Chameleons

About

The Chameleons are a post-punk band from Middleton, Greater Manchester, formed in 1981 by vocalist and bassist Mark Burgess alongside guitarists Reg Smithies and Dave Fielding. Their three 1980s albums - Script of the Bridge (1983), What Does Anything Mean? Basically (1985) and Strange Times (1986) - built a cult following that outlasted the band's original 1987 split, and their atmospheric, dual-guitar sound went on to influence acts from Interpol and The Verve to Oasis. After a 2000-2003 reunion and years of touring as ChameleonsVox, Burgess and Smithies relaunched the band in 2021; in September 2025 they released Arctic Moon, their first studio album in 24 years.

459K+

Last.fm listeners

#44

Strange Times UK album chart peak

Years between studio albums (Why Call It Anything to Arctic Moon)

1981-present

Active years (total, across all periods)

What's new

2025-09
Chameleons released Arctic Moon on 12 September 2025 via Metropolis Records, their first studio album in 24 years, to broadly positive reviews.
2025-05
The band announced a West Coast North American tour starting in Seattle on 26 September 2025, with dates in Vancouver, San Francisco and Los Angeles.
2025-02
Chameleons announced a spring 2025 North American tour spanning Minneapolis, Chicago, Toronto, Boston, New York and other cities, with The Veldt as support.
2025-01
The band announced eight UK headline dates for November 2025, including Southampton, Bristol, Birmingham, Nottingham, Glasgow, Liverpool and London's Electric Ballroom.
2024-09
Chameleons announced the five-song EP Tomorrow Remember Yesterday, released digitally by Metropolis Records on 11 October 2024, featuring re-recorded archival tracks from 1981.