Pure rock ‘n’ roll sound fertilizes Vines’ growth

Spencer Patterson

Friday, March 28, 2003 | 8:36 a.m.

Who: The Vines with the Music

When: 7 tonight.

Where: House of Blues at Mandalay Bay.

Tickets: $17-$22.

Information: (702) 632-7600.

In September, just two months after releasing their debut album, the Vines appeared on the cover of Rolling Stone.

But bassist Patrick Matthews says he didn't realize he had achieved celebrity status until he and singer/guitarist Craig Nicholls started making gossip page headlines in their native Australia.

"Bands make it really big from all parts of the world in America all the time, and just because we're from Australia doesn't make for news over here," Matthews said in a telephone interview from his dressing room before a recent gig in Seattle.

"But back in Australia, we were in the Sunday paper gossip section, saying that me and Craig had a fight in Boston and the band was breaking up. The next Sunday, we were in the paper again, saying we weren't breaking up. Like we're well known enough to warrant being in the Sunday papers (laughs)."

Today the Vines perform in Las Vegas for the first time, teaming with opening act the Music for a 7 p.m. show at the House of Blues at Mandalay Bay.

Though Matthews, 27, and Nichols, 25, have been playing together for more than eight years -- a stretch that dates back to their days as fellow employees at a Sydney-area McDonald's -- the duo's meteoric rise to success actually began in the summer of 2001.

That's when they teamed up with drummer David Olliffe to record the 12 tracks that would later become "Highly Evolved," the Vines' 2002 Capitol Records' debut. Soon after Olliffe left the band. He was replaced by drummer Hamish Rosser, with second guitarist Ryan Griffiths also joining the lineup.

Before long critics were hailing the Vines as the rock music's latest saviors. Rolling Stone's cover proclaimed, "Meet the Vines. Rock is Back!" and lumped the Australian quartet with buzz bands the Strokes, the White Stripes and the Hives.

Though such comparisons do not hold up upon examination of the four bands' music, Matthews indicated that they may be more accurate before long. The band has already started work on its new album, and while Nicholls has hinted publicly he would like to experiment with elements of electronica, the Vines' bassist said he would prefer to go in another direction.

"I'd like to make it even less produced than the first one. It's not like I want to copy the White Stripes or the Strokes, but I really like how those records sound," Matthews said. "We've been doing a little bit of recording on a digital eight-track in our basement, just by ourselves, going through songs and trying to work out parts."

The Vines have also been christened the "new Nirvana," particularly by the British press, which views the charismatic, shaggy-haired Nicholls as a modern day Kurt Cobain.

Several songs on "Highly Evolved" do indeed sound as though they might have been recorded by that Seattle trio in the early 1990s. The title track, "Outtathaway," and "Get Free" -- the single that exposed the Vines to MTV audiences -- have a decidedly grungey feel, and Nicholls' vocals do evoke memories of Cobain's trademark sound.

Matthews isn't so sure, however.

"I guess Nirvana was Craig's favorite band. They were why he started playing guitar," Matthews said. "But if you analyze it on a technical music level, I don't think there's that much similarity, except for maybe the distorted guitar. I reckon our rhythm section has always had a much more '60s sort of beat thing going."

Indeed, songs such as "Autumn Shade," "Homesick," "Country Yard" and "Mary Jane" sound more like Beatles leftovers than anything recorded by Nirvana. Melodies spiral pleasantly over acoustic guitars and piano lines, as Nicholls shows off the graceful side of his captivating voice.

The Beatles' influence could be even more present on future Vines' recordings, thanks to the presence of Rosser. The drummer spent two years playing songs by the Fab Four, along with fellow British pop outfit the Kinks, during a two-year stint with a Reno-based cover band.

"I think they were called the Sixties Experience or something," Matthews said. "They were all Australians, but they lived in Nevada. He was back home in Australia for the Christmas holidays, and we put an ad in the paper for a drummer in November of 2001."

Matthews said that along with improving the band's live sound, the addition of Rosser and Griffiths has lessened some of his own responsibilities. During the band's early days, he spent part of his time looking after Nicholls, who has already earned a reputation as one of rock music's freest spirits.

But these days, regardless of what Australia's gossip writers might think, Matthews and Nicholls see eye to eye more often than not. And that's good news for Vines fans hoping the band will continue churning out tunes for years to come.

"We've gone through the stage where it's like, 'I can't believe I had the bad fortune to end up in your band.' But that was a while ago," Matthews said. "It's just weird when anyone gets successful, and you go from now having to spend much time with each other to being in each other's pockets.

"I guess, in the end, it's why bands don't stay together forever. You're putting aside your differences to make something."