The Vines’ sixth studio album, Wicked Nature is a two-part, 22-song manifesto from the trenches (from a “Green Utopia” in Sydney suburbia). It’s cathartic and defiant, a portal to truth in a world turned upside down and inside out. No special effects. No trickery or inhibitions or slight of hand. It doesn’t get more real than this.
I’m pretty much against everything,” explains Craig Nicholls – The Vines frontman, guitarist and songwriter – citing the source (and the anti-source) of his inspiration. “No computers, no mobile phones, no cars, no women. No nothing. I just want to evaporate. Which puts me very much in the minority. It's okay – I can't really change it. It’s just very weird.”
Which explains why, on one level, Wicked Nature is rock & roll, pure and simple – a guitar, bass, drums and voice in a room together, recording straight to tape. There’s plenty of adrenalin and angst – several songs barely break the 90-second barrier-while others sound like spiritual symphonies. The overall effect is magical and astral.
Wicked Nature formally unveils The Vines new line-up. Craig Nicholls is out front, as always, and he’s now backed by the talents of Tim John on bass and Lachy West on drums. Meaning The Vines is a trio again, just like it was in the first place.
Wicked Nature Pt 1 was recorded with ARIA-award-winning producer Paul McKercher [You Am I, Augie March] in Sydney’s Rancom Studios. It was while the band was mixing Pt 1 that they jammed up the songs for Pt 2. The trio then headed across town to the cosier confines of Jungle Studios with in- house engineer Lachlan Mitchell where they recorded and mixed Pt 2 in five days – that’s two songs a day.
So here is the debut recording from the new The Vines. A double-album spilling over with melodies and ideas and attitude, Wicked Nature is very much a work in two parts.