It’s a slow climb back to the top: just ask The Vines. The Sydney band – who were crowned the saviours of rock and whose debut album, Highly Evolved, went double platinum in Australia – were unable to maintain their success; factor in a frontman living on a diet of drugs and junk food and it could have been the beginning of the end. But this time, with fifth album Future Primitive ready to go, they are in for the long haul.

Back for good

It’s a grey and windy April afternoon when FHM meets The Vines in Melbourne, where the band are heading for drinks at restaurant after performing at the National Youth Week launch. Guitarist Ryan Griffiths, bassist Brad Heald and drummer Hamish Rosser walk ahead, but frontman Craig Nicholls is stopped by a gushing Japanese fan; Nicholls seems as overwhelmed by events as the admirer.

This endearing exchange may not have been possible a few years ago. Following the success of the group’s first record – and their follow up, 2004’s Winning Days – life on the road started to take its toll and Nicholls’ substance abuse was at its peak.

Overcoming his well-publicised battles with a drug addiction, Nicholls was eventually diagnosed with Asperger’s Syndrome, but not before smashing a photographer’s camera during a Triple M-sponsored gig, effectively cementing The Vines place in the book of rock’n’roll urban legends for their frontman’s wild behaviour.

The band is still banned from Triple M playlists, but Rosser seems to regard that as a badge of honour. “The press can be cruel sometimes,” he adds. “We did this interview in LA and the interviewer was a nice guy and we thought it went well, then the editors obviously told him what spin to put on it and they just roped us.”

From all the newspaper reports outlining Nicholls’ demise – including trashing hotel rooms and locking himself in a bathroom for 90 minutes after destroying a reporter’s tape recorder – it’s easy for a journalist to view the meeting with some trepidation. But any initial reluctance is quickly dispelled by Nicholls, who’s now a friendly, reformed frontman with a buoyant personality. And he’s kicked the drug habit. “There is only one herb we like,” he says, “and that’s garlic.”

All you need is love

Earlier that day, The Vines opened their four-song set for the Youth Week concert with their new single, Gimme Love. All eyes were on the formerly spaced-out frontman, but a polite and humble Nicholls took the stage. The audience – most would have been at primary school when Highly Evolved dropped in 2002 – lapped it up.

By the time they played Ride – song number three of the set – the chemistry between the band mates was palpable, and Nicholls was bounding along the stage. He uttered a cautious “Thank you for coming,” before the band ended with the explosive Get Free, dating back nine years to when they were touted as “the future of rock music” by music critics, who compared them to The Strokes and The White Stripes.

Cocooned from their success – even though they were the first Aussie band to grace the cover of Rolling Stone in the US since Men At Work back in 1983 – The Vines just kept doing what they do best: playing hard-hitting garage rock.

The American dream

“We weren’t saying we were the saviours,” says Nicholls. “You’re kind of thinking about it in your head, but you’re doing it because you’re ambitious. It was all positive to me – maybe I have a big ego. It would have been very disappointing if we put the album out and it had not been big in America, because we recorded it there.”

America may now be ambivalent to the foursome, but the band are willing to give it another crack this year on the back of Future Primitive. If that’s going to happen it will be because of Nicholls, who is clearly the driving force behind the band.

Since the finishing touches have been made on their new album, he has changed the track listing several times before the official release, swinging its final playing time between 30 and 33 minutes. He wants the world to hear the band’s reintroduction as he envisions it, and make sure everyone knows their future is solid, where once it might have been up in the air.

“If we wanted to throw in the towel it would have already happened,” Rosser says. “We’re here because we want to be. There were times where it wasn’t working, but we’d take some time out and get ourselves together.”

“We were waiting for Craig to sort himself out,” says Griffiths. “I knew we were going to be recording and playing again at some time.”

Nicholls explains further. “We made the first album and toured that, then made the second album straight away, then had a monster tour. I wasn’t enjoying it: it was like a job. They were exciting times, but after that time – which was the craziest – we’ve never done that again.”

High on life

After some time apart, The Vines were determined to get back to making music. Nicholls started to work on what would become Future Primitive in early 2009, and Rosser and Heald spent a couple of weeks surfing. In between time, they performed a handful of opening slots on Powderfinger’s farewell tour and played at this year’s Big Day Out. For all that has happened, Nicholls has learnt to deal with notoriety.

“I was taking a lot of drugs before [the fame] and then, with the band, we were always travelling and the drugs were always around. It was crazy. But I don’t take any now – I’ve been sober two years,” Nicholls says, taking a sip of his bourbon and Coke. His band mates erupt into laughter. “That was true!” Nicholls exclaims.

“Unintentionally, I started living the life [of a rock star],” he says. “I was never in that position before: I was always into songwriting and recording. But then there were drugs and it got kind of crazy, but I don’t regret any of it. It was a mad experience.”

Future Primitive is out June 7.