THE CHAMELEONS add more U.S. dates… New EP out now!
International Music News
by
Mark Horan Publisher/Photographer
Feature Image Credit Mick Peek
THE CHAMELEONS ADD MORE DATES TO STRANGE TIMES TOUR
THEIR NEW “WHERE ARE YOU?” EP GARNERS OVERWHELMING RAVES, LANDING IN TOP FIVE OF UK’S PHYSICAL SINGLES CHART FIRST NEW STUDIO RECORDINGS IN OVER 20 YEARS
Mark Burgess of The Chameleons
Photo credit: Mick Peek
(Manchester, UK) – Riding on a crest of overwhelmingly positive reviews of their new single and video “WHERE ARE YOU?“, UK’s legendary post-punk band THE CHAMELEONS have added another leg of U.S. dates to their current tour celebrating their groundbreaking 1986 album Strange Times.
Currently journeying through the western half of the States (they band are playing Denver, Colorado’s Oriental Theater tonight), the Fall leg of the tour will focus on the Midwest and Southeast dates, kicking off Oct. 18th at Chicago’s Bottom Lounge.
Tour dates are:
Jun 11
Salt Lake City UT
Urban Lounge
Jun 12
Denver CO
Oriental Theater
Jun 13
Kansas City MO
recordBar
Jun 14
Dallas TX
Sundown at The Granada
Jun 15
Houston TX
Dark Ceremony Festival
Jun 17
El Paso TX
Lowbrow Palace
Jun 18
Albuquerque NM
Launchpad
Jun 19
Tucson AZ
191 Toole
Jun 20
Phoenix AZ
Last Exit Live
Aug 8
Philadelphia PA
Underground Arts
Aug 9
New Haven CT
Space Ballroom
Aug 10
Boston MA
The Sinclair
Aug 12
Montreal QC
Theatre Fairmount
Aug 13
Toronto ON
Opera House
Aug 14
Buffalo NY
Town Ballroom
Aug 15
Pittsburgh PA
Spirit Hall
Aug 16
New York NY
Webster Hall
Aug 17
Washington DC
Black Cat
NEW DATES:
Oct 18
Chicago, IL
Bottom Lounge
Oct 19
Detroit, MI
Smalls
Oct 20
Columbus, OH
Skully’s Music Diner
Oct 22
Nashville, TN
Eastside Bowl
Oct 23
Birmingham, AL
Saturn
Oct 24
Greenville, SC
Radio Room
Oct 25
Winston-Salem, NC
The Ramkat
Oct 26
Athens, GA
40 Watt Club
Oct 27
Tampa, FL
The Orpheum
Oct 28
W. Palm Beach, FL
Respectable St.
Oct 30
New Orleans, LA
House of Blues
Nov 6
Indianapolis, IN
Black Circle
Celebrating their 1986 breakthrough album Strange Times, which spawned the singles “Tears” and the alt-rock club staple “Swamp Thing,” The Chameleons have been playing the album in its entirety, something that vocalist/bassist Mark Burgess ever thought he’d do. “I initially wasn’t a huge fan of album performance tours,” he admits. “I believed instead that they ought to have been confined to one-off, special events.” Marking the difference between the highly personal experience of enjoying an album alone with a “good pair of headphones” versus the collective social coming together at a concert, he muses that, in general, the track listing of an album doesn’t take into account a live show’s needs for crest and drama. “Performing Strange Times changed my mind,” he says. “For one thing, the album marked a significant evolution by the band both in its sound and the maturity of the writing. Secondly, it’s a challenging album to perform live and thus, it’s much more fun to play. When all is said and done, we look forward to recreating this particular album for our North American fans!”
Their new single “Where Are You?”, their first new music in over 20 years, has generated lots of excitement on both sides of the Atlantic. The EP landed the band a spot in the Top Five of UK’s Physical Singles chart – a first ever for the band. “It’s exciting to finally be putting out fresh Chameleons material for the first time in over twenty years, although initially I found it quite daunting,” he admits. Released viaMetropolis Records in conjunction with Strange Times Entertainment, the EP was called “gorgeously loud post-punk goodness” by The Big Takeover and “as anthemic and hooky as you might expect… there’s real electricity in the recording” by Brooklyn Vegan.
Long cited as a hugely influential act, having inspired the likes of (The) Verve, Oasis, White Lies, The Slow Readers Club, Interpol, The Killers and Editors, among countless others and known for their transformative musical catalog and intense and emotionally charged live performances, The Chameleons have created a legacy that extends beyond their four studio albums. Following their debut single “In Shreds” in 1982, the band released three seminal albums: the widely acclaimed Script of the Bridge (1983), cited by many sources as a masterpiece way ahead of its time, its follow-up What Does Anything Mean? Basically!’ (1984), Strange Times (1986), and Why Call It Anything? (2001).
The Chameleons are Reg Smithies (guitar), Mark Burgess (bass, vocals, lyrics), Stephen Rice (guitar), Danny Ashberry (keyboards), and Todd Demma (drums). Where Are You? was produced by Christophe Bride and The Chameleons and mastered by Guy Massey. It was released on May 24, 2024,via Metropolis Records in conjunction with Strange Times Entertainment.
Photographer and Editor/Founder of AllMusicMagazine.com. My love of live music has taken me to incredible experiences with the top bands of all time in stadium shows to the smallest venues with equally inspiring musicians. Using the medium of photography and my publication, these memories will last forever.