The voice of Patrick Matthews down the line from the US has cured me. Yea, though the devil inside did burn with sin, when the voice, with its southern Sydney vowels, spake unto me that evil was expelled.

Matthews is not a faith healer. He plays the bass guitar and a bit of piano with Sydney band the Vines, who mix the melodies of the Beatles with the wrenching attack of Nirvana. Normally this would not be sufficient to work miracles but when, on the strength of a rough-sounding four track demo-cum-EP you're the band anointed by those religious folk in the British music press as (this week's) saviours of rock the weirdest things can happen.

Weird things like being signed by Capitol Records in the US while you're recording your debut album. Not in a Sydney studio on a tiny budget but at the Sound Factory in Los Angeles where the likes of Led Zeppelin have made some noise. Weird things like playing major festivals in Europe and landing in MTV's Buzz Bin for hottest new acts when you've played fewer than 100 gigs in your life.

"It's insane," Mathews mutters. "It feels like someone in England has hyperbole disease but that's the way they do it."

Look at it this way, while the British press have a disconcerting habit of just as swiftly turning on those they praised, it's got to be better than being called the worst band in the world.

The thing is if the Vines were an English band they would be claiming the title of The Greatest without any prompting the way the likes of Oasis, Suede, the Verve or just about any manky bunch of Brits with unwashed hair and a guitar do.

On the other hand, at least the English bands are prepared to be rock stars on stage too, throwing themselves into performing in a way that few Australian bands have the nerve to try. Craig Nicholls, who can contort his slim body in much the same way he can contort his voice, may be the exception to the rule.

"With some of these bands it's the self-belief that drives them," Matthews says. "Craig's got a certain swagger to him. But [music] is pretty much the only thing that he does: it's what he is. That may be the secret of his success."

Nicholls's obsession is reflected in the sound of the Vines' debut album, Highly Evolved, which went into shops yesterday. It sounds sharp and polished, flashy almost.

As Matthews explains, while the Vines are being compared with other bands in the recent revival of rock-with-guitars, such as the White Stripes, the Strokes and the Hives, their aspirations are beyond the sound of the garage.

"We all wanted [the album] to sound as good as the songs were."

You could, at a stretch, put this down to a shared history within the band of working for perfection. That is, Matthews, Nicholls and original drummer Dave Olliffe met while working at McDonald's during high school. Which one was the bun layer, which one the patty griller and which one did the special sauce?

"We did all of that," Matthews says with a giggle. "We knew how to press the timer button on all different vats. But we mostly flipped burgers."

How long do you need to cook the patty on the grill?

"I do remember the exact number: 1 minute 31 seconds."

Eerily that's almost exactly how long the album's 95-second title track runs. Given the mystical aura around the Vines, can we read anything into that?

"No, that's just our attention span," Matthews laughs.

And with that I throw away my crutches and walk away.

Highly Evolved is out now through EMI.