Today, the Chameleons are sharing their new EP Where Are You?. It’s the Manchester band’s first new music in 23 years, and it’s a preview of the forthcoming Arctic Moon, their first album since 2001’s Why Call It Anything?.
“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,” vocalist and bassist Mark Burgess said. “The question about new music is one I had been asked the most from people coming to the shows, a great many of whom weren’t even born when those records were originally made but nevertheless were excited and inspired by the music enough to catch multiple shows on multiple tours.”
“By the time we’d gotten through COVID, Reg [Smithies, guitarist] and I had a very solid band in place, people whose talent we trusted in to bring out the best in whatever ideas we were able to get off the ground,” he continued. “For the first time since the death of [drummer] John [Lever] and the departure of Dave [Fielding], I felt we were a proper band capable of creating some interesting and exciting music.”
Where Are You? consists of “Where Are You?,” “Endlessly Falling,” and “Forever,” all of which will appear on Arctic Moon. The LP does not yet have a release date. “At this moment, we’re halfway through, but already everyone in the band is excited by what they’re hearing,” Burgess explained. “We’ve managed to transcend the confines of our own legacy and finally forge something fresh. It’s undoubtedly the Chameleons to everyone that has heard the direction the band is now heading in.”
The legendary post-punk group is preparing to go on tour to celebrate their 1986 record Strange Times. About that, Burgess said:
I initially wasn’t a huge fan of album performance tours I believed instead that they ought to have been confined to one-off, special events. Performing Strange Times changed my mind. 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!
Below, stream the EP and check out their tour dates.
TOUR DATES:
05/30 – San Diego CA @ Music Box
05/31 – Los Angeles CA @ The Belasco
06/04 – Vancouver BC @ The Pearl
06/05 – Seattle WA @ El Corazon
06/06 – Portland OR @ Hawthorne Theater
06/07 – Sacramento CA @ Harlow’s
06/08 – San Francisco CA @ Great American Music Hall
06/09 – San Francisco CA @ Great American Music Hall
06/11 – Salt Lake City UT @ Urban Lounge
06/12 – Denver CO @ Oriental Theater
06/13 – Kansas City MO @ recordBar
06/14 – Dallas TX @ Sundown at The Granada
06/15 – Houston TX @ Dark Ceremony Festival
06/17 – El Paso TX @ Lowbrow Palace
06/18 – Albuquerque NM @ Launchpad
06/19 – Tucson AZ @ 191 Toole
06/20 – Phoenix AZ @ Last Exit Live
08/08 – Philadelphia PA @ Underground Arts
08/09 – New Haven CT @ Space Ballroom
08/10 – Boston MA @ The Sinclair
08/12 – Montreal QC @ Theatre Fairmount
08/13 – Toronto ON @ Opera House
08/14 – Buffalo NY @ Town Ballroom
08/15 – Pittsburgh PA @ Spirit Hall
08/16 – New York NY @ Webster Hall
08/17 – Washington DC @ Black Cat
Where Are You? is out now via Metropolis Records / Strange Times Entertainment.
