What The Hell Happened To... 05.12.08: The Vines - Vision Valley

Posted by Dan Marsicano on 05.12.2008

This week, Dan is taking a look at The Vines, a garage rock band that hit it big in 2002 before fading into obscurity. Vision Valley is the band's largely ignored third release and see the band returning to their roots. What makes Vision Valley one of the most underappreciated albums of 2006?

The Introduction

Welcome back, one and all, to the column that keeps on giving. I'm your host for the next however-long-it-takes-you-to-read-or-skim-it, Dan Marsicano, and I got a great album on display today.

Most of the albums I have looked at are relatively older. However, I do like to look back on albums that may have come out a year or two ago, but were pushed to the wayside, either by this website or by the music press.

The Vines are a band that exploded during that whole big "The" phase in rock. You had The White Stripes, The Strokes, The Hives, The Metallica. Ok, so maybe not the last one, but you know they were thinking about it.

The Vines' debut album, Highly Evolved, was a breakout release for the Australian foursome. Driven by singles "Get Free" and "Outtathaway!," the album would sell over 1.5 million copies worldwide and drove The Vines right into the mainstream. The most famous, or infamous, moment in their career was their appearance on the cover of an October 2002 Rolling Stone, which had the headline "Rock Is Back: Meet The Vines."

After the success of the first album, the band went through hard times, which I will explain later on in the column. Sufficient to say, The Vines are still around, whether anybody listens or not. 2006's Vision Valley was given little to no publicity and the band not being able to tour didn't help matters too much (Why couldn't they tour? Well, that's also later on in the column). The album would only sell less than 8,000 copies in the United States and fell off of the Billboard charts after the first week, where they hit #136.

So, how could a band go from selling over 1.5 million albums to selling less than the average death metal band in less than four years? Let's take a look at Vision Valley and see if I can't find a reason.





The Band

Craig Nicholls-Vocals, Guitars, Keys
Ryan Griffiths-Guitars, Keys, Backing Vocals
Hamish Rosser-Drums, Backing Vocals
Andy Kent-Bass


The Track Listing

1. Anysound-1:56
2. Nothin's Comin'-2:01
3. Candy Daze-1:40
4. Vision Valley-2:42
5. Don't Listen To The Radio-2:10
6. Gross Out-1:18
7. Take Me Back-2:43
8. Going Gone-2:45
9. Fuck Yeh-1:58
10. Futuretarded-1:48
11. Dope Train-2:37
12. Atmos-1:51
13. Spaceship-6:07


The History

In 1994, Sydney teenagers Craig Nicholls and Patrick Matthews met while working at a McDonalds. The two of them played together and formed a three piece band, with Nicholls on vocals and guitar, Matthews on bass, and David Oliffe on the drums. The band was originally called Rishikesh, named after a place in India where the Beatles visited. The name was changed to The Vines after newspapers and people around Australia had a hard time spelling Rishikesh.

The three piece didn't play many live shows during their early years, but wrote about 30 songs for a demo, which got the attention of UK record label XL Recordings (famous for signing The White Stripes). The band gained momentum and went to Los Angeles in July 2001 to begin recording their debut album. During the recording, the pressure of touring and recording got to Oliffe and he left the band before they could finish the album.

A few session drummers came in to finish up a few remaining tracks and The Vines found drummer Hamish Rosser in Australia when they returned in late 2001. The band would finish up recording their debut album, Highly Evolved, in early 2002 and released it in July. While the first single, "Factory," didn't make much of an impact, except in the UK, the second and third single, "Get Free" and "Outtathaway!" helped to gain the band critical and mainstream success. The album would sell well, with the album selling the best in the UK. It got to #11 on the Billboard charts and "Get Free" got to #7 on the Modern Rock Tracks charts.

The band toured successfully behind their album and went back into the studio about a year later to begin to record the follow up to their debut album. In March of 2004, Winning Days was released. The album did not do as well as their debut, with "Ride" being the only American single released. Winning Days charted #23 on the Billboard and #29 in the UK, but the band's popularity was waning.

The band's momentum would shift in May of 2004, when Matthews would walk off the stage during a live show in Sydney. Nicholls went on a tirade in front of the live crowd and assaulted a photographer, with charges being pressed. Matthews left the band immediately following the incident. During the trial, it was revealed that Nicholls had Asperger's Syndrome, which is a mild form of autism that can cause difficulties in social interactions and restrictive/repetitive movements, yet can also enhance visual and audio perceptions. It has caused the band to stop touring almost completely, only making a few appearances from time to time.

The band continued on throughout Nicholls condition, entering the studio in middle of 2005 to work on their third album. Andy Kent of Australian band You Am I filled in on the bass for the album. Vision Valley was finished and released in early April throughout the world, but hardly made a dent in the charts or in the mainstream media, with the exception of their home country.


The Analysis

Vision Valley is a confusing release for the band. The band decided to simplify their music and return to their "garage rock" roots, if you want to call it that. Most of the tracks are under two minutes, with the longest track being the last one. It's not everyday that a mainstream rock band will release an album that is only 30 minutes in length.

