The Vaselines are a band from a very different musical era. They are a hard-to-define band from a period of time when it was difficult to find bands that you couldn’t easily market to people. They didn’t really do punk rock, they don’t really do folk music, they aren’t a new wave band, they are merely themselves. They put out a few ep’s in the 80’s, and were supposed to fade away into obscurity. That was, of course, until a young man managed to come across some imports in his local record store, became entranced by them, and ended up covering not 1, not 2, but 3 of their songs with a little rock trio that became one of the most influential bands of all time.
They officially broke up in 1990, but played a few shows in the early 90’s supporting Nirvana in Europe. Then, in 2008, they decided to reunite at the urging of another influential band from the 90’s. This time it was Belle & Sebastian urging this band back into the limelight. After all, their blend of girl group, twee, punk and lyrics that would make Luther Campbell blush is something the world will finally be ready for. And, at the Great American Music Hall, we experienced what that band sounds like today.
