Chameleons

Chameleons play SWG3 TV Studio on Tuesday 20 October, with support from Lol Tolhurst Plays the Songs of the Cure. It's a bit of a post-punk double bill, then: the Chameleons headline, and the support is Lol Tolhurst — one of the founding members of The Cure — playing the band's songs.

For those who haven't come across them, the Chameleons formed in Greater Manchester in 1981 around singer and bassist Vox. They've long been held in high regard by musos in their home city, with a following that has taken in Noel Gallagher, Interpol, The Charlatans and Moby. After a string of high-profile BBC sessions they signed to Epic and debuted with the tense, moody single 'In Shreds', produced and released in March 1982. Their distinctive post-punk songs have since been described as 'sonic cathedrals', and the band acknowledges its supporters with an annual homecoming, 'Home Is Where The Heart Is'.

Over the following four decades they released five studio albums: Script of the Bridge (1983), What Does Anything Mean? Basically (1985), Strange Times (1986), Why Call It Anything (2001) and Arctic Moon (2025). That last one is their newest, so it's a good time to catch them live. Along with the albums, there are numerous Peel sessions, live records, compilations and the EP Tony Fletcher Walked on Water.... La La La La La-La La-La-La (1990). Between the early records and the most recent, there's a fair bit of ground to cover.

Doors are at 7pm at SWG3 TV Studio in Glasgow (G3 8QG), and tickets start from £36.75.