If one were to chart the career trajectory of the Vines, chances are there would be more giddying highs and despairing lows in the Sydneysiders’ first few years of existence than most acts would rack up in an entire career.

The four-piece burst on the scene in 2002 with their debut album, Highly Evolved, and were hailed the world over as rock’n’roll’s saviours, before seeming to plummet from grace with equal haste and drama just a couple of years later.

Frontman Craig Nicholls’ already famously erratic behaviour escalated to new levels of dysfunction by the time of 2004’s Winning Days, with a gruelling tour schedule and label pressures instigating a downward spiral of train-wreck press interviews and increasingly farcical live shows.

Nicholls was subsequently diagnosed with Asperger’s syndrome, a form of autism.

Instead of sending the band on a further decline, the diagnosis instead allowed the group to take stock and get things back to something resembling normalcy once again.

The group’s recovery over the past few years is set to continue with the recent release of its fifth album, Future Primitive, and tours planned for later in the year.

Speaking from the headquarters of the band’s new label Sony, Nicholls seems comfortable in acknowledging his past issues but, with no real treatment or cure for Asperger’s, he also points out his life has changed little since his diagnosis.

“I just don’t like going out as much, ” he says simply yet politely. “I like staying at home writing songs and listening to music. I do think we’re in a place now where we can just do things I feel OK about. But it’s not really a big deal for me.”

While both Nicholls and Rosser declare the band in better shape to tour now than ever, they also know a spanner can be thrown in the works at any time. In 2008, for example, several shows had to be suddenly cancelled due to Nicholls’ troubles with the touring life and Rosser admits to facing wariness from some in the industry.

“There’s always that question ‘Are they going to show up’, they think we’re Guns N’ Roses, ” he laughs. But Rosser also seems to have accepted the roller-coaster nature of Nicholls being the band’s creative source, regardless of just how unpredictable a ride it is.

“I hope that bad stuff never happens again but without a crystal ball it’s pretty hard to say, ” he concedes. “You might wish you can have this really together person who’s also really creative but it doesn’t usually work like that.

"Creative people are usually pretty out-there anyway and Craig’s like that. “You’ve just got to take him as he is.”

SAM JEREMIC

THE PLUG: Future Primitive is out now. The Vines play the Astor Theatre on Wednesday with ticket sales (excluding booking fees) going to Telethon. Doors open 6.30pm. Tickets from BOCS.