* En anglais uniquement
Following the 1989 breakup of Scottish indie popsters
the Vaselines, leader
Eugene Kelly assembled a new band,
Eugenius, and earned a major-label deal with the advocacy of
Kurt Cobain. In contrast to
the Vaselines' minimalism,
Eugenius had a fuller, more traditional guitar pop sound, but carried much the same simple, amateurish, innocent charm. When
Kelly assembled the first version of the band in 1990, it was called Captain America, and featured
BMX Bandits guitarist
Gordon Keen,
Vaselines bassist James Seenan, and
Teenage Fanclub drummer
Brendan O'Hare. However, it wasn't a serious venture at first;
Kelly joined
the BMX Bandits for their 1991 Star Wars album, and didn't focus full-time on Captain America until
Nirvana invited them to open dates on their 1991 European tour.
Captain America issued an EP, Wow!, on the British indie Paperhouse in 1991. By the time of their 1992 follow-up EP, Flame On, Marvel Comics had gotten wind of the band's name and forced a change due to trademark infringement.
Kelly selected
Eugenius -- not just a play on his own name, but also the name of a pretender to the Roman throne -- and, with
Cobain continuing to praise his music in interviews, caught the attention of Atlantic Records. In the meantime, he watched several rhythm section members -- drummers
Francis MacDonald (
Teenage Fanclub) and Andy Bollen, bassist Joe McAlinden -- come and go. Eventually,
Eugenius' lineup solidified around bassist Raymond Boyle and drummer Roy Lawrence, who played on the majority of the group's 1992 Atlantic debut, Oomalama.
Oomalama received generally excellent reviews, but its sweet pop appeal was out of step with the booming grunge fad, and despite
Cobain's seal of approval,
Eugenius didn't resemble
Nirvana enough to attract the majority of their fan base. They did, however, reach a much wider audience than
the Vaselines ever had. In its wake, Atlantic issued a six-song live EP called It Ain't Rocket Science, It's Eugenius!, which included two
Vaselines re-recordings for newcomers. In 1994,
Eugenius returned with the single "Caesar's Vein," which was followed in short order by their second album,
Mary Queen of Scots. Met with lukewarm critical response this time around, it failed to build the band's cult audience any further.
Kelly disbanded
Eugenius in 1995 and moved on to a very sporadic solo career, issuing several singles and compilation tracks. ~ Steve Huey