Men at Work. Midnight Oil. Kylie Minogue. Admittedly, the Australian History of Rock has been spotty at best, laughable at worst. Perhaps the phenomenon is a logical one; what could you expect from a country whose chief exports are strange words that mean beer, crocodile hunters and Yahoo Serious? However, the future is looking up for the music from Down Under. There's new hope from a new band that could wipe the slate clean and help us forget about their countrymen's past discretions. Already sensations at home and in the U.K., The Vines are ready to take on America. Armed with the tag "The Beatles meet Nirvana;' two U.K. singles that grabbed "Single of the Week" honors in the British rag NME, and Highly Evolved, a staggering debut album produced by Rob Schnapf (Beck, Guided by Voices); The Vines are ready for the fight. Bassist/vocalist Patrick Matthews tells Filter about the hype, the record and late Roman Empire poetry. 

In San Francisco, Craig ended the show by screaming, "Fuck this shit?" What's the story there? 

[Laughs] He was just a bit upset about some stuff. I think at the end of the tour all of his problems come back to him. I think he was a bit upset that it was actually over. It was just him and his life. 

Not rockstar angst? 

No. His girl, I think. 

Is there a lot of pressure performing for an audience who hasn't heard most of your songs? 

It seems like they were quite willing to give us a go, I think you wouldn't come to the show if you weren't willing to listen. Generally, it seems like the English single, "Highly Evolved", has surfaced and they've even begun playing "Get Free" here on the radio. So, two songs are enough for the casual listener. 

How has touring America been different from touring the U.K.? 

They're generally the same sort of people. Maybe the English crowds are drunker. 

How are the groupies different in each country? 

It doesn't exist, I'll tell you. At this stage it doesn't exist. 

The U.K. press has given the band a lot of attention. How has that affected you? 

Um...well, we're cocksure now. It's still on the up you know? I don't think we've failed to meet the expectations yet. Once you get to a certain point of hyperbole in the English press you can do nothing but disappoint people because they haven't heard you. At the moment though. I think people have read NME more than once know they want to say. "This is the best band in the world" at least a couple of times. So, all they're saying is you're good. It's been alright.

Any "conquer America" ambitions? 

Oh yeah, we wanna crack America. crack the heartland. [Laughter erupts in the background] Everyone's laughing at me for saying that. No, it's...(long pause)... well, I've never been there, so I don't know what it would be like to have your pinup in some kid's bedroom in Montana. I'm feeling a little shy. There's four people watching me right now. 

How did the band get started? 

We met at McDonald's. We were 18 and flipping burgers. We rehearsed and played backyard parties and stuff. We didn't really even have any songs together when we played this 18th birthday party. 

What was the recording process like? 

Lengthy. We were pretty much working till midnight, six days a week. We were here for about five months, but we had two months off, so it took us about three months. Obviously, no one sits in there doing vocals for eight hours a day. I guess when you sit back and the con of the record is going up and up, it's kinda strange to know that you could buy a house with the amount of money we spent on the record. 

Any dark times when you weren't sure it would be finished? 

We were stuck out of the studio for about two months. It was about three-quarters finished, and we had to sit around for two months and we didn't realty know what was going on. But someone coughed up the cash and the studio was payed.  

There seems to be a real "raw rock" revival going on with bands like The Strokes, The Hives and the White Stripes cracking the American mainstream. Do you think you have a place in such a "scene"? 

Not malty. I don't think there's virtually ever "scene". Most bands might be friends with other bands in their city, like Jack [White of the White Stripes] seams to know the other bands in Detroit and plugs them a bit But it seems like there's hardly ever a coherent scene in any city that a band comes from; that comes later with reviews and stuff. But there's possibly a vibe in music at the moment. I like the bands that are in this sort of revival. 

Who's the biggest partier in the band? 

Ryan; he's just good at it. But he also doesn't stop. 

What's your drug of choice? 

I think it's pot then, if you put it that way. 

What has the reaction In Australia been to your success abroad? 

We're on the radio now. We're on the big rock station, which is interesting. Usually in Australia if you're a new rock band, not an FM rock band, there's one station called Triple J, it's like a big national government station. We got added onto the big FM radio rock station just the other day, so were just tremendously uncool because they play all this fucking 80s shit. It's good that the average Joe likes us, but we haven't been there since it's been on the radio. 

What are your thoughts on the state of music today? 

Well, I've got a lot of the current records coming out now, but I've always been someone who listens to old stuff more. I've been sort of researching and listening to old English music like Dexy's Midnight Runners and Echo and the Bunnymen, as well as some Jam records. Roxy Music is great but they're not English. 

Do you think music is headed in a good direction? 

Well, how could it not really? Maybe it'll end up like late Roman Empire poetry. And like the Roman Empire, it'll collapse and some other movement will take over.