Remember Aussie rock band The Vines?

They came out swinging from Down Under in late 2001 as part of a so-called neo-garage-rock invasion that included New York's The Strokes, Detroit's The White Stripes and Sweden's The Hives.

"It was great to be associated with those bands because we really liked them a lot," said Vines' lead singer-songwriter-guitarist Craig Nicholls down the line from Sydney in a Canadian exclusive interview with the Sun.

"We thought they were great new bands, so it was a compliment for us to be considered a part of that — if it was a scene or not. Maybe it was a little over the (top) but it was still a compliment."

Subsequently, The Vines — who released their third album, Vision Valley, this week — were the first band from Down Under to appear on the cover of Rolling Stone in about two decades, and were seen as paving the way overseas for groups like Jet that followed.

The Vines' 2002 debut, Highly Evolved, contained the Nirvana-like breakout hit Get Free, which was bolstered by the song's frenzied energy and the strangled vocals of Nicholls, whose unpredictable, verbally abusive and often violent behaviour, both on stage and off, would soon make bigger headlines than the band's music itself.

Two years later, The Vines' 2004 sophomore album, Winning Days, followed, but despite that album title, the critics weren't nearly as kind this time around even with another likable chart-topper called Ride.

More importantly, Nicholls' erratic mood swings came to a head when he was charged with assault — after kicking and breaking a photographer's camera during a gig in Sydney — and bassist Patrick Matthews walked off stage forever.

Later that year, Nicholls was finally diagnosed with Asperger's syndrome, a mild form of autism, and while it wasn't the best news, at least there was finally an explanation for the band's implosion.

"Yeah, it was a relief, it made some sense," said Nicholls. "It gave some explanation of how I had been feeling. Obviously (those behaviour headlines), it's not what we wanted. But, hopefully, this time around the focus will just be on our music."

The good news is that Nicholls' assault charge has since been dropped and the group remains friends with Matthews, who has since joined Youth Group. Andy Kent of You Am I played in the studio on the new record.

"There's no bad blood between us," said drummer Hamish Rosser, also on speaker phone. "Patrick came down to the studio while we were recording and it was like we were old friends; we even wanted him back in the band."

Against the odds then, The Vines have stayed together, recording Vision Valley in Sydney with producer Wayne Connolly.

Nicholls' penchant for combining noiser rock with dreamier psychedelic pop is evident once again but, obviously, he had a lot to draw on personally, too.

"It's always been the extremes, the opposites," said Nicholls, who was listening to Faith No More and The Beach Boys at the time. "Usually, the songs aren't always the same. We try to make things as varied as possible."

Those with Asperger's syndrome generally don't like to be touched, find two-way conversation difficult, avoid eye contact and like routine in their lives.

Thus, Nicholls' condition leaves The Vines unable to tour for the foreseeable future.

"So far, there's no show booked or no touring plans," said Rosser. "But I do think that maybe in a year we'll get ourselves a new bass player and start doing some shows. But it'll have to start with a show or two in Australia. We're not going to embark on a massive overseas tour straight away. At the moment, we're just sort of trying not to burn ourselves out again. Touring for us is pretty exhausting, it doesn't always bring out the best in us."

Added Nicholls: "We're going to see if we can do touring (for) not so long. We're going to try and break it up so that I can cope with it."

Nicholls said he manages his condition by "talking to someone once in awhile, that's about all I do.

"It was good that they stuck by me," he added of his two bandmates. "I'm grateful for that. We weren't really 100% sure of what was going to happen but we kind of knew that the band hadn't finished."