The cicadas are getting a ton of press this summer as the respective 13 and 17-year cycles coincide for the first time since 1803. For post punk music fans, it has felt like an equally long wait between new music releases from Manchester shimmering guitar gods, The Chameleons.
Now if you’re not familiar with the band, but are into the dark arts – basically any brooding, mysterious, shimmering guitar, goth-adjacent, indie rock band from the past 40 years – you’re likely more aware of the band and its lasting influence on alternative rock than you think. For me, the Chameleons were the bridge that led me from MTV darlings Duran Duran and A Flock of Seagulls, to hundreds of fascinating college radio guitar bands like Echo & The Bunnymen, The Comsat Angels, The Cure, The Smiths, and eventually the whole C86 scene. In the early 1980s, music was a new way to explore the world without leaving suburban Ohio.
From 1983 to 1986, barely a single album cycle today, Mark Burgess (bass, lead vox), Reg Smithies and Dave Fielding (guitars), and the late John Lever (drums) released three landmark albums–Script of the Bridge, What Does Anything Mean? Basically, and Strange Times–before imploding into solo projects throughout the 1990s. The new century kicked off with a surprise a reunion that yielded one final album with the OG lineup, Why Call it Anything?
I have thousands of albums in my collection and follow some artists a bit more feverishly than others, but Mark Burgess has long been one of those singer/songwriters I have been “all in” on from the start. His music and the bands he’s played in mix urgency, catharsis, melancholy, angst, anguish and tears with some of the most unforgettable melodies in the game. It’s a part time hobby to snap up everything I can get my hands on, knowing each title might not be “legendary”, but it will always be interesting. When someone delivers a work of art so meaningful to your life, as The Chameleons did with Strange Times, it’s truly hard to ever imagine your life without it. I am similarly passionate about Prince, Kate Bush, Jarvis Cocker, Miles Hunt, Martha Davis, New Order, and a few dozen others, but from the collection you’ll see peppered throughout this post, it’s clear what a special place the band has in my heart and on my CD shelf.
Much like Taco Bell, The Chameleons have mastered the art of reselling the same core ingredients in new forms and fan favorites, mining roughly four albums worth of material (the first three albums and other studio cuts from the era) to keep their marketplace awash in limited-run product for decades on end — studio remasters, demos, BBC sessions, acoustic sessions, and live concert recordings. I should know, I bought them all…, well, close. There’s a Burgess-centric compilation, Magic Boomerang, that eludes me.
During the 1990’s, Chicago had a few record stores like Evil Clown and Reckless Records that shared my love for all things Burgess. Burgess and Smithies next formed The Sun and The Moon, releasing one album and some stellar b-sides on Geffen before Burgess flew solo with acts like Mark Burgess and the Sons of God, Invincible, and much later on, Chameleons Vox. At the turn of the century, they played a legendary set at Metro in Chicago, a show my brother flew in from Philadelphia to see with me. I thought I’d never see them live again until the band blew the roof off El Corazon in Seattle on June 5, 2024. Read my full review.
After the 2000’s reunion, The Chameleons story took an unexpected detour to sunny Atlanta of all places, when Burgess joined Jack Sobel to form Black Swan Lane. This new union led a brief reunion of The Sun and the Moon for one album and some concerts before Burgess eventually parted ways, wrote a book, and lowered the frequency of his musical output. Under Sobel’s vision, Black Swan Lane carried the torch of the classic Chameleons sound, expanding upon it into bold new directions ever since–one album even featured a guest spot from Dave Fielding.
That pretty much catches us up on where they’ve been, so here’s what’s next from The Chameleons, Inc.
Chameleons Merch Table Gold: “Where Are You?” EP and the new Strange Times reissue.
2024: New Album, Fresh Lineup, New Tour, New EP
Fresh off the 4th reissue of 1986’s Strange Times (we’ll have more on that in a minute), the band surprised fans earlier this month with the announcement of a new EP, Where Are You?, out digitally on streamers and Bandcamp with a limited run of vinyl being sold at shows. The new EP is a preview of a new album due later this year tentatively titled Arctic Moon. It marks the first studio recordings of the current lineup that was cemented in 2021: Reg Smithies (guitar), Mark Burgess (bass, vox), Stephen Rice (guitar), Danny Ashberry (keys), and Todd Demma (drums).
