* En anglais uniquement
With his cult-favorite bands
the Vaselines and
Eugenius,
Eugene Kelly joined compatriots like
the Pastels,
Teenage Fanclub, and
BMX Bandits at the forefront of Scotland's indie pop renaissance. Born in Glasgow in 1965,
Kelly formed the Edinburgh-based
Vaselines in 1987 with fellow singer/guitarist
Frances McKee, later adding
Kelly's brother Charles on drums and James Seenan on bass. Soon signing to
Pastels frontman
Stephan Pastel's newly formed 53rd and 3rd label,
the Vaselines' first-ever studio session yielded their debut single, 1987's fantastic "Son of a Gun." Lewd but naïve and abrasive yet tender, the band's shambling, primitivist squall remains a perfect distillation of pop at its most guileless and euphoric, earning a devoted fan base that included
Nirvana frontman
Kurt Cobain, who regularly cited
the Vaselines' influence in interviews with the music press during the years to follow. Their existence proved brief, however. The demise of 53rd and 3rd proved fatal to
the Vaselines as well, however, and the group dissolved the same week their lone studio LP, 1989's Dum Dum, was released via Rough Trade, although the following year the original lineup briefly reunited to open for
Nirvana in Edinburgh. Renewed interest in the band also resulted in the 1992 Sub Pop release of The Way of the Vaselines, an assemblage of all 19 of their official recordings.
Kelly resurfaced in 1990 with a new band dubbed Captain America, releasing a pair of outstanding EPs, Wow! and Flame On, before the threat of a copyright lawsuit filed by Marvel Comics forced the group to rechristen itself
Eugenius. Their 1992 debut LP, Oomalama, raised
Kelly's profile as a pop tunesmith par excellence, updating the
Vaselines formula via more robust arrangements and production. After
Eugenius split following its tepid second album, 1994's
Mary Queen of Scots,
Kelly spent the latter half of the decade under the radar, joining the supergroup-of-sorts Astro Chimp alongside
Teenage Fanclub's
Norman Blake and
Gerard Love in addition to writing in collaboration with
the Lemonheads'
Evan Dando.
Kelly finally resurfaced in 2000 with his first-ever solo recording, a cover of
Dennis Wilson's "Lady" contributed to the
Beach Boys tribute collection
Caroline Now! His first proper solo EP, Older Faster, did not appear until three years later. The full-length
Man Alive appeared in Japan in 2004, with an American release following some months later. ~ Jason Ankeny