So this is how it works: first a band plays the Mercury Lounge, then the Bowery Ballroom, then Irving Plaza and Roseland Ballroom. Then, when the band is trying to recover from that inevitable post-hype fall from grace, they go back to playing the Mercury Lounge. Or so says the Let's Go Guide To New York, which The Vines' Patrick Matthews consulted during a recent trip to the city.

He told this story after performing at the Mercury Lounge, laughing in mock anger at the Let's Go… people for getting things so right! Granted, Matthews wasn't back at the Mercury with The Vines, but he was back. This time he was with Youth Group, that epic pop band from Australia whose new record, 'Skeleton Jar', is making critics go gooey. In the 12 months since The Vines released 'Winning Days', Craig Nicholls has been diagnosed with Asperger's Syndrome while his stoical bassist has moved back in with his parents and spent time working with autistic children.

Now, both seem to have missed making music, just not with each other: Matthews is back touring and recording with Youth Group while Nicholls and the other Vines are home in Australia recording demos. "They're all doing stuff - they have demos and Andy, the manager, keeps asking me if I want to listen to them… but I want no part of it, 'cos I know if I hear them I'll start obsessing," Matthews surmises, before downing a tequila that he'll later claim made him too drunk to play.

Matthews looks healthy, but he's back to old habits: drinking, defying Dad's wishes to see him finish med school and playing the late-night talk-show circuit ("Celebrities have glassy, lizard eyes"). "So you're still going to be a rock star, just not with The Vines?" we ask Patrick. "Nah, I'm gonna be writer, like you guys - I admire what you guys do."