Metropolis Records recently welcomed the legendary UK post-punk act Chameleons to its label roster.
Long cited as a hugely influential act, having inspired the likes of (The) Verve, Oasis, Interpol, The Killers and Editors, the group was formed in Manchester in 1981 and comprised vocalist/bassist Mark Burgess, guitarists Reg Smithies and Dave Fielding, plus drummer John Lever. They released three classic albums – ‘Script of the Bridge’ (1983), ‘What Does Anything Mean? Basically’ (1985) and ‘Strange Times’ (1986) – before breaking up.
More than a decade passed as each member of the group worked on separate musical projects, until the dawning of the new millennium finally saw the quartet reunite for successful tours in the UK, mainland Europe and the US. The acoustic album ‘Strip’ was released to coincide, while a fourth studio album entitled ‘Why Call It Anything?’ was subsequently issued in 2001 that The Encyclopedia of Popular Music stated was “a stunning reaffirmation of the brilliance of this unsung band.”
The following year saw the release of ‘This Never Ending Now’, another acoustic rendering of songs from their back catalogue, before they again disbanded in 2003.
Burgess eventually reunited with Lever as ChameleonsVox, performing and touring Chameleons material all over the world between 2009-2014 and releasing one EP just prior to Lever’s departure at the end of 2013 (he died in 2017). Another line-up centred around Burgess (accompanied by Yves Altana, Neil Dwerryhouse and Chris Oliver) saw him tour more regularly than at any point in his career prior to the pandemic, including shows in Australia and China as well as regular strongholds such as the UK, mainland Europe and North America.
Chameleons have now joined forces with Metropolis Records to release ‘Edge Sessions (Live From The Edge)’, a collection of seven classic Chameleons songs performed live in May 2021 by founding group members Burgess and Smithies, plus Chris Oliver (guitar) and Stephen Rice (drums). Three additional bonus tracks of ChameleonsVox era live recordings round out this stunning release.
2022 has already seen the group play a well received UK tour, albeit with three shows forcibly postponed due to Covid issues within the band. These have now been rescheduled together with a number of additional dates and are as follows:
12.08.22 CASTLETON Devil’s Arse
13.08.22 HOLMFIRTH Picturedrome
07.12.22 COVENTRY Empire
08.12.22 LIVERPOOL Cavern Club
09.12.22 LEEDS Brudenell Social Club
10.12.22 STOKE Sugarmill
11.12.22 GLOUCESTER Guildhall
12.12.22 OXFORD Academy 2
13.12.22 BIRMINGHAM Institute
14.12.22 COTTINGHAM Civic Hall
15.12.22 BEDFORD Esquires
16.12.22 HUDDERSFIELD Parish
17.12.22 MANCHESTER Academy 1
18.12.22 BLACKPOOL Waterloo Music Bar
pre-order link
chameleonsuk.bandcamp.com/album/edge-sessions-live-from-the-edge
