The Chameleon’s Mark Burgess performs a rare acoustic gig at Lodge of Sorrows in Savannah
There are fewer bands more underrated and influential than The Chameleons.
Formed in Manchester, England, in 1981 by Mark Burgess (vocals/bass), Reg Smithies (guitar), Dave Fielding (guitar), and John Lever (drums), The Chameleons earned critical acclaim and a devoted fanbase thanks to a gloomy, melodic pop/post-punk sound that later inspired bands like Oasis, The Verve, Interpol, and The Killers.
The Chameleons seemed poised for massive success, but after the release of three classic albums —“Script of the Bridge” (1983), “What Does Anything Mean? Basically?” (1985), and “Strange Times” (1986) —the band called it quits.
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Fortunately, after over a decade pursuing other music projects, the band reunited in 2000 with a new acoustic record, “Strip” (2000), followed by an album of new material, “Why Call it Anything?” (2001). Since then The Chameleons have continued to tour, record, and win over a new generations of fans.
With The Chameleons booked for an upcoming U.S. tour with English goth rock band The Mission in the fall, singer Mark Burgess is embarking on a solo acoustic tour this summer. Touring these days has become incredibly expensive for artists, so Burgess reached out to his fans online to see if anyone wanted to host gigs so that he could raise funds for future tours and album projects.
“The response has been absolutely phenomenal,” Burgess said over Zoom. “[Ryan Graveface] in Savannah was one of the guys who came forward and said, ‘I’d like to host one of these.’ It spiraled from there.”
Burgess has since booked 39 shows that will take him and his Chameleons bandmate — drummer Stephen Rice accompanying him on guitar — around the country.
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“I’m excited because there are so many varied environments on this tour, ranging from someone’s backyard by the pool, to something like [Lodge of Sorrows],” said Burgess. “I’ve not been this excited about a tour in a long time, to be honest, because it’s so offbeat, so underground, and so different from what we usually do.
“The cool thing about the show is that I get draw material from the whole myriad of things I’ve done — Chameleons and outside Chameleons. Invincibles, The Sun and The Moon, The Sons of God stuff. I get to draw from all of it, so that’s what makes it fun for me. I relish doing this because I get to play a lot of stuff that, within Chameleons, I don’t necessarily get to play.”
Burgess has had a busy career building a large body of work with his other bands and projects, but if it were up to him he would have recorded even more music.
“Things kind of get in the way,” said Burgess. “It’s really strange. (Producer) Steve Lillywhite once said to me, ‘You spend your entire life preparing your first album, and then you find you have six months to prepare your second one.'”
Things moved fast for Burgess when he joined The Chameleons. Six months after joining the band, and with barely three shows under his belt, the band were invited to perform on John Peel’s legendary Peel Sessions, and then were signed by a major label.
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“Since then it seems to me that so many obstacles are thrown in your way when all you want to do is make music, and you have to deal with all these things that have very little to do with music. Back then it was all wardrobe. That was a big thing. How you cut your hair. And $50,000 video budgets. What the [expletive] does that got to do with making records? It has nothing to do with making music, but it all seemed to be getting in the way.”
“The answer to that for anyone younger out there is first thing you need to do before you do anything is get yourself a good [expletive] manager. Get somebody with their head screwed on to look after you, so that all you have to do is think about the artistic side of it, because as soon as you spread yourself into the business side of it, that’s when you start falling out and everything.”
Of all of Burgess’s recorded work, his favorite album is one that didn’t even get released at the time. Burgess formed Invincible with Corsican producer Yves Altana in 1997 and recorded “Venus,” a more straight-ahead rock record than anything he had done with The Chameleons.
“A few copies got out illegally from the warehouse,” recalled Burgess. “I found out somebody was taking boxes out of the warehouse and selling them illegally. The actual record itself was commissioned by Zomba Music. Against my better judgement I made the record, and they didn’t like it and tried to kill the record. I think most of the copies got destroyed, but I think it’s my favorite thing that I did outside of Chameleons because I got a real chance to celebrate my influences with somebody who had similar influences as I did. Yves and I shared this tremendous love for bands like Davis Bowie’s 'Spiders from Mars' period, and Iggy Pop, and T-Rex. It turned out really well and I did some great writing on it. I’m proud of it.”
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Fortunately for Burgess and his fans “Venus” eventually saw the light of day when Dead Dead Good Records reissued it digitally and on streaming platforms in 2020. Expect Burgess to play some songs from “Venus” on this tour.
Manchester holds mythic status for the number of punk and post-punk bands it produced since the 1970s — Buzzcocks, Magazine, The Fall, Joy Divison, New Order, The Smiths, Happy Mondays, Factory Records, etc. Although The Chameleons helped shaped the moody, swirling, reverb heavy guitar tones that inspired other bands, they tried to set themselves apart from the Manchester scene.
“We were alienated from that,” said Burgess. “When we did our first show at the Haçienda [the infamous club owned by Factory Records founder Tiny Wilson] they had no idea who we were. They booked us on a local band night and we put 900 people on a Monday night in the Haçienda. That’s because the people who followed us couldn’t afford the Haçienda. They only went there because we were there and it was local band night, so it was cheap. We weren’t part of that scene. We’ve always had a solid Manchester audience, but it wasn’t part of that clique. We were just as popular in Hamburg and Paris as we were in Manchester. We are a Manchester band, but not a ‘Manchester’ band.”
Now in his 60s, Burgess tours more heavily than he ever did pre-pandemic. He is constantly amazed by the number of new, young fans that approach him and cite The Chameleons as an influence.
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“I’m not so narcissistic that it’s all about me,” acknowledges Burgess. “The guitars sounds were very advanced. I’m fortunate to know the guitarists from a very young age. I’ve known Reg for over 50 years. He’s the oldest friend I’ve got. Dave, the other guitar player, I met when I was 10. I was fortunate enough to fall in with these two guys who happened to be two of the finest guitar players that have ever come out of Manchester. In terms of being diametrically opposed in style and that marriage of those two things.”
“That’s the magic of Chameleons — the guitar sound. That’s the real influence on people.”
The Chameleons are arguably more popular than they’ve ever been and, since reuniting, are continuing to receive the recognition they deserve.
“The other thing with the Chameleons is the themes are more relevant than ever,” said Burgess. “It’s not like the themes have become redundant with time. I think if the themes had become redundant I wouldn’t want to be playing it at all. I think the themes that are inherent, songs like ‘Up the Down Escalator,’ for example, or ‘Soul in Isolation,’ are more relevant to youngsters now. When I first did it people were scratching their heads and wondering what the [expletive] I was talking about. One of the common questions I used to get was like, ‘What’s your songs about?’ I’d be incredulous, like, ‘Isn’t it obvious what it’s [expletive] about?’ Now they hear it, recognize the themes, relate to them, and want to see the band more.”
IF YOU GO
What: Mark Burgess of the Chameleons
When: Friday at 8 p.m.
Where: Lodge of Sorrows, 415 W. Boundary St.
Cost: $20 advance, $25 door
Info: graveface.square.site