The Moon's A Balloon - Eugenius

Eugenius (also known as Captain America) was an indie rock band from Glasgow, Scotland that existed from 1990--1995, centred around former Vaselines singer/guitarist Eugene Kelly and featuring members of BMX Bandits and Teenage Fanclub.

The band members changed several times throughout the course of its duration. The initial line-up was Eugene Kelly (guitar and vocals), Gordon Keen (of BMX Bandits, guitar), James Sheenan (bass), and Andy Bollen (drums), who replaced guest live drummer Brendan O'Hare of Teenage Fanclub. The line-up later changed, with Sheenan replaced by Raymond Boyle, and Roy Lawrence replacing Bollen. Joe McAlinden also contributed bass and violin, and Francis MacDonald drums.

Kelly recruited the band after the separation of The Vaselines. Kelly didn't take the band seriously at first until the band Nirvana invited them to open dates on their 1991 European Tour (Nirvana singer Kurt Cobain having been a fan of The Vaselines). Kelly also joined Nirvana on stage during their 1991 Reading Festival performance, with Nirvana's Krist Novoselic later saying "My favourite part came when Eugene Kelly from The Vaselines came on stage. Eugene's just so cool - he can turn weed into marijuana, sugar into cocaine and diet pills into amphetamines".[2] Kelly said of the Nirvana link, "They also liked Captain America and they just happened to be in a position to help us out, so they did by giving us a bit of promotion whenever they could".

In 1991 the Band released an EP under the name "Captain America", called EP on British independent label Paperhouse, then in 1992 they released their second EP, Flame On, on the same label. The band were forced to change their name due to legal threats from Marvel Comics, and decided on Eugenius.[3] Flame On also landed the band in legal trouble, due to the use of the C&A clothing chain's logo on the sleeve.

After Cobain's countless recommendations, and being renamed in Eugenius the band attracted the attention of Atlantic Records and signed up with them. In 1992, after delays due to the legal situation surrounding their band name, they released their first album, Oomalama, which received highly favourable reviews, although Kelly was less positive about the album, saying "I think the lyrics on this album are shite". But with their harmonic "pop" sound they failed to catch on with fans of grunge.

Category:

Music

Tags:

• the moon's a ballooneugenius
• mary queen of scots
• eugene kelly
• captain america
• indie rock

[DJtheFooligan]

Truly amazing album from an incredible band. Brilliant!

[nickiperk]

Love the Eugenius albums -- thanks for posting this!

[vandeseara]

Friends around the world, this kind of music not to be forgotten ever!

[HtownRizen]

Absolutely love this cd. It has stuck with me all these years.