THE CHAMELEONS

Random and bite-sized facts on all things on the mythical band The Chameleons. Totally random but totally fascinating if you're into it. Do you know The Chameleons now?

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The Chameleons’ debut album title came from a bizarre question about a bridge

Mark Burgess has recalled that the title Script of the Bridge originated during an acid trip and a walk through the woods towards Tandle Hill. A friend was staring at a motorway crossing when he asked, “What’s the fucking script with this bridge?” Burgess wrote the phrase down, and it eventually became the title of the band’s 1983 debut.

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The cover of Script of the Bridge contains real places

The dreamlike artwork for Script of the Bridge was created by guitarist Reg Smithies. Mark Burgess has explained that the locations depicted were real places the band had visited, rather than a collection of invented fantasy landscapes.

Front Cover

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One landmark on the Script of the Bridge sleeve is in Scotland

Smithies incorporated Urquhart Castle, on the banks of Loch Ness, into the visual world of Script of the Bridge. Burgess recalled that the band used to visit the Scottish Highlands, and the location became part of the album’s mysterious landscape.

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The colours on the debut sleeve came from something the band saw at night

Burgess recalled that the colours and face featured in the Script of the Bridge artwork were inspired by something the band saw on Easter Sunday in 1982. The sleeve’s strange atmosphere therefore had a connection to a real experience, even though its imagery remains open to interpretation.

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The Chameleons were recording at Cargo Studios in Rochdale before their debut album

Cargo Studios became a crucial part of the band’s early development. The Chameleons recorded their debut album, Script of the Bridge, there in 1983, using a studio already associated with important recordings by Joy Division, The Fall and other Manchester-area artists.

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The band learned from working with Steve Lillywhite before making their debut

Mark Burgess has explained that the band benefited from working with producer Steve Lillywhite for a couple of weeks before recording Script of the Bridge. He said the experience taught them a great deal about recording and helped them understand how to translate their live sound into a studio album.

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The first Chameleons attempt to secure a John Peel session had no drums

Mark Burgess recalled that the drummer hired for an early recording session failed to turn up. The band sent John Peel a cassette of their songs without drums instead, and Peel wrote back saying he liked the material and wanted to hear a proper demo.

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The Chameleons sold equipment to make a better demo

After Peel responded positively to their drumless cassette, the band sold belongings they considered non-essential to fund a proper demonstration recording at Cargo Studios. Burgess and Dave Fielding then travelled to London by train to deliver the tape personally to Peel at the BBC.

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Dave Fielding and Mark Burgess waited outside the BBC for John Peel

The two musicians took their demo to the BBC in person. According to Burgess, Peel asked them to give him an hour to listen to it, then returned and said he liked it and would play it to his producer. It was a pivotal moment in the band's early career.

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The band’s early BBC exposure came unusually quickly

Burgess recalled that he had joined the Chameleons with very little experience, yet within about six months he was recording at the BBC. He described himself as being largely clueless at the time, an honest reflection of how quickly the band progressed from local rehearsals to national radio sessions.

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The Chameleons started out without a drummer

The original group formed around Mark Burgess, Reg Smithies and Dave Fielding. Burgess handled vocals and bass while Smithies and Fielding played guitar; a drummer was added later, completing the distinctive four-piece arrangement heard on the band’s classic early recordings.

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John Lever had played in another band before joining the Chameleons

John Lever, who became the band’s best-known drummer during their classic period, had previously played with a group called the Politicians. His arrival helped establish the rhythm section that would underpin the Chameleons’ interlocking guitar sound.

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A former Magazine drummer briefly replaced John Lever

Martin Jackson, who had played with Magazine, briefly replaced Lever during 1982–83 while Lever was away. The change was temporary, and Lever returned to become a defining member of the Chameleons’ best-known line-up.

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The band’s members had known one another since school

In an interview with The Quietus, Burgess explained that he, Reg Smithies and Dave Fielding had known one another at school before losing touch. They began encountering one another again around the punk scene, and Burgess eventually joined the musicians he had known years earlier.

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Mark Burgess learned bass remarkably quickly

Burgess recalled that he learned to play bass almost immediately after buying the instrument and then formed a group. His early lack of technical experience did not prevent him from becoming the Chameleons’ distinctive singer and bassist, with his melodic bass playing a key part in their arrangements.

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U2’s earliest recordings helped the Chameleons think differently about guitar

The band were strongly affected by U2’s early recordings. Their members have described hearing The Edge’s guitar as a revelation because it demonstrated how a guitar could create an atmospheric soundscape instead of simply supplying conventional riffs or chords.

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The Chameleons’ two guitarists developed contrasting styles

Burgess has explained that Dave Fielding and Reg Smithies each had their own recognisable guitar approach. He often found that Smithies would create an unusual riff or pattern without necessarily hearing the underlying musical root, which Burgess could identify and use to help shape the arrangement.

