think is "Highly Evolved." Then it just worked, and it was really the most exciting thing that ever happened to us.

RS: So, The Vines is another way to get your artistic expression kind of out in the open?

CN: Yeah, definitely. It's art. It's for people to appreciate.

RS: Have you started writing for Vines No. 2?

CN: Yeah, it's already done now. The third one is done as well. The fourth one is going to be fucking amazing. I can't really think about it too much because I have 30 songs on tape. I got this idea of recording stuff without writing stuff, but we have a lot.

RS: When do you think No. 2 is going to follow, is it going to be a while?

CN: Yeah, we're going to start making it the beginning of next year.

RS: You said there will be some country rock influence where would you derive that from and who would your influences be in that area?

CN: Highwaymen and Beck and The Kinks, they did it. I shouldn't really talk too much about the next album, but I have the songs on tape and I'm just trying to slow down and kind of enjoy everything. We're going to see the sights and stuff like that. We're driving pass this huge archway thing that's far out, man. [St. Louis' Gateway Arch]

RS: Oh, you're in St. Louis.

CN: Yeah, yeah... It's very big.

RS: Every musician in every band seems to have some kind of ritual thing or habitual thing or food; something that they do on tour to kind of keeps them in a groove. Do you guys have anything like that?

CN: We usually drink different beer all the time and eat different foods. I brought my skateboard with me. I think the only thing is, is that we all just bring CDs of our own. I think that's the main thing.

RS: You made your American debut at the Coachella Festival in California. Did that compare in any way to some of the huge English arena shows that you guys have played by now? Was that the same size?

CN: Yeah, it was about the same size. Yeah, we played for over 500 people. I don't know how many people it was, so it's been kind of exciting because we haven't really toured that much. Last time we went to England we did 7 shows and there was a lot of driving around, but you know every show was good, I think. And we had a good crowd, and it was fun. The people who are working with us are so great, and it has been really cool. Capitol [Records] here are good to us. We don't want to wear ourselves out. The first time we went to England we booked 4 shows, our own shows in pubs that would hold 100 people, if you're lucky. We just started out from there.