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NOTICE: This website is not an official Vines website and the band do not endorse any of the opinions or comments made within.

 

DESIGN : John Paul Cooling

Special thanks to Robin at Heavenly and the Olliffe brothers for all their help.

Forthcoming Releases: [uk] : Get Free CD Single - 17/06/02 (1. Get Free 2. Down at the Club 3. Hot Leather) 7" Vinyl (A - Get Free B Side - Blues Riff) Highly Evolved Album - [uk] : 08/07/02 : [aus] : 10/06/02 : [usa] : 16/07/02

Forthcoming Gigs: [uk] June 22nd - Sheffield Leadmill : June 23rd - Manchester Uni : June 24th - Glasgow QMU : June 26th - Liverpool Uni : June 27th - Leeds Cockpit

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  
 
 
INTERVIEWS :: Questions asked by J.P.Cooling
Interview with Patrick Matthews 29/05/02
 
Here's the guff I spouted and this is what he said back to me.
 
 
Q - First of all let's start with your tour of America. You said earlier that making America notice is always a challenge. How is it going? Are they beginning to take notice?

A - Things are going quite well for us here considering our situation as a brand new band to mostly everyone. We’re on the radio here and there. We’re playing to at least a few hundred people at the shows we’ve done. If anyone does make the effort to come see us they’ve probably only heard the song a few times on the radio and that’s it. So I’m impressed with their endeavour really.

Q - Which gig, over the past three months, would you consider the most memorable and why? Likewise which would you say was the band's best overall performance?

A - The Coachella show in Palm Springs about 3 weeks ago was quite memorable.
It was a bloody lovely day followed by a very fraught evening concert. I thought Craig might have exploded during the first song. I forgot to sing in some parts because I was just looking at him turning a redder shade of red.
We played pretty well in Oxford the last time we were in England

Q - Have you met any of your music heroes on your travels? If so, who made the biggest impression?

A - Mickey Quinn from the Grass impressed me with his easygoing normality. In contrast his bass-playing is just liquid flamboyance.

Q - The MP3 phenomenon has caused serious problems for Oasis and Eminem in recent weeks. Your album was free for download months before the planned release. How do you feel about this. How damaging is it?

A - What can you do? I’m fairly confident that people still want the artwork that comes with the CD. I also think that the fact that the songs are out there is beneficial for the live shows where otherwise we’d be playing to a room full of people who’d only read about us in the NME.

Q - Which Vines track would you consider to be your favourite and why?

A - I like Homesick. Craig likes Mary Jane. I think Homesick sounds classic in a Glen Campbell type way.

Q - What are the benefits of being in a Rock and Roll band?

A - You get free CD’s, you can see other bands from side of stage at festivals and you can see them for free in clubs when you get the record company to pull strings, you don’t have to get up early and you can involve your higher self in an endeavour which means you can leave the grim asphalt behind in the so called “real” world.

Q - The delivery and 'style' on the new album is very different to the A# sessions you did with Glenn Santry (which was very reminiscent of The Stone Roses, especially on the track 'Rainfall'). It was more of an 'English' sound, if there is such a thing. Was there a conscious decision to move away from that?

A - I think Winning Days and Rainfall sound English – production aside.
Perhaps Rob Schnapf as an American wasn’t attracted to recording them. We had about 18 or 19 songs under consideration in pre-production stage and some got left unrecorded.

Q - Who would you consider to be the most 'important' musical act of the the nineties?

A - Hootie and the Blowfish. Craig the poor misguided fool thinks it’s Nirvana

Q - Did you get to meet the Gallaghers during your Top of The Pop performance?

A - I met Liam later at Coachella. Someone introduced me. He said “ ‘eard your bands cool man”. Then he started raving about fuck knows what.

Q - You recently said that you can't watch decent cricket in England wrongly. Are you often wrong?

A - I’m sorry, someone must have put something in my drink.

Q - Someone once said that if you placed an infinite amount of monkeys in a small room with a keyboard eventually they would compose the theme to Titanic by Celine Dion. Should these monkeys be destroyed?

A - These so-called monkeys should be forced to hunt down Celine Dion in a future where simians are our overlords.

Q - We hear Craig had a panic attack before the Coachella gig. It must have been awful, is he fine now? What caused it?

A - I think it was worse for the NME journalist

Q - I understand you left University to tour with the Vines. Were you ever under any pressure to get a 'proper job' before it become possible that the band might actually make it big?

A - I had a proper job for a year. I wish I’d gone to art school like the Beatles or The Clash so I was unqualified for anything.

Q - Who is the most fascinating person you have ever met?

A - Our manager Andy Kelly. Never lost for a joke.

Q - If you could have an all time 'fantasy' band who would be in it? (and you can't say Craig, Patrick and Hamish..that's cheating)

A - Sing – John Lennon
Keys – Eno
Guitar – John Squire
Bass – Geezer
Drums – Dave Grohl

Q - Which band or musician has had the most influence on you personally?

A - Beatles and in particular Paul

Q - Can you name the greatest band, artist, album and song of all time?

A - Beatles, Hendrix, first Roses record, Plastic Man by the Kinks


Q - Is being compared to Nirvana a good thing or one big pain in the arse?


A - It could be worse


Q - Who is the second greatest band in the World at the moment?


A - N.E.R.D.


Q - Has anybody we may have heard of worked with you on the new album and have any others offered their services for the next album?

A - It’s only been us so far working on the record


Q - Where do you see the Vines in ten years time?


A - Turning tricks in bus shelters for pocket change.


