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Forty years after Strange Times, The Chameleons are still finding reasons to write songs. On Wednesday 4 November, the British band will play Planta Baja in Granada, with the venue listing the show for 9 pm and billing it as their first appearance in the city.
Formed in 1981, they built a distinctive language from interlocking guitars, melodic tension and Mark Burgess’s voice. Records such as Script of the Bridge (1983) and Strange Times (1986) retain their place in post-punk history and in the emotional lives of generations of atmospheric-guitar fans. Burgess and founding guitarist Reg Smithies remain at the helm of the current line-up.
The new release behind this visit is Arctic Moon, issued by Metropolis Records in September 2025: their first studio album of new material since Why Call It Anything (2001). Its seven songs have room to unfold, stretching to eight and a half minutes on “David Bowie Takes My Hand”.
Their subjects have plenty to do with the world we live in. Burgess told Chain D.L.K. that “Saviours Are a Dangerous Thing” emerged in the context of Donald Trump’s relationship with Elon Musk, as a warning about those who present themselves as saviours. “David Bowie Takes My Hand”, meanwhile, answers “Rock ’n’ Roll Suicide” from a personal experience of darkness and solace. Politics, vulnerability and music as something to hold on to.
Granada is part of a seven-show Spanish run that also takes in Bilbao, Seville, Valencia — for two nights — Madrid and Barcelona. At Planta Baja, the interest will lie in hearing how these compositions meet the repertoire that gave the band its identity. Four decades on from those strange times, the new songs have plenty to say.
Sources: Planta Baja · The Chameleons · Arctic Moon · Bandcamp · Chain D.L.K. · 15.09.2025.