The Vaselines

Born in Glasgow in 1986 around the duo formed by Eugene Kelly and Frances McKee, The Vaselines belong to the Scottish indie scene with a mix of lo-fi pop, indie rock, jangle pop and noise pop, driven by direct melodies, light guitars and songwriting that is at once dry and offbeat. Initially active as a duo and later expanded with a rhythm section, The Vaselines released the EP Son of a Gun in 1987 and Dying for It in 1988, followed by the Dum-Dum album in 1989, then split up shortly after. The group remains associated with the early 1990s alternative rock history when Nirvana covered Molly’s Lips, Son of a Gun and Jesus Wants Me for a Sunbeam, which helped circulate its songs more widely beyond Scotland. After the parallel trajectories of Eugene Kelly and Frances McKee in other projects, The Vaselines reformed in the mid-2000s and hit the road again on stages like Primavera Sound, with a new lineup around the core from the original. This second period yielded the albums Sex with an X in 2010 and V for Vaselines in 2014. Between rugged indie pop, mixed harmonies and a melodic sense inherited from British post-punk, The Vaselines maintain a concise and immediately identifiable writing style.