Geoff Useless and his new band fuse pop, punk and country on their first full-length album

“There’s a million reasons why I’m not your average guy,” Geoff Useless sings on the title track of his new album, “Don’t Stop.”

Not least among those reasons is an eclectic taste in music. Although primarily known as the guitarist and singer for pop-punk band The Guts, Useless is well versed in a number of seemingly disparate genres. The photo that graces the cover of “Don’t Stop” (taken by local photographer Michael Winters) shows Useless and his band mates standing in a wood-floored room, a pile of vinyl records at their feet. Among the visible titles are albums by The Beach Boys, The Byrds and The Beatles.

These aren’t the first names that come to mind when you think of punk rock. But Useless has never been one to pigeonhole his style. Sure, he’s toured with The Queers and played in such bands as The Useless Fucks and The Trailer Sluts, but his appetite for high-speed rock doesn’t blind him to the wealth of other great music out there.

“At the end of the day, for me, I don’t really care who wrote it or who performed it,” Useless said. “If I like a song, I like it, if it’s a Britney Spears song or if it’s a GG Allin song... A good song is just a good song.”

Useless’ first full-length solo album is filled with good songs—13 of them, to be exact. Although it retains hints of punk and rockabilly, the music also incorporates elements of country, folk, surf rock and bubblegum pop. And yet, there’s just enough punch to knock that gum down your windpipe.

“The idea when we started the band was we could just be a fun bar band and play shows, and maybe our parents would actually like seeing us play because it’s not too loud,” Useless said. “But we also like to amp it up.”

The group consists of Useless on acoustic guitar and lead vocals, Zach Uncles on pedal steel, Drew Brown on bass, Zack Sprague on drums and Sarah Paltrineri on fiddle. They’ve been gigging since Useless released his three-song EP “Tell Me What” (the title track of which made it onto the new disc) about a year ago.

Fresh off a short Midwest tour in November, the band will play at Plymouth State University on Friday, Dec. 10, and at Buoy in Kittery, Maine, on Saturday, Dec. 11. They’ll return to The Press Room in Portsmouth on Saturday, Jan. 22.

Born Geoff Palmer, Useless launched his music career at Portsmouth High School, where he started a group called She’s a Guy with bassist Nate Doyle and drummer Rick Orcutt. That trio later evolved into The Guts, who remained a staple of the local punk scene until Doyle moved to Boston a year ago.

In addition to guitar, Useless plays bass and drums, and he’s performed in roughly a dozen bands. He’s now working under his own name, but he doesn’t consider himself the star of the show.

“I’m not a solo artist. We’re a band,” Useless said as he enjoyed a drink at The Coat of Arms with Uncles and Brown recently. “Zack’s our drummer, Zach’s our pedal steel player and Drew’s our bass player.”

Uncles first played with Useless about four years ago, when he sat in with The Guts on steel guitar. It was a couple of years later, during a chance encounter at the Hampton Beach Casino Ballroom, that the pair rediscovered their shared influences.

“We actually ran into each other at the Brian Wilson show at Hampton Beach a couple years ago,” Uncles said. “We kind of reconnected.”

The new CD includes a cover of Wilson’s “Love and Mercy,” complete with high-pitched harmony vocals. There’s also a cover of The Beatles’ 1965 tune “I’ve Just Seen a Face.” In a way, the album opens a window into the early roots of punk.

“I think that there really are elements of punk in all that music,” said Uncles, also a member of surf rock band The Mosquitos. “Those styles, in some ways, are prototypes for what became the ’70s punk style. It’s obvious if you listen to bands like The Ramones. Some of their songs are straight Beach Boys stuff.”

The band recorded “Don’t Stop” over a five-day span in April at the Rat House studio in Parsippany, N.J., and released it on Florida-based label Livid Records. The first batch of CDs quickly sold out at live shows, but more will soon arrive at Bull Moose, and at Interpunk.com. It’s also available digitally at www.lividrecords.com.

Fueled by Uncles’ pedal steel and Paltrineri’s fiddle, the CD offers a twangy country flavor, particularly on songs like “Leaving,” “Ghost” and “All Bets Off” (which was written by Brown and features banjo work by Dave Talmage and a searing guitar solo by Mark MacDonald).

Making the leap from punk to alt-country has become a rather fashionable trend. A regional example is Lenny Lashley, who built his name with Boston-based punk band Darkbuster and later started the alt-country outfit Lenny and the Piss Poor Boys (Lashley will join Useless at Buoy on Saturday). Another is Zach Shedd, who once played bass for local rockabilly act Satan’s Teardrops and now tours with Hank Williams III.

But to call “Don’t Stop” an alt-country album is misleading. Without straying too far from his punk roots, Useless has written a collection of songs that would not have sounded wildly out of place on early ’60s pop radio, rife with up-tempo rhythms and lovey-dovey lyrics.

Among the highlights is “Breaking Down,” with touches of country flourishing around a power-pop melody. Strong harmony vocals swallow up the chorus. The closing track, “The Best Thing,” which was written by Uncles, features a surfy sound not unlike The Byrds or Beach Boys. Both songs have widespread appeal.

As if to conform to the band’s retro sound, Livid will release “Don’t Stop” on vinyl in January. Useless has been invited to perform at a festival in Belgium in March, and he’s hoping to secure other dates across Europe. Failing that, he’ll probably book a spring tour on the West Coast. He’s toured Europe twice previously with The Guts, and Uncles has toured the continent with his former band Photon Torpedoes.

“I always have fun traveling,” Useless said. “It’s really interesting seeing other bands and just going other places and trying other beer.”

The Press Room gig will serve as a fundraiser for the potential trip to Europe. It promises to be a packed house, with Nate Doyle returning to town his first solo show and Portland-based rocker Kurt Baker also performing.

Useless enjoys surrounding himself with friends. His girlfriend Jackie Lemaire—the fond subject of many of these songs—appears in the CD cover photo, along with Brown’s wife Jennifer. The album features many guest appearances, and Useless’ upcoming gigs include several of his musical buddies.

“It’s not like an exclusive club,” Useless joked at The Coat, “even though I’m sure a lot of people would like to be at this table right now.”

For more information, visit www.geoffuseless.com or www.myspace.com/geoffuseless, or find him on Facebook or Twitter.