[3][4] Originally called "Rishikesh", a name suggested by Olliffe, which refers to the Indian city where the Beatles visited an ashram in 1968,[5] they played a couple of small gigs in pubs.

[6][7] In October 1994, Patrick, Craig and David played their first gig as The Vines at an 18th birthday party at South Hurstville RSL Memorial Bowling Club.

[2] In April 1999, The Vines entered a studio for the first time to record their debut demos with high-school friend Glenn Santry as the engineer.

[8][10][11] In 2000, the "In the Jungle" demo was played on FBi Radio Sydney, catching the ear of Ivy League Records' Andy Cassell.

Ivy League's management company Winterman and Goldstein soon signed The Vines and encouraged them to record further demos and play more shows.

During their gigs, the band gave away 5-track demo CDs featuring early recordings of songs like "Highly Evolved" and "Mary Jane".

[2][8] In the same year, their Australia debut single "Hot Leather/Sunchild" was released through independent label Illustrious Artists, run by Russell Hopkinson from You Am I.

[8][17] Impressed by their potential, Engineroom signed the band, funded the recording of more demos and negotiated deals with British and American labels, bypassing Australia.

[20][21] In July 2001, the band flew to Los Angeles, to begin recording their debut album, Highly Evolved, with Schnapf at Sunset Sound Studios.

[6] Faced with pressure from the label, David Olliffe returned to Australia halfway through the recording, leading to the recruitment of session players such as Joey Waronker and Pete Thomas.

[1] In August, 2002, The band played high-profile slots on the Late Show with David Letterman[28][29] and the MTV Video Music Awards.

[32] Referred to as the 'The' bands, the Strokes, the Hives, the White Stripes, and the Vines combined "old fashioned punk and adrenaline fuelled riffs" to be ushered in at the beginning of 2002 as the "saviors of rock".

[33] In 2002, The Vines appeared three times on the cover of NME in June, July, and October, hailed as the future of rock & roll.

While Craig Nicholls had talked of having a highly produced album, he told the Australian edition of Rolling Stone in March 2004 that they decided to stick to a less-is-more philosophy.

On 19 July 2006, the Vines played a gig at the Annandale Hotel under the name "Joe Dirt", with a new bassist, Brad Heald, after Patrick Matthews departed the group.

"Get Out" was featured on the in-game soundtrack of Midnight Club: Los Angeles released in late October 2008 on Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 gaming platforms.

In October 2008, the Vines commenced a national Australian tour in support of Melodia, playing small venues throughout Australia.

At the 2011 Homebake music festival, the Vines emerged on the main-stage as a three piece, consisting of Nicholls, Heald and drummer Murray Sheridan.

He also claimed that the band had "broken up", although "Craig [Nicholls] will always write great music in the future and he may choose to carry on under the Vines' name.

[44] At the beginning of July 2014, the Vines created a PledgeMusic page for their sixth record Wicked Nature, a double album which was released on 2 September 2014.

In spring of 2015, it was announced that Craig Nicholls started a side project called White Shadows, which focused on electronic music.

[56] On 30 March 2024, in a YouTube interview, Hamish Rosser confirmed his return to The Vines, mentioning that new music is in progress and awaiting finalization and release.

Unlike many other pop post-modernists, the Vines never sound weighed down by all the influences they include in their music—it's as if they're so excited by everything they hear, they can't help but recombine it in unique ways.

[58] Upon the release of their debut album, the Vines were hailed as "the second coming of Nirvana" by the British press; their grungy sound was considered reminiscent of the Seattle scene c. 1991 and Nicholls' erratic on-stage behaviour and raw vocals drew comparisons between him and Kurt Cobain.

[72] The Vines are considered an influential group in the development of 2000s indie rock, with a number of bands and musicians citing them as an inspiration or influence.

[66] Turner also named Craig Nicholls' live performances as a powerful early inspiration[73][74] and described The Vines as "collectively our favorite band at the time.

"[75] Kevin Parker of Tame Impala and his bandmates remarked that they were "super massive fans" and idolised The Vines and Craig Nicholls when they were younger.

[77][78][79] While performing on stage in 2018, The Killers directly attributed The Vines with "blowing open" the doors for other indie bands like themselves to achieve mainstream success.