Craig Nicholls

Craig Nicholls
Craig Nicholls of The Vines Homebake, Sydney, December 2003
Background information
Birth name	Craig Robert Nicholls
Born	31 August 1977 (1977-08-31) (age 34)
Origin	Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
Genres	Alternative rock, Garage rock revival, Post-grunge, Grunge (early), Indie rock, Neo-psychedelia, Garage punk
Occupations	Musician, artist, songwriter
Instruments	Electric, acoustic and bass guitars, vocals, keyboards
Years active	1999–present
Associated acts	Rishikesh, The Vines
Notable instruments
Fender Stratocaster, Garage Spalt & Scala Custom

Craig Robert Nicholls, (born 31 August 1977) is the lead singer, songwriter and guitarist of the Australian alternative rock group The Vines. He formed the band in 1994 in Sydney, New South Wales. In late 2004, he was diagnosed with Asperger syndrome, a neurological disorder of the autism spectrum.

Early days

Craig Robert Nicholls was born on 31 August 1977 and grew up in Sydney, New South Wales.^[1] Terry Nicholls, his father, was the guitarist and vocalist in a 1960s group, The Vynes.^[2] Later Terry worked as an accountant for Sony Music Australia.^[2] Nicholls' older brother is Matt, he has an older sister and a younger sister, Jessica.^[3][4][5] Terry taught him to play guitar during childhood.^[2][6] He preferred listening to The Beatles, painting art works and skateboarding. He grew up as "a loner... I never socialized. I stayed at home and listened to music all day. Music became a mystical world".^[2]

Nicholls attended Marist College Penshurst until he dropped out of high school during Year 10.^[2] He enrolled in an art school for six months to study painting.^[2][7] He supported his ambition to be a musician by working in a fast food service job at a local McDonald's restaurant in South Hurstville.^[2][8] There he met future band mates, bass guitarist, Patrick Matthews and drummer, David Oliffe.^[6] To form a quartet named Rishikesh, Nicholls invited his school-mate Ryan Griffiths to join on guitar. Nicholls provided the band's name, Rishikesh, from the city in India where The Beatles had attended an ashram.^[6][9] Reviewing early gigs, newspapers would misprint the name as 'Rishi Chasms', so Nicholls decided to change it to The Vines – a reference to his father's group.

Nicholls had never written songs until The Vines started playing gigs. Early performances included playing for backyard parties, and a regular spot on a local radio station. They gathered a following in Sydney and eventually reached the notice of Capitol Records. Once he started writing songs, he loved it and continued to write more, the writing was a good outlet for him.^[3] Nicholls wrote "Factory",^[10] the band's first single, which became NME's Single of the Week in November 2001.^[11] At the ARIA Music Awards of 2002, The Vines won 'Best Breakthrough Artist - Single' for "Get Free", which was also written by Nicholls.^[12][13] At the APRA Awards of 2003 he won the 'Breakthrough Songwriter Award'.^[14]

Several of Nicholls' paintings are used for The Vines' releases including for the albums Highly Evolved, Winning Days (self portrait only), and singles "Highly Evolved", and "Outtathaway!". Nicholls' work on Highly Evolved was nominated for "Best Cover Art" at the 2002 ARIA Awards.^[12][15]

Asperger syndrome

By 2002 Craig Nicholls had gained a reputation as an erratic performer.^[7][16] He was a heavy user of marijuana via his bong.^[2] In August, The Vines' performed "Get Free" on Late Show with David Letterman with Nicholls trashing Hamish Rosser's drum kit.^[17] In December, they were prevented from performing on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno after Nicholls damaged the set during a rehearsal.^[18] His behaviour was seen as "a sign of stress and mental exhaustion."^[8]

Nicholls with The Vines, Chicago, March 2004.

