WHEN The Vines played their very first gig in 1994, one of the songs in its repertoire was a cover of You Am I's Mr Milk.
Seven years later and The Vines found themselves touring with the influential Australian band, including a show at Newcastle's Bar on the Hill in May 2001.
While The Vines may be one of the hottest thing in rock'n'roll today, they owe a lot to Tim Rogers and Co.
In recent issues of British music bible NME, The Vines, Jet, The Datsuns and The Sleepy Jackson have all named You Am I as a major influence.
``I think we have kind of ended up in the position of being the older brothers to all of these bands,'' You Am I bassist Andy Kent said.
``But that's fine by us, we're happy with that.
'' You Am I will team up with The Vines once again for a UK tour later this month.
The tour will co-incide with the UK release of a retrospective album and include another short tour with former Lemonheads frontman Evan Dando.
Before launching into its overseas jaunt, You Am I has embarked on an Australian tour which will be its last for 2003.
``We'll be doing a few more shows and then that will be it for us before we go over to the UK ``We'll be over there for a month and then we might go back over for some of the big festivals.
'' The tour follows the release of the band's sixth album Deliverance which was released in late 2002.
In comparison to the band's last album Dress Me Slowly, Deliverance could be seen as a step back for the band.
Gone are the big name producers and the US recording studios.
The band embraced the decision to work as a whole to both write, record and produce the entire record at home in Melbourne.
``It was a lot of fun to make.
We made it ourselves.
``Often in the world of rock'n'roll there are people brought in to make sure it's not a big waste of time and that's fine.
``But sometimes it's just good to say, ``Let's just go and do what we do and we'll give it to you at the end and hopefully you'll be happy.
``So that's what we did and it was very empowering.
The end result proves why You Am I has had such success and become such an inspiration for younger bands today.
Penned entirely by frontman Tim Rogers, the album is laden with You Am I's snappy style of rock'n'roll.
Comparisons to the band's 1996 release Hourly Daily aren't a surprise and that is for good reason.
``We recorded Hourly Daily like that and it worked out really well, so it was good to do it again.
'' As well as the release of Deliverance, the past year has also welcomed another standout moment - supporting the Rolling Stones during its Australian tour.
``It was great.
We did our show and the crowd was pretty good and then the Stones came on and they were incredible.
``We met them and they were really nice, lovely guys but they were really small chappies.
So, it was kind of funny because you've seen pictures of them your whole life and all of a sudden you're talking to them and they're half your size.
``But they were really sweet and we were so envious of their whole existence.
'' You Am I will perform at Newcastle University's Bar on the Hill tomorrow night with Palladium and The Fergusons.
Tickets are available on campus from Contact.
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