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Legendary Post-Punk Band The Chameleons Plays A Southern Gothic Festival

The Chameleons

Legacy can be a difficult matter to deal with for a long-lived band like The Chameleons. Starting with the debut single “In Shreds” in 1982, the post-punk band from Greater Manchester, England built itself a cult following with its spellbinding layers of resounding guitars, impassioned, yearning vocals and emotionally cathartic lyrics. 

Echoes of The Chameleons can be found all throughout modern goth and post-punk music, from The Killers and Interpol to Vision Video and beyond. But what happens after decades of break ups, restarts, side-projects and relentless touring create certain expectations? For frontman Mark Burgess, it’s an easy answer hard won: You must move forward.

Moving forward doesn’t mean leaving yesterday behind. Progress is a series of movements towards something new, possibly something different, but ultimately something necessary to keep the joy of creation alive. It’s in this spirit that the band took several of its earliest songs and polished them to a shine, releasing them this month as the Tomorrow Remember Yesterday EP. Burgess believes that this EP, along with an upcoming album slated for a 2025 release, is proof positive that the band is moving onward with a renewed sense of purpose. 

“We took a few things out of mothballs, and we didn’t feel like they were finished. So we finished them,” says Burgess. “It was only because we were so happy with the results of doing that that we wanted to record them. And it was organic from there. We really felt that we’d taken something that was right in the very beginning, even before our John Peel sessions, even before the band had really found its sound, and done something fresh with it with the band that we are now. We feel pretty good about it. The original rough sketches of these songs came out on various retrospectives and things like that. Some of the die-hards will be familiar with them in some form or another. I hope that people will recognize that we’re now taking it forward.”

Marc Schoenbach

Burgess and company—including guitarists Reg Smithies and Stephen Rice, keyboardist Danny Ashberry and drummer Todd Demma—have now turned that momentum towards The Chameleons’ live shows, expertly balancing fans’ nostalgia with the evolution of its live sound. The group is currently on tour playing the entirety of the 1986 release Strange Times. The album was a pivotal point for the band, showcasing new songwriting strengths and complicating both the sound of The Chameleons and the personal dynamics within. Revisiting the album now in a live setting is a welcome challenge and a bridge to the band’s updated sound, says Burgess.

“Dave Fielding, God bless him, was a huge part of that. But he left the band 20 years ago. We’re not going to rehash his sound. He took it with him. We have to reflect who we are now. There will be a thread because Reg and I are writing together again. With Strange Times… it is a challenging piece of music to do,” says Burgess. “As a complete piece from start to finish, it is challenging. And it marked a change in our writing. It was a milestone, really, in terms of becoming a little bit more mature in our writing. We’d never really done anything like ‘Caution’ before. We’d never done anything like ‘Tears.’ We’d never done anything like ‘Seriocity’ or any of it really. It was all kind of a forward step from the typical kind of angst-ridden post-punk that we’re known for. So, I really thought we were coming into our own as writers, as songwriters. And I have to say we absolutely love doing it, love playing it.”

Joining The Chameleons at the 40 Watt Club on Saturday at the second ever Southern Gothic Festival are local goth-pop band Vision Video, shock-rocker Miss Cherry Delight and post-punk Deceits from Los Angeles. The kickoff on Friday is a packed lineup ranging from post-punk to goth rock and all shades in between. Local rock powerhouses Tears for the Dying and Vincas, the darkwave Panic Priest, synth-driven post-punk House of Harm, dark pop band Korine and legendary post-punk band The March Violets are all heavy hitters on their own, making such a festival a once in a lifetime live experience. And for Burgess and The Chameleons, that is what it is all about.

“We should be supporting live music anyway!” urges Burgess. “Live music seems to be on the precipice of becoming a dying thing, and we really really need this in our lives. We need live music in our lives. I know it’s getting more expensive, and that’s a drag. Especially when it’s an English band coming over to America. It’s so expensive to do it, but we’re cheaper than Oasis!”

WHO: Southern Gothic Festival
WHEN: Oct. 25, 7 p.m. (doors) and Oct. 26, 8:30 (doors)
WHERE: 40 Watt Club
HOW MUCH: $45 (one-day), $70 (two-day)

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