The Vines made a wise choice in changing their sound. Winning Days wasn't a bad album, but the band just seemed unmotivated and focused on trying to replicate the success of Highly Evolved (I'm looking at you, "Autumn Shade II"). With Vision Valley, the band was filled with a new found energy, going for hard hitting songs that didn't waste time in getting to the good stuff.

"Anysound" was the first single, and really the only one that made any impact at all in the states. The song is classic Vines, with its catchy riffs and hand claps. Hell, the video is even classic Vines, with a quirky sense of humor:



You got to love stop motion animation.

"Candy Daze" is an instant highlight for me personally, as it is like a modern day Beach Boys song. The song has a surf rock vibe to it and the solo is pure 60's goodness. It is one of the few songs on the album that I wish was longer, as I think the band could have stretched it out another minute or two successfully.

The Vines have been known to have softer tracks (The Autumn Shade songs being the most recognizable) on their albums and Vision Valley doesn't disappoint. Three tracks are purely acoustic driven and shows the maturity of Nicholls's songwriting. The title track brings the strings section out for some background noise, with Nicholls giving one of his best vocal performances of his career. "Take Me Back" has a southern-ting to it, with Nicholls shining again. The only problem I have with the acoustic tracks is the last one, "Going Gone," and its position on the album. Having this track immediately after "Take Me Back" was a bad move, as it slowed the pace of the album down a bit too much in the middle of the album. I would have liked to have seen this track in the middle of "Futuretarded" and "Dope Train."

The band may have matured their songwriting a bit, but that doesn't mean that there aren't any hard hitting tracks. "Gross Out" is the fastest and heaviest song the band has ever done, "Fuck Yeh" has the trademark Nicholls screams that he made famous in "Outtathaway!," and Nicholls channels Jack White in "Dope Train" with a memorable guitar lead at the end.

The highlight of the album is the last two tracks. "Atmos" brings back the Beach Boys vibe before the song turns into a spacey, melodic, almost Pink Floyd-ish ending that leads perfectly into the epic "Spaceship." "Spaceship" is the best song that The Vines has ever written, with the Pink Floyd influence shining through. An acoustic introduction with Nicholls' emotional vocals starts off the track before the track turns into a three minute jam session with Nicholls channeling David Gilmour with a solo that packs a wallop. "Spaceship" is the most progressive the band has ever gotten (not including "1969," but that song wasn't that great anyway).

Earlier in the column, I asked a question about how the band could go from selling 1.5 million copies worldwide and charting in the top 5 in the UK and #11 on the Billboard charts to selling less than 8,000 copies in the US and hardly making a impact anywhere? Personally, I believe that Nicholls' Asperger's Syndrome did harm the band's reputation and ability to promote their album. I remember reading an interview from The Age in Australia in 2004, before Nicholls' condition was made public, where now-former bassist Patrick Matthews was quoted as saying, "There was one (interview) from Kerrang! magazine. It was just him with their photographer and journalist slanging each other. Craig would say, 'Your magazine is crap,' and the journo would say, 'Your record is shit,' and it just degenerated. I knew there was a backlash coming regardless - but we got really horrible press . . . just really bad. Not even like 'Craig's a twat', but really savage language."

If the band had been able to go on radio shows, tour, and had solid backing from their record label, the band might have been able to get some decent sales; or maybe not. Who knows? Maybe The Vines time was up, at least in the United States. I know the band is working on a follow up, Brain Dead, but it is only scheduled to be released in Australia, as of this writing. Maybe that's best for the band; keeping their attention on their home country and working their way back up. There is probably no way that the band will ever be able to do month long tours and hit the road to promote upcoming albums, so The Vines could use the Internet to promote themselves, as most bands seem to be doing that these days. This might be the best option for them in the future.

No matter how the future plays out, Vision Valley is an album that got too much flack from the press and not enough attention from the public. The album is a solid collection of rock songs with a variety of styles being played and the best closing track The Vines have ever performed. The album is going cheap, so if you have wondered what happened to The Vines, or you enjoy a good old-fashioned garage rock album with some acoustic elements thrown in for good measure, Vision Valley will be a compelling listen.


Hell, the album's only 30 minutes long. What do you have to lose?



The Conclusion

Well, that's it for another edition of What The Hell Happened To. Let me know what you think about this week's edition on the bottom, including my use of video for the first time. I'm hoping to add some more videos in from time to time, where I see fit. Don't worry though; I'm not changing the format anytime soon. That's because I way too lazy to change it up.

Next week, I'm getting all metal on you guys with an album that will probably generate no interest from any of you and will leave me with no comments yet again ala Chimaira's self titled album. That's okay though; I know some of you are interested (maybe), so it's going to be an album from Swedish melodic death band Dark Tranquility. So, I'll see all three of you next week for another hardcore edition of What The Hell Happened To!