The ghost of Neil Young’s ‘Old Man’ haunts the title track, an epic barn burner that sees the band firing on all pistons with a “take on the world” energy we haven’t heard from Burgess since he screamed “I’m alive in here!” on ‘Soul in Isolation’ 38 years ago. ‘Endlessly Falling’ is a complete reimagining of a song that first surfaced on their essential demos compilation, The Fan and the Bellows, decades back. The final track, ‘Forever’, strips back the bombast to showcase how magnificent Burgess can sound over a haunting guitar line.
In a must-read interview with David Browne for The Big Takeover, Burgess said “The band sounding [like we did] 20, 30, or 40 years ago wasn’t interesting to us, or the least bit satisfying… we wanted the sound of the band to reflect the band that was actually making this record. I think we succeeded on both counts.” He also reports the band has a lot of new music in the can, with more to come. While reaction is mixed on the Chameleons bustling Facebook Fan Page (some 9000 members and counting), for anyone looking forward, these three new songs are a magnificent offering. For me, hearing the title track live really opened my ears to the fireworks in both the melody and vocal. It keeps getting better and better with subsequent plays, as I keep in mind, it’s competing with beloved Burgess songs that have been etched in my soul for 40+ years.
In this amazing new interview, Burgess tackles the band that was and the band that is…
The Chameleons of 2024 is currently on tour, playing the new material in addition to their 1986 classic, Strange Times, in full. For this writer and consummate music collector, The Chameleons third album is my third favorite album of all time (all artists and genres) and my absolute #1 rock album ever (for the record, my all genre top two are a Prince live album and Propaganda’s synth masterpiece A Secret Wish). I had early Strange Times pressings on vinyl, and when CDs became a thing, I feverishly checked the C-section at every record store I ever visited from 1986 to 1993 when it finally arrived, be it one track short at first due to the then limitations of the medium. That Strange Times ever made the journey to shiny silver disc is a miracle in itself. I wrote a fan letter to The Chameleons PO box in 1991, and was absolutely gobsmacked when Burgess personally wrote me back. Mind you, this wasn’t an email, but an international paper and post letter I still have to this day. At the time, he explained the licensing issues the band was having with Geffen and the bleak prospects he faced at the time to get it out. He then expounded upon his love for Star Trek before wishing me the best. Still to this day, Strange Times is not on any streamer.
The latest Strange Times reissue on Blue Apple Music is the 4th one I’ve purchased on CD and sixth overall, hot on the heels of a 2020 reissue in the “Music on CD” series. This latest repress features new artwork by Smithies and a slightly louder mix. As this is the only version currently in print, and new Chameleons releases tend to sell out and disappear quickly, it’s worth picking up for newbies. If you have any of the earlier 2CD editions with the complete track listing, you’ll be fine.
Two somewhat recent reissues of the band’s Script of the Bridge are also worth scoring. The 25th Anniversary Edition sounds great and features some brief but interesting liner notes, while the more recent Abbey Road Remastered edition showcases a stunning sonic update that instantly spiked its ranking on my all-time best albums list.
In recent years, their second album, What Does Anything Mean? Basically and their 4th album have both received 2-disc reissues which are well worth picking up. It took some time, but I’ve warmed to Why Call It Anything? Much like post-peak 4th albums by Duran Duran, The Go-Go’s and The Bangles, The Chameleons delivered a very good song suite, and it’s well worth hearing/owning even if it falls slightly short the impossibly high standards the band originally set.
Speaking of peak Chams, the original Strange Times follow-up, the 4-track Tony Fletcher Walked on Water EP, has also been cleaned up and reissued in several formats. If you missed the original Statik release, it’s a true gem worth buying or streaming.
If you still can’t get enough, lots of the Burgess back catalog (solo and Invincible) is available to stream (including his smashing take on the James Bond theme ‘You Only Live Twice’). A few of these projects are also available in lossless audio via a variety of Bandcamp accounts, including those for Chameleons Vox and the Sun and the Moon. Plus Black Swan Lane has a thriving online store and a rich discography worth exploring in full. Burgess also wrote an autobiography, which I own, and I swear I’ll get to one of these days. Perhaps between now and Arctic Moon.
If you have 12 minutes to spare, every single second of this video from @2020Sound is maximized with insightful editorial about The Chameleons sound and legacy, connecting the dots between their early influences, and all the bands that were influenced by them, including Oasis, Interpol, Kitchens of Distinction and Editors. I love this guy’s thesis, The Chameleons were a stadium-sized band that never played stadiums. Arenas are still within the realm of possibility, so catch them on this club tour while you can.
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