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.