THE Vines frontman Craig Nicholls has revealed his excitement at the band's return to music more than a year after he was diagnosed with a career-threatening disorder.

Nicholls suffered a breakdown in May 2004 during a Sydney concert for Triple M listeners after enduring months of rigorous touring and promotion for the band's second album, Winning Days.

His erratic behaviour led to an assault charge when he kicked a photographer's camera during the Annandale Hotel show.

Nicholls was later diagnosed with asperger's syndrome, a mild form of autism, and the charges were dropped in November 2004.

Sufferers of the syndrome require routine in their lives and the touring demands on Nicholls pushed him beyond his limits.

The singer said he now manages the condition "by having someone to talk to" and is ready to undertake limited promotional and performance commitments to support the release of their third album, Vision Valley, on April 1.

He said he threw himself into songwriting after the assault charge was resolved.

"There was a cloud for a while but it had lifted by the time we started writing and recording the demos," he said.

"It felt like we were just doing it for fun, just like when we first started out.

"It's good to have a new album. I knew we hadn't broken up. I knew we were going to do a new album but at the time after the second album, we weren't sure when it was going to be," he said.

Drummer Hamish Rosser and guitarist Ryan Griffiths said yesterday they were equally proud of the new album and were looking forward to unveiling it to their fans.