Pages

Nov 29, 2012

New THE SUN AND THE MOON EP

CONVERGENCE, the new THE SUN AND THE MOON Ep has been recently released in a limited edition, containing 4 re-recorded classic songs:

1-Arabs and Americans
2-Death of Imagination
3-Limboland
4-Dolphin

Due to the fact the original recordings are not available from Geffen, original members of the band (Andy Clegg, Andy Whitaker, Mark Burgess & John Lever) have decided to record again some of their classic stuff, and make it available for the fans.

How to get Convergence EP:

  • In the Merchandising Corner of Chameleonsvox Tour (currently available)
  • Contacting Andy Clegg in the following email address: gnrecords@gmail.com  Note:Not in stock yet, but preorders can be made.
As per Mark´s inner sleeve notes, this will probably be the first of a few EPs of the same nature, so it´s likely in the near future we will see almost all the songs of THE SUN AND THE MOON being re-recorded.

This is a transcription of Mark inner sleeve notes:

"So The Sun And The Moon converge again to revisit and to some extent rediscover some of the songs we wrote together some years back.

As one of the writers and the lead singer of the band, I said some pretty unfair and uncalled for things about the original record back in the day. I wasn´t in a very good place in my head while we were doing it, or for quite a while after. This time I was in a better place and what began as a re-recording of a single song  for a Manchester benefit record became something else. This will probably be the first of a few EPs of this nature and I found the experience to be much more enjoyable this time around, and while they may lack some of the charm of the original recordings, and while the originals have the benefit of having been recorded in the mighty Cargo Studios in Rochdale, I do personally prefer these and had a better time doing it.

For one thing there wasn´t any pressure. Back then the two Andys were in the shadow of a couple of other guitar players I´d been working with, who even at that early stage were carving out a bit of a legend. While I understood to a certain extent, I felt at the time that the comparisons were unfair. While Andy Clegg and Andy Whitaker had developed their own slant on two-guitar-interaction, they´s done so completely independently over a long period of time and had established a style of their own; and what they did with that style, and what they wrote, was a different approach entirely. I also felt the pressure of the "okay, let´s see what he can do without the other two" mentality, while my divorce from them was still very, very wet. I like to think I rose to the occasion and, contrary to what some people may believe, The Sun And The Moon actually did hold its own. The EP "Alive; not Dead" containing the song Arabs And Americans, which is also featured here, actually charted, thereby equalling the othher lot at their best. The other lot held the all time attendance record at Manchester´s International, while this band held the same at the International 2. Over the years though this music has proved a little harder to keep in circulation than theirs. The original recordings have been unavailable for far too long with no singn that changing, so rather than take on the owners of these recordings in lengthy boring negotiation, we just decided we´d do some of them again. After all, if we wanted to jump through hoops, we´d have been athletes, not musicians.

So here is the beginning of the process. "Convergence I". We hope you enjoy it and that it will make you eager for more. Yeah it´s a bit dear for a four track EP I suppose, but everythings is these days."

Nov 25, 2012

CHAMELEONSVOX Live in Donosti 2012


Mark Burgess and John Lever arrived in Donosti, with the rest of the band on 24th Nov 2012.  It´s been now over a decade that they visited the Basque Country with the original band The Chameleons. Now, it´s ChameleonsVOX, without the presence of Dave Fielding and Reg Smithies, the band who performed a Live Show in Donosti at Intxaurrondoko Kultur Etxea, revisiting the classic songs of The Chameleons.
 
Mark, as in previous gigs with ChameleonsVOX, has taken again the bass guitar. The sound, in general was quite good, although Mark was not at his best with his voice. Nevertheless, that didn´t prevented the fans from enjoying a fantastic show, remembering all those classic tunes, which were performed with respect and very close to the original guitar sounds of the Smithies-Fielding tandem.

The audience was eager for listening to Chameleons songs, and good vibrations floated during all the show in the venue. The band felt comfortable on stage.


This is the actual Chameleonsvox line-up:
  • Mark Burgess - Voice & Bass guitar
  • John Lever - Drums
  • Chris Oliver - Guitars
  • Neil Dwerryhouse - Guitars
 
This is the setlist of the Donosti show:
01- Swamp Thing
02- A Person Isn´t Safe Anywhere These Days
03- Looking Inwardly
04- Monkeyland
05- Up The Down Escalator
06- Perfume Garden
07- One Flesh
08- In Answer
09- I´ll Remember
10- Soul In isolation
11- Singing Rule Britannia
12- Caution
13- Second Skin
Encore
14- The Fan & The Bellows
15- In Shreds
16- Don´t Fall













 More pics from this and other shows of ChameleonsVOX on this Picasa link

We recorded some vids of the show. Image and sound is audience recording quality, so it does not reflect the real experience, but still good vids. Hope you like them!

UP THE DOWN ESCALATOR


IN ANSWER/I´LL REMEMBER


LOOKING INWARDLY