Craig Nicholls is hanging out, playing guitar in his Sydney home when I speak to him over the phone. “I consider myself a real caveman,” he tells me in his mellow, lackadaisical manner. It’s hard to picture this polite and peaceful guy as the same bundle of explosive energy that he is onstage, but the counterpart to that spirited and, at times, unpredictable frontman is a quietly spoken individual who loves to hang out with his bandmates and doesn’t own a mobile phone.

The Vines haven’t toured Australia since 2008, but in that time they certainly haven’t dropped off the radar, playing Splendour in the Grass the past two years running and various other gigs along the way. With the June 2011 release of their fifth studio album, Future Primitive, the band are now preparing to hit the road again this August and September. With their first gig in Byron Bay to kick off the tour tomorrow night, Oyster caught up with frontman, Craig Nicholls, to chat about experimenting with the acoustic, the path to wisdom and sticking it to the man.

Rosie Dalton: Can you tell us a bit about your latest album, Future Primitive?

Craig Nicholls: I think the album is a real mixture of some of our older, rock ’n’ roll style with a bit of electronica throughout. It’s sort of about making changes but not changing too much. It’s important to change but it’s also important to stick with a personal style to some extent. We still want to use guitars, we just wanted to use some keyboards as well.

What do you think sets this album apart from your earlier material?

Well, we had a different producer, plus there’s a bit of electronic stuff. Also, we did it live so it was very fun to record. We’d usually get the song in the first few takes, so it was all these instruments playing at the same time and it was a really different way of working, which was really good.

I’ve read that you consider yourself a bit Future Primitive — is this true and, if so, why?

Yeah, I consider myself a real caveman; I don’t know what’s going on.

Do you really not own a mobile phone? That must be very liberating.

Totally true, yeah. I don’t have an email address either. It’s very liberating but it’s also very convenient for me; I have a real problem with those things [laughs].

What originally drew you to the music industry?

Well it was just listening to bands growing up, really. You hear stuff that makes you feel good and that you like and then I just started to play guitar and write my own songs.

You guys have seen your fair share of controversy over the years, how do you think this has impacted your success as a band?

I don’t think it has hurt necessarily. There’s always room in music for something a bit different. Part of the reason that I got into it [music] is because it made sense to me. School and the authorities and everything, they just didn’t really mean anything to me so it was cool to be able to form a band and throw it back at those people. In the end though, you’ve just got to live your own life and do what you want to do. But yeah, we’re not going to get too crazy on these tours. I mean, we’re still going to have fun and be pretty drunk and whatever. Not on stage of course!

What do you think makes for a really great gig?

A really good energy is the most important thing. You need a band who care about what they’re doing and an audience who connect with that, along with a nice venue, whether it’s a pub or a theatre or whatever, just somewhere with a good energy and then the music will take care of the rest.

What was The Vines’ first ever show?

It was a friend’s birthday party actually. We were very naïve back then and I don’t even think we were that good at that point, but we kept at it and improved with time.

You guys haven’t toured Australia for a while, are you excited to get back on the road?

Yeah, it’s going to be cool, we’re really looking forward to it. We just really want to have a good time and just hope that everyone else has a good time as well. So, yeah, it should be great.

Any venues you’re particularly excited to play?

Well, yeah, The Metro in Sydney has always been one of my favourite places to play or to go see a band. So, that one should be great because I live in Sydney and I’m very familiar with the venue, but the other places we will be visiting sound really great as well and I’m really looking forward to them all.

You guys have played Splendour the last couple of years, how do you enjoy the festival atmosphere?

It’s great, there’s a lot of people and it’s like a big party. It was cool playing Splendour, we got to catch up with the Kaiser Chiefs, who we met a couple of years ago, so it was really cool hanging out with them and also seeing other people.

You’re being supported by two Australian bands, Bleeding Knees Club and Papa vs Pretty. Do you think it’s important to support local rock music?

I think it’s as important as anywhere else. I don’t think it really matters what country a band comes from but I definitely love to support Australian bands, not because they’re Australian but because there are a lot of good ones. I think it’s just good to recognise the fact that there are a lot of good bands out there.

What’s your band dynamic like, are you a particularly tight-knit group?

Yeah, well we all hang out together, even when we’re not doing band stuff, we get along really well and we all really like what we’re doing and have a good time playing gigs and recording, so it’s really great.

Is making music really a collaborative process for you guys?

Yeah. I write most of the songs on my own but then I’ll play them to the other guys and they will have ideas about some songs, you know, like, “This should be faster or slower or have a different verse.” So yeah, I kind of start out with a song and some are more finished than others, but we are definitely all involved. When we make a demo or something, we all work it out together, work out which is the best way to do it. 

What’s up next for The Vines?

Well, we’re going to go away next Thursday for the tour so before that we’re just going to be rehearsing and thinking about what we want to do with the songs we already have and then I’ll be working on writing some new songs as well. And then when we get back, we’re going to see if we can get into the studio for a few days and then definitely do some more gigs after that.

You’re currently recording your sixth studio album, how’s that going?

We’ve done ten songs so far and I’ve produced it. We’re going to record some more songs soon and will hopefully have it out very early next year.

How did you find the process of producing your own album?

It was great; I got to wear my sunglasses inside the control room. But it was very easy, really, because I’d like to think that I’ve co-produced a lot of our stuff before. This album is something a bit different for us though.

How so?

Well, there’s a lot of acoustic stuff; we’ve got strings and trumpets. There’s a kind of country feel to a lot of it, I guess, with some epic ballads and then there’s some kung-fu rock stuff as well.

Was this new direction something that was planned?

It wasn’t really planned at all. Originally, we were going to put an album out as demos and then we thought, we’ll just go in the studio and record them and they turned out really well. It’s good to do something a bit different.

Where do you find inspiration when making music?

Well just the whole action of making music is inspiring, really. I love the fact that there are so many possibilities that are there that you can’t see; it’s just all about what could be. Imagination is the key to the path to wisdom.