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Mark Burgess considered himself an arranger as well as a bassist

In discussing the band’s early songwriting, Burgess described his role as more than providing the bass line. He would identify the musical foundations of the guitar parts and help arrange the different elements, contributing to the intricate sound that distinguished the Chameleons from many of their contemporaries.

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The Chameleons did not regard themselves as a typical goth band

Although their music has often been associated with gothic rock, the band’s influences and arrangements were more varied. Burgess has spoken about his love of artists including Kate Bush and Marc Bolan, alongside punk and post-punk, and resisted the idea that the group could be reduced to a single genre.

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Kate Bush was an important influence on Mark Burgess

Burgess has said that he admired Kate Bush for her beauty, depth and individuality. The admission complicates the idea that the Chameleons’ musical world was shaped only by male post-punk and alternative rock bands.

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“Don’t Fall” begins with a fragment from an old film

The opening track of Script of the Bridge begins with a brief piece of dialogue taken from the 1946 film Two Sisters from Boston. The unexpected sample gives the song an eerie introduction before the band’s guitars and rhythm section take over.

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The film dialogue was captured from a television set

The band’s official history describes an early recording experiment in which a microphone was set up in front of a television to capture random dialogue. Some of these fragments were recorded with the possibility of using them in songs, a low-tech method that eventually contributed to the opening of “Don’t Fall”.

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The American release of Script of the Bridge left out four tracks

The original US edition, released under the name Chameleons U.K. on MCA, was shorter than the British album. It omitted “Here Today”, “Less Than Human”, “Paper Tigers” and “View from a Hill”, making the two original editions noticeably different listening experiences.

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Script of the Bridge appeared as a picture disc in 1985

Statik Records issued a limited-edition picture-disc version of the album in 1985. The release gave collectors a different physical version of the debut while the band were moving into the period surrounding their second album.

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The Chameleons had songs ready for their second album long before recording it

Mark Burgess explained that many of the tracks on What Does Anything Mean? Basically! had been written around the same period as the material for Script of the Bridge. Only two or three ideas on the second album were completely new, which helps explain the continuity between the first two records despite their different release dates.

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“Looking Inwardly” had been around for years before its release

Burgess cited “Looking Inwardly” as one of the songs that had been part of the band’s repertoire for a long time before appearing on the second album. The group had developed much of the material through playing together, rather than writing everything from scratch in the studio.

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“Singing Rule Britannia (While the Walls Close In)” was not a new studio invention

The title track of the second album’s single campaign had also been in the band’s repertoire for a considerable time. Burgess explained that several songs on What Does Anything Mean? Basically! had been performed and refined well before the recording sessions began.

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What Does Anything Mean? Basically! was recorded in the Scottish Highlands

The Chameleons recorded their second album at Highland Studios in Inverness in January 1985. The Scottish location differed from the Rochdale setting of their debut and formed part of the band's changing studio experience between their first and second records.

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Reg Smithies’ favourite Chameleons sleeve was the second album’s

The artwork for What Does Anything Mean? Basically! was created by Reg Smithies. In an interview about the band’s covers, Burgess said he had no definitive explanation for the imagery, but revealed that it was his favourite of the group’s album sleeves.

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The second album contains songs that were difficult to recreate live

Burgess explained that tracks such as “P.S. Goodbye” and “Home Is Where the Heart Is” were assembled in the studio rather than developed through long periods of playing together. He said that, unlike the debut’s songs, they had not been properly worked out as a live band, making them harder to revisit on stage.

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“P.S. Goodbye” was put together piece by piece

Mark Burgess described “P.S. Goodbye” as particularly untypical of the Chameleons’ usual writing process. The song was created in the studio, with its parts assembled individually, rather than being developed organically in a rehearsal room and refined through live performances.

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Strange Times began with a fresh set of ideas

While the first two Chameleons albums shared songs and ideas written during the same broad period, Strange Times represented a more decisive new beginning. Burgess said the material was started afresh, helping explain why the third album sounds different from the earlier records.

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The band spent time in the Lake District preparing Strange Times

Before recording their third album, the Chameleons spent about a month living in a small house in the Lake District, gathering ideas and preparing the material. They then rehearsed in a school hall hired near Hawkshead, away from their normal surroundings in Greater Manchester.

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The Chameleons rehearsed Strange Times in a hired school hall

The band’s preparation for Strange Times involved rehearsing in a school hall outside Hawkshead. Burgess recalled that the songs were only loosely sketched at this stage, and the group did not know exactly how the album would turn out once they entered the studio.

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Strange Times was recorded in just five weeks

The Chameleons recorded Strange Times at Jacob’s Studio in Surrey over approximately five weeks in 1986. The album was produced by David M. Allen, whose work with The Cure brought a different production perspective to the band’s developing sound.

