🟥 This article is translated from French.

Not content with having made a splash with the thunderous riffs of their first album "Highly Evolved" two years ago, the Australians of The Vines sign a richer, more symphonic, even downright psychedelic sound. Craig Nicholls, frontman possessed by his art, tells us about it in detail.

Despite the reputation of crazy rockstar that precedes him wherever he goes, Craig Nicholls seems quite willing to lend himself to the exercise of the interview on this March afternoon in a Parisian hotel. The singer, guitarist and main composer of one of the most important current rock groups in his country, who we know is inhabited by a few demons and marked by the customary excesses of his status, would seem almost appeased, if we exclude some temporary difficulties in keeping the thread of his ideas that jostle when it comes to talking about his art...

Stay Simple

"Winning Days" is much more arranged and furnished than its predecessor; with strings and keyboards in large quantities. What motivated such an evolution?

Craig Nicholls: We learned a lot doing the first album, especially in terms of songwriting, so we felt more confident this time around. We took less time to do the basic work on the songs, so there was more time to develop new things, add keyboard tracks, etc. But we only put on what we thought was necessary, we wanted to stay simple while letting go more than before. Even a tiny element in the arrangements can change the mood of a song.

You seem to have a real ambition in sound exploration...

C. N.: Yeah, but we are not there yet, I would like us to go further. When making the second album, we had certain ideas with electro elements that we didn't follow through with. I believe every song has a vibe; you can get a psychedelic vibe with effect pedals. I see the studio as a giant four-track... I can't say if our album is lo-fi or hi-fi. Maybe it's medium-fi (smile).

Few rock bands carry within them this dichotomy between stripped down rock and symphonic tendencies...

C. N.: I think it's because we consider each song as an entity in its own right. We give ourselves the opportunity to try lots of different things. We don't feel forced to do the same thing all the time. We want to write strange songs with strange arrangements, actually we were already doing it before making albums. Certain songs like "Winning Days" sound to my ears like classical music, we could have recorded it with a simple acoustic guitar, but we preferred to put saturation on it. Same for "Autumn Shade" on the first album. (...) In making our two albums, we just wanted to do the best we could; with good sounds, different types of arrangements and structures, juggling verses and choruses. Hopefully, different songs complement each other, like colors on a painting. Some parts are very controlled, others much more free, but for the essential part, everything is very under control. We are very aware of all this, we try to make an album where each song is worth listening to individually and which aims to create a musical and artistic impact... But not everything can be strictly controlled; 10 or 20% are abstract.

When we compose this painting that is the album, should we choose the songs according to the final rendering and self-censor so that each piece corresponds to the overall project?

C. N.: I don't know... It's hard to get an idea of ​​the final result when you're creating the album. I would say if each song is good on its own, that's a good sign that the album will be good. But we also try to push to the extremes. For example, if we have a country-rock song, we will say to ourselves 'well, we have already done that, let's take the heavy metal song that sounds like Megadeth instead.' We have fun putting together as many different styles as possible, but it's not a deliberate effort to please a specific audience, it's just that we listen to a lot of different bands and different types of music, so it comes out. (gone into a frenzy) The seed is the song; the ground is the band, and the audience is the oxygen. The album is a tree, and a tree needs oxygen (smile)... What I mean is that these songs are ours, but they are also for anyone who wants to make them their own, they belong to everyone, but physically they don't belong to anyone, that's what's appealing about music, this ability to put aside all absurd contingencies and have a positive effect on a crowd. As long as it doesn't end in a riot...

So it doesn't bother you that people download your albums on the internet?

C. N.: Whoa, whoa!! I never said I was okay with that. I don't agree with that. It's bad. Starving artists have to be able to survive (smile)... Besides, I don't really like computers in general.

No, because you were talking about universal sharing and all that...

C. N.: Yes, that's all very good, but you have to pay the cable bill at the end of the month!

Make Good Records

You have traveled around the world several times, you have sold a lot of records, you have been on the cover of a lot of magazines...

C. N.: ...And I'm still unhappy (laughs)!

...You started as a teenager band in Sydney playing in a garage, and you lived the rockstar dream: Now that you've come to this. What are you hoping for? What are you dreaming about?

C. N.: We always want the same thing— do what we want. We like to play in a band, make album art, etc. We want to be happy, like everyone else. To be able to express our ideas. That we don't get pissed off. That we don't get hit by a car. That's all we ask for. We don't really have any goals as a band besides making good records.

Do you consider yourself lucky?

C.N.: Yes, definitely. We worked a lot too, even if it didn't really seem like work. It's all worth it to us because we're very passionate about music. It was in us. It had to come out. We weren't too worried about whether people would like it or not. So in a way, yes, we were lucky. I probably wouldn't be alive if all of this hadn't happened to us... I don't know, I'm trying to make it clear. When people in a country we don't know are interested in our music, it's a great joy for us, that's for sure. (...) Before we made the first album, I was quite naive to the world. I turned away from everything. If there was a society, I didn't want to be part of it. I just wanted to create. It's interesting that afterwards people have opinions on what you have created. It makes you think.

Do you ever feel like being hostage to other people's opinions?

C.N.: No, it's fine. We do what we want, and we never feel like we have to do something to please people. To be honest, and I don't mean to sound disrespectful, all that has nothing to do with what I do. If I had to take into account all the opinions that I'm constantly facing, I would never have had this band or these songs. Our reaction is to disagree with all that, just like when the government or the police tell you to do this or that. But we're not trying to make trouble, like in the 60's, 'peace!' (smile). Ultimately, people can say whatever they want, that's great (laughs).

You really have a great fascination for the 60's, their aesthetics, their music, their philosophy...

C.N.: That's true. That's when it all started for rock bands. I guess there's a part of us that's pretty retro, but the biggest part is about the future, about the music we're going to listen to in the future. I find that there are as many good bands now as in the 60's. Moreover, I listen to more bands from nowadays than from the 60's. You should not end up living in the past, cutting everything down to a particular period. Our only concern is to make rock of the future! Even if there are acoustic guitars in it. I have great respect for 60's bands for the simple reason that they weren't imitating something that had been done 30 years ago, they were completely innovating. I often think about it.

A Waste of Time

The side 'I do my thing and I don't care what others say' seems to stand out in the image of the band. Do you see yourself like that?

C.N.: Yeah, no doubt. It's not like I'm completely self-centered either. I like talking to people in general. I'm not saying I don't give a fuck about what people think, but worring about it would be a total waste of time. They're going to think what they want of me anyway. They can think I'm too mellow or completely hysterical, all extremes. Half the time I feel like I'm seeing a psychiatrist, it's very strange... All I care about is not being negative about what other people are doing. Slagging off other bands isn't cool. Even if I'm going to sound like a hypocrite by saying that, we should talk about positive things. When I'm on stage, I act as if I don't care about people. But I hope they enjoy the concert...

Your popularity skyrocketed with the release of your first album, you became very well known in the space of a few months. Did it affect you in any way?

C. N.: We are very proud of our music. That a lot of people listen to it and like it, there is nothing negative about it. But we don't feel like we've 'succeeded'. For us, success is making good albums, nothing else. And we still have a few years to do that. (...) For the second album, we pushed further the elements already existing on the first. But our third will be very different, we will sound like a whole different band, we will consciously make an effort to move in that direction, take more time and really take a big step forward. I want to take more time to think about the songs. It's still a little early to talk about it, but I'm already thinking about it a lot.