Q - Describe the Vines using one word.


A - Mugatu
 
 
Interview with David Olliffe 23/03/02 (edited)
 
I asked Vines drummer David Olliffe a few questions and this is what he had to say for himself:


Q - First of all lets get the obvious question out of the way. You have been temporarily replaced as drummer, what is the situation and when will you be rejoining the band?


A - I'm still a full time member, although I'm not getting paid. I'll probably rejoin the band for the Australian tour during the middle of the year. In the meantime I'm working on the next album, which shouldn't be too long in coming. I'm also an artist so I've been spending most of my time working and getting high, usually at the same time.


Q - Can you tell me a little about how long the Vines have been together, how it started and how you all met?


A - We started roughly 7 years ago. None of us could really play, so we just kept at it. We were listening to a lot of Nirvana and You am I at the time, which kinda shows. We focussed on song writing from the outset. Now we probably have about 100 songs on tape. Patrick and I met at high school, while Patrick worked with Craig at Mcdonalds. Eventually we played at friends parties and pubs around Sydney. We won the Sydney Uni band competition in 2000, and toured Australia with You Am I last year.


Q - 1969, from the forthcoming album, has been hailed a classic already. You co-wrote it, so well done to you for that sir...what's the song all about?


A - The song started out as a Dylanesque folk song about an American conscript on his way to Vietnam. It's probably more about me, but I like to have a reference point. Craig wrote the second half after the breakdown. It's definitely going for that Verve 'Northern Soul' feel.


Q - You commented earlier on the 'much rawer' versions of your songs and how they were 'more exciting in some ways' at the demo stage. Have you been involved in the finished recordings of the songs you have been playing with the band for years and in a few case co-written? Either way,how pleased are you with them?


A - The demos always blow my mind when Craig gives them up, he's much more prolific than I am, and certainly has a bigger ego. I didn't have any real input in the finished album.nb.(David plays on eight of the tracks on the album)


Q - You are in a Rock and Roll band but have any of you ever lived the 'Rock and Roll' lifestyle? Any Liam Gallagher style tantrums? Attacking old ladies with a big stick and so on..


A - We never stopped living the lifestyle, which got us where we are today. If you want to be an artist you need to totally focus on your craft despite the cynicism you get from everyone. The whole philosophy behind the vines is to get people away from the television and stop believing the bullshit you see on American TV. We're gonna bring down the government, the hypocrisy, and the whole rotten system. That doesn't mean we don't want to just make rock and roll records, its just we've got a lot of time on our hands.


Q - Which would you rather have given a choice between the two; respect and a place in history for your work but with poor sales, or a 'pop' status with 80 million in the bank? i.e. Velvet Underground or U2? And remember you have to choose one or the other.


A - I'd choose the former any day. But why not have both? The music scene is so shit now, because record companies keep pushing the next Britney Spears, like the virgin whores are standing in line. I love the Velvet Underground. One of our earliest covers was of Here She Comes. The stooges probably makes more sense.


Q - Name the greatest Australian band.


A - The Church


Q - Name the greatest British band.


A - The Verve


Q - Name the greatest band.


A - The Jimi Hendrix Experience


Q - Which song do you wish you had written?


A - Strawberry Fields Forever


Q - The music scene in 2002 seems to have improved vastly when compared to the last five years of crap. Why do you think this is? Will the events of September 11th have a massive impact on rock and roll?


A - Well, music always goes in cycles, so its always a matter of time. Bands seem to have a new generation of influences (post Nirvana) which has led to the rise of the underground. Instead of typical 60s retroism, people are talking about Television, Nick Drake, The Stooges etc. Music always reflects the prevailing mood and culture. Undoubtedly September eleven will change the world forever, for better or worse.


Q - When was the last time you played with the Vines and what is your favourite memory?


A - I last played with the band while they were rehearsing for the current tour. I last played live at the Viper Room where the record company cunts took the knives out. But how long does thirty pieces of silver last for?


Q - Which is your favourite song on the new album?


A - I'm not trying to be egotistical but I like 1969 the most. In the Jungle is the sentimental favourite, and in my book is the best song Craig ever wrote. Then there's Winning Days, but we can't go into that.


Q - I recently watched a film called 'Chopper', he's Australian too..it's great isn't it? He cut his own ears off you know.


A - Chopper's an Australian icon from the underworld. I like him a lot


Q - Who has inspired you the most in what you do?


A - Tim Rogers (You Am I) and Richard Ashcroft probably sum up the way I feel.


Q - Was Harold Larwood (the Silent Killer) 'out of order' in the 1932-33 'Bodyline' series or simply an opportunist?


A - He was both. But who can ever deny Bradman?


Q - What is the most memorable gig you have played? and have you ever gone down 'badly'?


A - An earlier gig at this Sydney pub called the hopetoun. I think it was the first time we ever sounded and played like a real band. We played a semi final at the Sydney Uni bandcomp out of tune. We won anyway.


Q - What have you got planned for the future?


A - I'm hoping to record my own album soon in the time I've got off. For the rest of the time I'll keep doing art and tending to the rain forest I built in my backyard.


Q - Do you have any hilarious anecdotes?


A - At a friends party we played our set twice because we were so bad the first time. No one seemed to care, bombed out on acid and such. This also recalls the "mansize rooster" incident which Patrick forced me to play despite the fact we never practiced the song. Needless to say it broke down suddenly, and strong language was used by all concerned.


Q - And finally, what's the strangest thing that has ever happened to you?


A - Being in The Vines