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David M. Allen was the first producer the band felt had fully achieved their sound since Steve Lillywhite

Burgess described David M. Allen as the first truly accomplished producer the Chameleons had worked with since Steve Lillywhite. Allen’s production helped the group move towards a different sound on Strange Times, with Burgess regarding the record as among his strongest lyrical work for the band.

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“Seriocity” marked a new direction for the Chameleons

Burgess singled out “Seriocity” as one of the tracks that showed how different Strange Times was from the band’s earlier albums. Its writing belonged to a fresh batch of material rather than the songs that had been circulating during the Script of the Bridge period.

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Some Strange Times songs were initially difficult to arrange

Burgess recalled that “Seriocity” and “I’ll Remember” were problematic for the group when they were developing Strange Times. The band tended to perform songs that were easier to arrange live and leave the more challenging material aside until they could make it work.

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The original Strange Times sleeve featured Reg Smithies’ girlfriend

Mark Burgess has explained that the original Strange Times cover included the silhouette of Reg Smithies’ girlfriend in the background. The artwork shows Smithies working on his own creation, adding a personal detail to the sleeve’s surreal visual world.

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Mark Burgess regarded Strange Times as some of his best lyrical work

Although many listeners consider Script of the Bridge the band’s defining album, Burgess has said that his lyrics on Strange Times were among his strongest for the group. He also described the third album as an important personal turning point.

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The Chameleons’ third album was released by Geffen in America

Strange Times was released in the United Kingdom in September 1986 and reached American listeners through Geffen Records later that month. The US vinyl edition initially included a bonus LP containing six non-album tracks, material that later appeared as bonus tracks on the 1993 CD edition.

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The Chameleons split before their later recordings were released

Following the release of Strange Times and the subsequent EP Tony Fletcher Walked on Water… La La La La La-La La-La-La, the band broke up in 1987. The split led to a long gap before their next studio album, Why Call It Anything?, appeared in 2001.

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Tony Fletcher’s name became part of an unusually long EP title

The Chameleons’ later release Tony Fletcher Walked on Water… La La La La La-La La-La-La was recorded in 1987 but not released until 1990. The EP’s title and delayed appearance make it a curious footnote in the group’s discography, bridging their original run and their eventual separation.

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The band’s influence reached artists who arrived much later

The Chameleons’ layered guitars and atmospheric arrangements became an important reference point for later alternative bands. Their influence is often discussed in relation to groups such as Interpol and The Verve, whose guitar textures and sense of space echo elements of the Manchester band’s sound.

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The Verve connection began before The Verve became famous

Mark Burgess recalled receiving an early record from Nick McCabe before The Verve had become widely known. The story illustrates how the Chameleons’ network of musical connections extended into the next generation of British guitar bands.

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Jonathan Donahue helped introduce Mark Burgess to Mercury Rev

Burgess has said he became a fan of Mercury Rev through Jonathan Donahue. The connection is a reminder that the Chameleons’ members continued to discover new music and form relationships with artists far beyond their original Manchester post-punk circle.

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Interpol attended Chameleons shows in New York

In a later interview, Burgess said he learned that members of Interpol had attended the Chameleons’ performances in New York. The detail gives a direct link between the original band and one of the groups frequently associated with the post-punk revival of the early 2000s.

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The Chameleons began using online newsgroups before social media existed

Burgess has recalled using internet newsgroups to build an audience at a time when many musicians had little idea how the internet could be used to reach listeners. The approach foreshadowed the direct-to-fan methods that later became commonplace in independent music.

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The Chameleons reformed after a long separation

The band reunited in 2000 and released Why Call It Anything? in 2001. However, renewed internal tensions eventually brought that line-up to an end, and Burgess and drummer John Lever later continued the music’s legacy under the name ChameleonsVox.

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Mark Burgess continued performing the debut album decades later

Burgess has revisited Script of the Bridge in live performances, returning to songs that the original band had written and arranged together in rehearsal rooms. He has said the debut is relatively straightforward to revisit because its material was developed organically by the four musicians playing together.

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The debut’s songs were developed as a band rather than assembled in the studio

Burgess contrasted the first album with later material that had been pieced together during recording. He explained that the songs on Script of the Bridge had been played live for a long time before the band recorded them, which helped make their arrangements feel natural and cohesive.

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The Chameleons’ 2024 return included their first new music in over two decades

In 2024, the Chameleons released new material including “Where Are You?”, “Endlessly Falling” and “Forever”. These songs marked a new chapter for the band after an extended period without a new studio album, while retaining their characteristic emphasis on atmospheric guitars and emotionally direct songwriting.

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The band’s later album Arctic Moon continued their Manchester story

Arctic Moon brought the Chameleons back to album-length releases after many years of touring and occasional new recordings. The album’s arrival demonstrated that the group’s identity was not confined to its celebrated 1980s records, but continued to develop through later work and performances.

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