NEARING IN ON A DECADE OF MADNESS AND CONFUSION, THE VINES ARE SLOWLY BUILDING A REPUTATION AS AUSTRALIA'S BIGGEST ROCK'N'ROLL SURVIVORS. KITT DI CAMILLO TRIES TO GET INSIDE THE MIND OF THE ENIGMATIC CRAIG NICHOLLS.

The public image of Craig Nicholls is one that's divided audiences from the very beginning. As the unhinged frontman for garage rockers The Vines, Nicholls' watched the spotlight fall onto his band from the first shredded guitar notes of ARIA Award-winning breakthrough single Get Free. Debut album Highly Evolved sold close to two million copies worldwide on the back of a hype unleashing Rolling Stone cover story and Nicholls' wildly unpredictable live performances. As their popularity grew though, so too did the line of disbelievers put off by Nicholls' seemingly endless series of unintelligible interviews and reckless stage destruction.

Closing in on ten years since the release of Highly Evolved, the band that appeared ready to implode after every gig have somehow managed to develop a respectable longevity despite its turbulent history and long list of career-threatening incidents. The reckless two years following their debut in particular were dominated by moments of madness, such as the infamous meltdown on Letterman and getting cut from The Tonight Show With Jay Leno after smashing up the set during rehearsal. The most damaging of all came in mid 2004 at the band's notorious Annandale Hotel gig, a set that ended with original bassist Patrick Matthews walking out on the band, a permanent ban for the group from radio station Triple M, and Nicholls finding himself on assault charges after kicking a photographer's camera to pieces.

Coming not long after the lukewarm reception to second album Winning Days, the Annandale Hotel show was seen as another nail in the coffin of the band's time at the top. Detractors were quick to swoop and the band found themselves having to take shelter from the ensuing media storm. A cloudy memory means Nicholls is vague with the details, but he's still noticeably embarrassed by the attention brought on by the whole event. "Yeah there was a strong reaction to it," he laughs sheepishly, "I mean at the time I really didn't know what was going on. I know it was a very crazy set that we did but it did seem to really bother some people. Which I can understand."

Winning Days wasn't the disaster many made it out to be. While not a huge step forward for the band, the LP contained two great singles and was still dripping with the pop hooks Nicholls was becoming known for. Importantly, the band themselves were happy with the end product, and hoped it would continue their upward trajectory. Critics had different ideas, though and savaged the album for its similarities to their debut.

As sales waned. Winning Days marked a major turning point in the group's story - culminating in Nicholls diagnosis with Asperger's Syndrome shortly after the Annandale Hotel gig. "It definitely wasn't the best time for the band or for me," admits Nicholls. "But I had time off from it because I'd been doing it for years even before our first album came out... I probably just needed time away from it for a bit. I never thought 'it's over, I'm never gonna do that again. I just didn't think about it - then I just kinda came round to doing another album after that."

The Vines have had a love/hate relationship with the media ever since. Internationally, the four-piece were never fully forgiven for their outright refusal to play the game during their commercial peak and some music magazines in particular have seemed almost proud in their refusal to support the band.

The Sydney rockers could be excused for feeling like portions of the media were out to get them, yet Nicholls is surprisingly level headed about it all. "Maybe it's not magazines, maybe it's just an individual person. I mean you get good stuff written about you so I guess it's only natural that you're gonna get negative stuff as well. I think with the second album and I think it happened with us a bit where it might have got bad reviews and it happened with a lot of other bands who may be had successful first albums and then with the second one they kinda like it but they also wanna say something bad about it."

Nicholls makes for an odd interview. While initially coming across as reluctant and casually evasive, it soon becomes apparent that his seeming indifference isn't intentional. He speaks in a slow Australian drawl, and his relaxed outlook is immediately at odds with the shrieking deliriously entertaining frontman he is onstage. A reputation for difficult interviews seems misplaced these days, but Nicholls' calm outlook on his bands history will frustrate any one looking for a deep insight into the chaotic history of The Vines. His answers are punctuated with laid back "yeahs" and "you knows", and while noticeably unrevealing about any of the band's more infamous moments, he displays a contentedness with their ability to survive through such hard times. 

He also has a deceptively positive view of his previous decade in music. 'Maybe it's wrong but it felt natural" reflects Nicholls of the bands meteoric rise with Highly Evolved. "Because we felt like something was gonna happen. I felt we were doing good stuff and then when we put the first album down and that came together no-one could really tell for sure. It really did go well but I definitely don't regret it, I think in the end it happens to some bands, and I'm really fortunate that it happened to us because yeah you know..."

It's easy to forget just how exciting The Vines were when they first exploded onto the international music scene. Nicholls' erratic and increasingly volatile stage persona threw a bomb onto mainstream rock at the time, a deranged Australian counterpart to other rock revivalists in The Strokes and The White Stripes. Nicholls' feral screaming was matched by infectious melodies, and the band's unstable yet riveting live shows were almost legendary. With the current line-up of Nicholls, Ryan Griffiths on guitar, Brad Heald on bass, and drummer Hamish Rosser, The Vines are as impressive live now as they ever have been and look set to add to their burgeoning reputation as Australia's rock 'n roll survivors.

Having released three albums in the past five years including this year's excellent Future Primitive, and with a new one on the way. Nicholls is happy to get things back on track. "I definitely [always] felt really strongly about music so if I didn't have the band I'd probably just be writing songs," he explains. "But yeah I'm glad that I have the band 'cause it is kind of my life because you know, as corny as that sounds, that's why I believe I continue living you know..."

WHO: The Vines

WHAT: Future Primitive (Sony)

WHEN & WHERE: Saturday 10 September, Capitol, Perth

DEALING WITH ASPERGER'S

The Annandale Hotel debacle proved to be a blessing in disguise for The Vines volatile frontman. As matters escalated with his upcoming court appearance for the assault charges from the show, Nicholls was diagnosed with Asperger's Syndrome after prompting from his own guitar technician. A form of autism characterized by social deficits and restricted patterns of interest and activity, the diagnosis provided some sort of relief for the confused rocker. 

"Well I spoke to someone," explains Nicholls of the events following the gig. "He was like a really good doctor, a professor or something, and so I talked to him and it kind of made sense of some things. So... yeah I thought it was okay, yeah."

The diagnosis also helped clear matters up with his bandmates, who would sometimes struggle with Nicholls unpredictable behaviour. The frontman plays down the significance

of it all, but there's the sense that with a form of explanation behind him the diagnosis freed him up to carry on with doing what he does best - writing songs and playing music. 

"Well may be [the diagnosis helped within the band] a little bit, ponders Nicholls. "Maybe if the other guys, kind of, you know, didn't understand some things about me. Maybe they still don't understand, maybe that explains it! Yeah, but overall it hasn't really changed things too much."

The Asperger's revelation surprisingly garnered little sympathy from the international media. Where trainwrecks like Pete Doherty are forgiven time and again for drug use and a generally sordid way of life, it appears mental health issues are slightly more difficult for some magazines to overlook. Unfortunately, mental health problems and rock 'n' roll clearly don't mix for some people, yet heavy drug use and disregard for do for others. On a positive note though, while Nicholls doesn't try to blame any of his past behaviour on the issue and clearly doesn't see himself as any kind of spokesman, the matter coming to light in such public fashion definitely helped throw a spotlight on an otherwise little understood condition.