Highlights From The Age’s Interview With The Vines

Remember when we all thought The Vines were the saviours of rock’n'roll, and that Craig Nicholls was the crazy genius reincarnation of, like, Kurt Cobain and John Lennon?

Yeah, we got over that fairly quickly, but as you will have noticed (possibly), they are back from wherever it was they got to, and it’s good to see that Nicholls hasn’t dropped his “I’m crazy, me!” routine (and before the forum trolls open a can of binary whup ass on me, I know he has Aspergers, but its symptoms don’t include “acting like a complete twonk in interviews”, last time I checked).

From Andrew Murfett’s interview with the band, in today’s Age EG:

Nicholls’ demeanour is colourful to say the least. He doesn’t hide his distrust of journalists and is reluctant to engage in interviews; if uncomfortable with a question, he puts on a flamboyant pair of sunglasses and spews a rambling answer. Nor is he averse to playing the clown – at one point during our interview he flings himself out of in his chair and begins writhing on the ground. His bandmates cringe and laugh uproariously.

Zany!

At the shoot, he takes direction without complaint, but when a break is called, he stands defiantly in the middle of the hall and lights a cigarette. “Hey, please write in your story that I’m tough and a rebel,” he says, as he proudly flouts the room’s non-smoking rules.

Quirky!

And as the crew packs up at Parramatta, Craig Nicholls has one more thing to add.

“I’m sorry that I swore, and for everything else,” he says. “But I thought it would make me sound tough.”

Oddly adorable!

But the best part of the whole interview is actually the photo, and specifically, the look on “new” bassist Brad Heald’s face:

It says, “Jeez, what did your last bassist quit for? Oh, right. Gotcha.”