IMAGE: Claire Stewart

When Nirvana frontman Kurt Cobain championed the little-known Scottish band the Vaselines by covering two of their songs on 1992’s compilation album Incesticide, he had no idea what kind of commotion he’d cause. Formed in 1986 by Eugene Kelly and Frances McKee, the Vaselines churned out 19 raw, dirty, sleazy songs about sex, relationships and H.P. Lovecraft that barely made it outside of Glasgow until they found a surprising home and ardent support in the Northwest. The duo split up in 1989—both as a band and a couple—mere months after the release of their only record, Dum-Dum.

Now, 20 years later, the Vaselines (members of Belle Sebastian comprise the duo’s backing band) are back in vogue: Sub Pop just released Enter the Vaselines, a two-disc compilation of the band’s entire catalog and demos, and they’re playing Portland long after Cobain’s shadow has passed over. WW talked to Kelly from his home in Glasgow five days before the band departed for its first U.S. tour.

WW: How did you and Frances get back together in the first place?

Kelly: Frances informed me that her sister was organizing a charity night for the Malawi Orphan Support group [in 2008] and [asked] if we wanted to play at the concert. We had two rehearsals and then did the show, and it went really well and the place was packed. I think Frances got the biggest buzz because she’d never experienced playing to such a crowd—I think about 300 or 400 people—and she’d never experienced people being so into what we are doing. In the past it was such a struggle—maybe we weren’t professional enough as musicians, or too raw and a bit confrontational and snotty. It was just an eye opener for us, seeing an audience that really likes what we do.

Is it weird to play larger shows 20 years later?

It’s odd coming back after 20 years and getting a different reaction. But it gives you 20 years’ worth of people to catch up—there’s young people there and older folks and everywhere in between. Back when we formed we figured, we’re not professional enough and we’re not great musicians and we can’t play the 12-bar blues, but we can play three chords [laughs]. As soon as we started writing stuff we realized that we had our own voice and we kind of found things to write about and sing about that no one else could do because we were just writing from our personal experiences and things that amused us and things that made us laugh.

I think people are so drawn to the rawness in the music and lyrics. You were a lot more sexual and sleazy than most bands of your time.

It just came naturally to us. We had a sense of humor and we didn’t take it that seriously because there was no chance of ever being a big band or having a record deal. Any kind of art, if you do it for yourself, and be honest with yourself, you may end up doing something that’s original or interesting to other people. If you just try to copy other people it’s like a blind photocopier. We just did it to amuse us and we never really considered what the audience would make of a song like “Rory Rides Me Raw.” As soon as you start thinking about what other people are going to think about, you’re going to ruin what you are doing.

What’s it like to have Kurt Cobain cover three of your songs? And name his daughter [Frances] after a member of your band?As a songwriter it’s just amazing because you just realized that you’ve connected with someone; you’ve written a song that might last beyond just your recording or playing of it. We played one night [with Nirvana] in 1990. I remember driving back to Glasgow that night with a bit of a high. We’d seen this great band and they were into us, [in spite of the fact] our band was pretty much dead and we thought no one was going to hear this music again.

Have you and Frances thought about writing new material?

We’re going to play two new songs in the set when we’re on tour. Last year, as soon as we realized we might do some headline shows we thought we’ve not got enough songs to fill out a whole set. It’s part of being where we are as musicians—we don’t want to keep on playing the old stuff, and we don’t want it all to seem like some nostalgic trip.