While Australian rock outfit the Vines winds down Stateside touring commitments for its Capitol debut disc, “Highly Evolved,” bassist Patrick Matthews admits to Billboard.com the foursome is already looking ahead to its sophomore release. “Everybody talks about the really hi-fi, but I want to do it mid-fi,” says Matthews. “There are those things about recording in a non hi-fi manner that are cool and energetic that I want to capture. Just something exciting and visceral.”
Matthews hopes the new album will be released in the latter part of 2003, but in the meantime, there is still some life left in “Highly Evolved,” which has sold 486,000 copies in the U.S., according to Nielsen SoundScan. Apropos to the band’s current mindset, the track “Homesick” may be released as the third single from the set. Matthews discloses that after a year of incessant touring, the Vines — particularly unpredictably charismatic singer/guitarist Craig Nicholls — are near their wits’ end.
“I guess certain things happen, sound checks go badly, and you think, ‘Oh god, the whole thing is going to fall apart unless we get some time off,'” Matthews explains. “I’ve been saying that for a while and maybe it’s not true. It felt like that after the first U.S. tour [we spent] an unlimited time on the road, but we’ve kept it together so far. It always has felt like if we push it too hard, it will just blow up.”
Unfortunately, there will be no rest for Matthews and his mates in the near future. As previously reported, the Vines will participate in their homeland’s Big Day Out festival after the first of the year as well as short tour of Japan.
The group hits Pittsburgh tonight (Nov. 20) and wraps things up Dec. 17 in Detroit. The Vines have been testing out new songs such as “F*** the World,” “Evil Town,” and “Amnesia,” rotating the B-sides “John the Baptist” and “Sun Child,” and even working in a cover of Outkast’s “Ms. Jackson.”
“Maybe we’ve reached the level where we are entertainers now, but we haven’t really,” Matthews concedes. “Something is happening on stage that we can’t really put our finger on. It’s exciting, it’s real.”
