Everyone knows how an article on The Vines is supposed to read, especially if it’s conducted with the band’s eccentric front man, Craig Nicholls.

You know the angle: local band makes good, is hailed ‘future of rock’ by sensationalising English press, and apart from front man Nicholls eccentric behaviour, seems to be destined for heady heights; until, of course, that night at Sydney’s iconic Annandale Hotel. I’m sure we all know the details (assault charges, radio ban, lost band member, cancelled shows, and his subsequent diagnosis with Asperger’s Syndrome). And so the piece continues to explain, in close detail, how the band is managing post-meltdown. All of this happened, by the way, nearly three years ago. By way of breaking the ice, I asked Craig if he’s sick of all of this unwanted attention.

‘Yeah, well I dunno, what can I expect?’ he says, a little sheepishly, ‘I didn’t have any control. I guess it’s slightly interesting or possibly newsworthy – maybe that’s why it’s in there, but I guess I had to give some explanation for my past behaviour.’ He is optimistic, however, ‘I hope that just gradually, it [the media] can be more focused on the music.’

Elvis Costello once famously said that ‘Talking about music is like dancing about architecture’. Does Craig like playing interviewee? ‘It’s hard to talk about music,’ says Craig. ‘I mean, I like doing it, that’s why I do it, we’re trying to talk about our albums and stuff.’

It’s true - at his height, Craig appeared madder than King George. But today, he is polite, slightly awkward, a tad shy, and comes off a little like a pre-pubescent schoolboy. He has a touch of an English accent, and speaks softly. He is nothing like the mercurial rock-star of yesteryear, a teeming bundle of neurosis, who once tried to steal a journalist’s tape deck, before locking himself in the bathroom for an hour and a half. He answers each question concisely and honestly.

We get to talking about The Vines next record, which the band has recently started recording.

‘We just got out of the studio,’ says Craig, ‘We went in there for a week, we did 11 songs, which we were really happy with, and we’ve got a few more to demo. I can’t wait to do another album.’

Is there any change in direction from their past work?

‘Not so much – it’s kind of broad what we do – it’s kind of song-orientated. And there’s the three kinds of styles that we use – punk-rock, ballads, or pop type-songs. So, within that we find you can do a lot, so, nothing too radical, we just want to get better at that and better at singing and stuff.’

And, in keeping with their other records, is this one going to be even shorter than the last?

‘Averaging it, I’d say [the songs are] around 3 minutes, but there’s also gonna be a couple songs that go for 1_ minutes. We don’t intentionally do it, its just the songs we right don’t happen to be big, sprawling musical things. They’re just like pop songs, I guess.’

Their live shows have also noticeably increased in quality, with Nicholls harnessing his talent for edgy performances, so that it works in the band’s collective favour. The Vines appearance at this year’s Big Day Out was critically applauded; named as one of the top performances of the festival circuit. The band played tight shows, while maintaining the rough edge they had become famous for. What was it like to be back up there again?

‘It’s amazing, we loved it,’ says Craig, ‘It’s just such a thrill to play our songs; people wanna hear ‘em and we have a good time, and hopefully everyone does. It’s a good thing all round I think.’

As part of their festival touring commitments, The Vines are also headed to a brand-new event this year: Southern Roots, at the Royal Hobart Showgrounds. The festival is on April 7th, just a day after their appearance at The Great Escape. The band will be joining some venerable local and international acts, such as Gomez, Wolfmother, The Lemonheads, Ben Kweller and Xavier Rudd. The band he’s most looking forward to checking out, though, is Aussie touring virgins The Pixies.

‘It’d be great to meet them; I’ve never even seen ‘em play before, so, I mean, just to see them play would be pretty far out.’

It would seem the Vines racking up the festival points in the last year. So just what is it he likes about playing that kind of environment, as opposed to a regular headlining show?

‘I think it’s really cool – I enjoy it, because there’s a certain vibe to it and it feels like anything can happen. It seems like it’s slightly more chaotic, which isn’t a bad thing, I think.’

The band also has tentative plans to tour later this year, after their festival touring commitments wrap up. Nicholls says they’re looking at shows in ‘Perth, Adelaide and one in Melbourne, and we might do some more before the next album, were not 100 percent sure, but we’d definitely like to do it, and it’s a matter of when, actually, its gonna be.’

When, not if. You heard it, guys.