The Vines have been internationally hailed as the saviours of rock 'n roll, but don't expect them to stick to the genre that made them famous.

Even before the release of their first album, Highly Evolved, The Vines exploded onto the international music scene earlier this year with critics heaping praise on the hard-rocking Sydney four-piece.

In a domino-effect, they then became the first Aussie band to debut in the UK Top 5 with their first album, followed by being the first Aussie band to grace the cover of US Rolling Stone magazine in 23 years.

And to cap off the mind-blowing elevation to stardom, the Vines were this week nominated for five Australian industry ARIA awards.

Finally - adulation at home, seven years after they formed around the grill at a suburban McDonald's.

Craig Nicholls, the manic lead singer and songwriter, said while the success before the record's release was "weird", it had been fantastic.

"It's great, it's amazing, it flatters a lot. It's just really cool," he told AAP.

But the 25-year-old is under no illusion that the Australian industry should automatically honour them ahead of fellow rock acts Silverchair, Powderfinger and Grinspoon in the Best Group category.

"I think maybe we haven't got such a good chance of winning because those bands are really kind of, well, people know them really well, they're really good bands," he said.

"If we get five nominations and we win one, that would be good."

While the music industry celebrates the resurgence of rock and critics salute The Vines for their starring role in the event, Nicholls seems somewhat bemused about it all.

"It just had to happen," he said matter-of-factly.

"Band music had to come back again because... it kind of got mutated in not such a good way, and the whole point became distorted and it became immature."

While the rock 'n roll tag on The Vines screams as loudly at the music industry as Nicholls during a live show, he doesn't think it will hang there forever.

He's foreshadowed a change in direction, adding dance and hip-hop strains to their recordings over the next few years, sometime before it all changes again.

"In five years? Probably in a studio making hip-hop or really hardcore dance, really industrial, but with guitars, maybe, and lyrics," he muses.

"But by then I probably think at that point we may not want to play live or anything, because there might not be the energy there. If it is, it will be like country-rock or acoustic guitars... it'll be totally different, abstract even."

Nicholls' musings are in contrast to his reputation as a nutcase-genius.

He trashes the stage to end gigs and has reportedly threatened suicide, prompting comparisons to Kurt Cobain (Nirvana's talented but tormented frontman who died from a self-inflicted gunshot blast to the head in 1994).

But Nicholls displayed nothing of that ahead of the ARIA awards which will be announced on October 15, preferring instead to talk about his early career ambitions to be a professional skateboarder and his desire to paint in life after The Vines.

"I think this is what I want to do but I wouldn't want to spread myself too thin because I think it would take away from each individual thing I'm doing in some way," he said.

The band is currently on a short promotional visit to Australia before they head back to Europe, but Nicholls is already mildly perturbed about returning overseas.

"Since I got back I don't really want to leave, but I think some of the other guys want to go. Touring can be really tough," he said.

As the world focuses on The Vines ahead of continued accolades and forthcoming albums (Nicholls says up to five more in quick succession), Nicholls left his fans with his thoughts on the business.

"Music can be a really special thing... but music which is kind of manufactured stuff, is not really so good, it just defeats the purpose of what an artist is," he said.

"... But people can make up their own minds about us."

- AAP