Late in May 2004, The Vines appeared at a promotional show for Triple M radio, where Nicholls bleated at the audience and demanded they not talk during their performance. When he heard a laugh, he said to the crowd, "Why the fuck are you laughing? You're all a bunch of sheep. Can you go baa?".^[3][17] An official photographer, Janie Barrett, snapped a picture of Nicholls who allegedly kicked out at her, smashing her camera.^[8][17] As a result, Matthews left the stage and never played with The Vines again (he later joined Youth Group) and Triple M banned the group's music from being broadcast by their station.^[3][8] Subsequent performances on their Australian, United States and European tours to promote their second album, Winning Days were cancelled.^[4][17]

In November, Nicholls faced assault and malicious damage charges at Balmain Local Court in Sydney,^[19] he was accompanied by his brother Matt, and his manager and friend Andy Kelly.^[4] It was revealed that Nicholls has Asperger syndrome, which is a neurological disorder of the autism spectrum.^[19]

His condition had been suspected by Nicholls' guitar technician, English road crew veteran Tony Bateman, who had toured with The Cure, The Sisters of Mercy and Black Sabbath.^[3] Bateman felt there was something clinically different with Nicholls and downloaded information about Asperger syndrome, handing it over to Kelly.^[3] Professor Tony Attwood, an austism spectrum disorders specialist, confirmed the diagnosis after seeing Nicholls and his family in August.^[4] The judge dropped all charges against Nicholls on the condition that he seek immediate treatment. Nicholls yelled "I'm free!" upon leaving the courthouse.^[19] He was under medical treatment and therapy for six months, he gave up his intake of fast food and marijuana habit.^[3][20] He has spoken about his condition in subsequent interviews.^[3][20]

In November 2008, The Vines cancelled shows in Australia and Japan due to Nicholls' mental health having deteriorated over the previous month and he required further help.^[21]

Musical equipment

Craig Nicholls' Highly Evolved days live set-up included a Marshall Super Lead head and cab with a black Fender Stratocaster. His amp was set on a clean tone and for lead and distortion tones he would use a Boss MT-2 pedal. He also used a Boss Chorus pedal for clean tones and for oscillating feedback. His Winning Days set-up was very similar except he used a Garage Spalt & Scala Custom guitar and a Boss tremolo and flange pedal. The Vision Valley set-up however changed as he was using a white Stratocaster and a Sunn head and cab and for the Melodia set-up his amp, pedals and guitar has remained the same. Nicholls has also always used a Boss TU-2 tuner and has played occasionally a Gibson SG and Guild acoustic guitars. As of late 2010, Nicholls has gone back to using a black Fender Stratocaster.

