Formed in Glasgow in 1987, The Vaselines released two singles and one album, Dum Dum, on the 53rd & 3rd label. Splitting up in 1989 (in the same week their album was released), they might have faded into obscurity but for the intervention of a certain band from Seattle. Nirvana covered three Vaselines songs, helping to fuel a growing after-the-fact appreciation of their seedy, two-and-a-half chord, garage pop manifesto.

Eugene Kelly went on to tour as Captain America aka Eugenius and finally as a solo artist. Frances McKee worked with with Painkillers and Suckle though both collaborated intermittently in the intervening years. They toured...