This article originally appeared on tangentsmag.com in 2013. Portions have been updated to reflect the band’s current status.
Back in the ’90s, my friend Jeff spoke in glowing terms about a great old post-punk group called the Chameleons (known as the Chameleons UK in the US). He knew my musical taste well, and a lot of it has to do with darkly inclined ’80s bands from Manchester, England.
In Manchester, sometime in 1981, singer/bassist Mark Burgess (identifying as Vox as of 2025), guitarist Reg Smithies, guitarist Dave Fielding, and drummer Brian Schofield (soon replaced by John Lever) formed the Chameleons from the remnants of other local bands. They attracted the notice of influential BBC Radio 1 DJ John Peel, who brought them in to record Peel Sessions multiple times.
Their debut single “In Shreds” was released on CBS Records, its searing desperation married to an irresistible post-punk style. Despite respectable sales, CBS wanted to change the band’s sound, but the Chameleons disagreed and were dropped. They found a new home at a label called Statik and released their first album, Script of the Bridge, in 1983. Start to finish, it was one flawless, darkly atmospheric tune after another. Because Virgin Records distributed Statik, they couldn’t qualify for the independent charts that would get them more music press coverage. Angry about an edited version of their debut that was released on MCA in the US, the band tried to get out of their contract but were obligated to one more release with Statik. Released in 1985, What Does Anything Mean? Basically distinguished the band as far more than a one-album wonder. After signing with Geffen, the Chameleons released Strange Times in 1986, another haunting collection of tunes that, sadly, would prove to be their last for a long time. Following the death of manager Tony Fletcher, the grieving band split up in 1987.
Still, the members of the Chameleons eventually realized they had left their story unfinished. Putting aside hard feelings, they decided to do a brief reunion tour in 2000 and released a limited edition acoustic EP titled Strip. The next year saw the Chameleons’ first studio album since their split, Why Call It Anything? Yet another solid album, its tone was warmer and even reggae-tinged thanks to new percussionist and guest vocalist Kwasi Asante. After its release, the band again fell apart acrimoniously.
Though they’re sometimes included on gothic rock compilations, the Chameleons always fit more comfortably into the post-punk scene. Like the Velvet Underground before them, their influence on musicians that came after them far exceeded their fan base in their heyday. Bands including the Stone Roses, And Also the Trees, Catherine Wheel, Interpol, Editors, and Bell Hollow have proclaimed their affection for the Chameleons or been compared to them by music journalists. You can hear elements of Joy Division, David Bowie, the Beatles, the Soft Boys, and other great British bands in the Chameleons’ sound, but they always distinguished themselves with shimmering textures and lyrics that often spoke of nostalgia or the need for a human connection in a cold world.
At the time I bought my first Chameleons CD in my late twenties, I felt intimately familiar with the kind of wracking despair that “Soul in Isolation” is about. At the risk of sounding melodramatic, it would take a couple more years and personal disasters for me to dig even further into that level of emotional pain. Not that the Chameleons are all about unceasing doom, but isolation and despair are certainly recurring themes. After years of casual courtship, I fell in love with the Chameleons sometime around 2006, when I’d grown to know life’s darkness well. While I endured various troubles, I had the comfort of the Chameleons to keep me going. By this time the band’s short-lived reunion had long since fallen apart in acrimony, meaning that it was unlikely I’d ever get a second opportunity to see them.
To my joy, I got another chance in November 2011. Burgess and Lever reunited under the name Chameleons Vox and did a brief tour of the US. My second chance almost didn’t happen because I lost my mom two days before the show, but my husband and I agreed that we should go. If I didn’t need music’s loving embrace during grief, when else would I need it? The show in DC was just an overnight trip away, and it fell in the middle of the Thanksgiving holiday weekend. As you can see by the two photos, we were right up front by the stage. That night gave me comfort that I’ll always hold dear.
As of 2025, the Chameleons’ latest releases are the EPs Where Are You? and Tomorrow Remember Yesterday, with a new album titled Arctic Moon scheduled for September 2025 release.
“Swamp Thing” and “Intrigue in Tangiers” were the first Chameleons tracks to touch those precious nerves that I want music to reach. Has a song ever made you feel like you’ve locked your own heart inside it? That’s what the Chameleons do for me.
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