References

1. ^ "Today in History for 31st August 1977". HistoryOrb. Bruce T. Goldman. http://www.historyorb.com/date/1977/august/31. Retrieved 2 September 2011. 
2. ^ ^{a b c d e f g h} Sheffield, Rob (19 September 2002). "The Vines". Rolling Stone (Jann Wenner) (905). Archived from the original on 9 June 2008. http://web.archive.org/web/20080609233335/http://www.rollingstone.com/news/story/5938755/the_vines/print. Retrieved 2 September 2011. 
3. ^ ^{a b c d e f g h} McLean, Craig (5 March 2006). "Stop Making Sense". The Guardian (Guardian Media Group). http://arts.guardian.co.uk/features/story/0,,1723555,00.html. Retrieved 31 August 2011. 
4. ^ ^{a b c d} McCabe, Kathy (20 November 2004). "Star's Secret Agony". The Daily Telegraph (News Corporation (News Limited)). 
5. ^ Cashmere, Time (17 October 2010). "Vines Singer Joins Smashing Pumpkins in Sydney". Undercover (Paul Cashmere, Ros O’Gorman). http://www.undercover.fm/news/12481-vines-singer-joins-smashing-pumpkins-in-sydney. Retrieved 3 September 2011. 
6. ^ ^{a b c} "Guest Programmers & Specials – The Vines". rage. Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC). 5 October 2002. http://www.abc.net.au/rage/guest/2002/vines.htm. Retrieved 31 August 2011. 
7. ^ ^{a b} Jelbert, Steve (5 July 2002). "Craig Nicholls: Vine Language". The Independent (Independent Print Limited). http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/music/features/craig-nicholls-vine-language-647280.html?service=Print. Retrieved 1 September 2011. 
8. ^ ^{a b c d} Sams, Christine (6 June 2004). "Help Me, I'm a Pop Star". The Sydney Morning Herald (Fairfax Media). http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2004/06/06/1086460172060.html. Retrieved 1 September 2011. 
9. ^ Saltzman, Paul (2000). The Beatles in India. Penguin Studio Books. ISBN 0670892610. Archived from the original on 12 May 2008. http://web.archive.org/web/20080703181131/http://www.thebeatlesinrishikesh.com/stories/beatlesmedit.html. Retrieved 1 September 2011. 
10. ^ "Factory". ASCAP ACE Title Search. American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP). http://www.ascap.com/ace/search.cfm?requesttimeout=300&mode=results&searchstr=360530463&search_in=i&search_type=exact&search_det=t,s,w,p,b,v&results_pp=25&start=1. Retrieved 31 August 2011. 
11. ^ "NME Lists – Singles of the Week from 2001". NME (IPC Media (Time Inc.)). 28 January 2006. Archived from the original on 29 June 2006. http://web.archive.org/web/20060629130948/http://rocklistmusic.co.uk/2001.htm. Retrieved 31 August 2011. 
12. ^ ^{a b} "Winners by Artist: Vines, The". ARIA Awards 2010 : History. Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA). http://www.ariaawards.com.au/history-by-artist.php?letter=V&artist=Vines%20%20The. Retrieved 2 Semptember 2011. 
13. ^ "Get Free". ASCAP ACE Title Search. American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP). http://www.ascap.com/ace/search.cfm?requesttimeout=300&mode=results&searchstr=370406007&search_in=i&search_type=exact&search_det=t,s,w,p,b,v&results_pp=25&start=1. Retrieved 2 September 2011. 
14. ^ "2003 Winners - APRA Music Awards". Australasian Performing Right Association (APRA). http://www.apra-amcos.com.au/APRAAwards/MusicAwards/History/2003Winners.aspx. Retrieved 16 November 2010. 
15. ^ "2002: 16th Annual ARIA Awards". ARIA Awards – History: Winners by Year. Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA). http://www.ariaawards.com.au/history-by-year.php?year=2002. Retrieved 5 December 2009. 
16. ^ Leahey, Andrew. "The Vines". Allmusic. Rovi Corporation. http://www.allmusic.com/artist/p390806/biography. Retrieved 2 September 2011. 
17. ^ ^{a b c d} Jinman, Richard (5 June 2004). "Vines in a Tangle". The Age (Fairfax Media). http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2004/06/04/1086203626657.html. Retrieved 3 September 2011. 
18. ^ Boucher, Geoff (11 December 2002). "Rowdy Vines Get Cut from 'Jay Leno'". Los Angeles Times (Tribune Company). http://articles.latimes.com/2002/dec/11/entertainment/et-quick11.1. Retrieved 3 September 2011. 
19. ^ ^{a b c} "Vines Singer Diagnosis Revealed". NME (IPC Media (Time Inc)). 19 November 2004. http://www.nme.com/news/vines/18584. Retrieved 2 September 2011. 
20. ^ ^{a b} Oldham, James. "The Vines". Mushroom Records. http://www.mushroommusic.com.au/songwriters/61/vines-the. Retrieved 2007-06-10. 
21. ^ "The Vines Cancel Tours Due to Singer's Asperger's Syndrome". NME (IPC Media (Time Inc)). 17 November 2008. http://www.nme.com/news/the-vines/41119. Retrieved 3 September 2011. 

External links

• Official website
• The Vines Official Fan Club
• Craig Nicholls at the Internet Movie Database

Persondata
Name	Nicholls, Craig
Alternative names
Short description	Australian rock musician
Date of birth	31 August 1977
Place of birth	Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
Date of death
Place of death