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CHAMELEONS @RADIO ROOM OCT-24-2024

The Veldt had enough time to leave the stage then the roadies worked their magic in under ten minutes. I was astonished to see Chameleons arrive onstage by 9:00 sharp! The quintet took their places then got right into the business of playing the “Strange Times” album from start to finish. The twin guitar attack of Reg Smithies and Stephen Rice defined the melodies with Danny Ashberry’s synths being the icing on the Post-Punk Rock cake. And through it all, the fiery intensity of Mark Burgess meant that one could take everything out of his mouth at face value.

Because at the end of the day it’s the moral force that Burgess brings to the songs, uniformly about the big questions of life that makes these tunes compelling probes into humanity’s psyche. When I first heard the band in 1983, they superficially slotted into the emergent Big Music of the era, but unlike that Irish band, whose singer’s mealy mouthed meanderings never convinced me of his sincerity, Burgess brings a moral force to the music that was palpable. It was for this reason that I always slot Chameleons adjacent to Killing Joke. Even though their styles are usually divergent.

The music began on full simmer and by the time of the songs “Soul In Isolation” and “Swamp Thing,” the needle peaked into the red as the long songs began to build up their edifice of sound. I was excited to see guitarist Rice using an eBow; just like on the record, to drive the droning sustain that was a hallmark of “Soul In Isolation.” For all of the decades I’ve been a fan of eBow playing, I think that this was the first time I’d ever seen a guitarist play guitar with one. A shocking conclusion but there we are.

Then the delicate rondo riffs that “Swamp Thing” was hung upon, were pulse-quickening as they began their outward spiral in minor key with the tune cresting to a glorious climax that found it proffering major chords over seven minutes into the epic track.

Following the final song “I Remember” Chameleons included the song “Ever After” from the bonus album of tracks that initially came with “Strange Times” back in 1986. Then they exited the stage and at that point, since they had played for about an hour. On the one “classic album” tour I’d seen years before [Psychedelic Furs “Talk Talk Talk” album tour…] this marked a break in the set where the band took a short break before returning and playing material from the other albums. I’d assumed that this might be happening this evening, but within a minute or two, the band were back for what wasn’t the second set, but the encore.

At this point, Mark Burgess announced that the band were still working on their “Arctic Moon” album but they still played the first single from it upon returning to the stage. The joy of “Where Are You?” was that the group’s newest material following a long layoff was neck and neck with the caliber of the songs from 1986 that we’d just heard. Burgess handed off his bass to the keys man Danny Ashberry for the encore to free himself up to throw gestures at the audience.

Next we got the band’s bracing debut single, “In Shreds” wherein Burgess put the full fire of his delivery over the guitarists serrated riffs for maximum impact. I was bracing for my two favorite songs from “Script Of A Bridge” to manifest.. That amazing first song I’d heard on college radio 41 years ago, “Up The Down Escalator” and the harrowing “Don’t Fall.” The latter is a song that haunts me regularly every few months and yet I’ve not had a copy to play for nearly 40 years. But the band did serve up two other tracks from “Script Of The Bridge” as “Monkeyland” and “Second Skin” joined the setlist.

This to soften us up before delivering the ultimate song this evening, the darkly anthemic classic “Don’t Fall.” The second that foreboding chord sequence began on the guitars I was in the zone as the defiant tone of Mr Burgess’ performance managed to split the difference between intransigence and hope perfectly. I had been waiting decades to hear this song again and the Chameleons didn’t let me down. As soon as the encore began I had been recording each song until the moment I’d been waiting for had arrived, as seen below.

And with that the evening had reached its climax. There was nowhere to go but home. And that was a good 90 minutes away in the cool evening of this Thursday night. I’d get home and in bed by 12:30 with a scant five hours of sleep before Friday started up, but sometimes you just need to get out of your comfort zone. When we finally get to experience the vaunted Chameleons even in the next state was one such time.

The core members of Mark and Reg meshed well with the two members of Chameleons Vox in Danny Ashberry and Stephen Rice, who jumped from the drum stool in Chameleons Vox to 2nd guitarist in Chameleons! New drummer Todd Demma kept the beat with authority and I’m thrilled that none of Mark Burgess’ fire had ebbed in the decades that have passed since I first heard this exciting band. They were a necessary antidote to the wave of blander music that was beginning to manifest as the waters of the flood of Post-Punk began to recede in the year of their first album. At this juncture, I can only hope that the band hit these shores once more to tour behind the upcoming album next year. I’ve still got a date with “Up The Down Escalator!”

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