| Chameleon Circuit | |
|---|---|
Chameleon Circuit performing at VidCon, July 2011. |
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| Background information | |
| Origin | London, UK |
| Genres | Rock, Trock |
| Years active | 2008–present |
| Labels | DFTBA |
| Associated acts | Sons of Admirals |
| Website | dftba.com/artist/9/Chameleon-Circuit |
| Members | |
| Alex Day Charlie McDonnell Liam Dryden Ed "Eddplant" Blann Michael Aranda |
|
| Past members | |
| Chris "Ginger Chris" Beattie | |
Chameleon Circuit is a band known for creating music inspired by the British television series Doctor Who. Composed of popular UK YouTube vloggers and Doctor Who fans, the band released their self-titled debut album on 1 June 2009.[1]
At the beginning of 2011, Chameleon Circuit, in their new line-up of Alex Day, Charlie McDonnell, Liam Dryden, Ed Blann and American YouTuber Michael Aranda (who had originally signed up under a producing role), began work on their second album Still Got Legs. It was released on 12 July 2011.[1] and charted on the UK iTunes Album and Rock Album charts, and on the Billboard Heatseekers chart in the United States at #23.[2]
Contents |
Inspired by the growing phenomenon of Wizard rock, Alex Day, a YouTuber and fan of Doctor Who, was inspired to begin writing songs about the TV series in summer 2008, and dubbed the resulting genre "Time Lord Rock" (or "Trock" for short).[3][4] Charlie McDonnell, also a fan, did the same, and released an acoustic video performance of "Blink" on YouTube.[5] With the addition of Scottish vloggers Liam Dryden and Chris Beattie, Chameleon Circuit were formed and immediately began work on their first album.[4] It was arranged to be released under the newly-founded DFTBA Records, which had been set up by Alan Lastufka and Hank Green later the same year, to provide popular YouTube musicians an outlet for releasing their music professionally.
The release of Chameleon Circuit's debut album was delayed when conflict arose with their original producer, who did not want to complete production of the album. After unsuccessfully searching for a replacement producer, Chameleon Circuit were forced to release Chameleon Circuit uncompleted.[6] Regardless, it still received some critical acclaim, including a positive review on Den of Geek[7] and an article in Doctor Who Magazine.[8] Former Doctor David Tennant, in an interview, described Chameleon Circuit as "proper decent music". In July 2010, their song "Count the Shadows" also appeared on DFTBA Records, Volume Two, a compilation sampler that was given for free in grab bags at VidCon 2010.[9]
In late 2010, the members of Chameleon Circuit announced that work had begun on their second album, with American YouTuber Michael Aranda working as producer. In January 2011, Chameleon Circuit officially announced the departure of Chris Beattie and the addition of Ed Blann to the band, as well as the album title, Still Got Legs (so named for The Eleventh Doctor's exclamation upon his regeneration).
In April 2011 Chameleon Circuit found themselves struggling with producer trouble when Aranda was refused entry back into the UK after a trip to France, by border officials. The band set up an online petition to help him re-enter England, and were successful. Aranda was granted a week's re-entry to the UK. Meanwhile, drink company Red Bull were made aware of Chameleon Circuit's predicament, and offered to send the band to Paris to complete their recording there.[10] Following this incident, Aranda was announced an official member of the band.
Chameleon Circuit finished their recording and played the album to a small number of fans at Red Bull's London studio in June 2011. The album was made available for pre-order the same weekend, and was released via DFTBA on July 12, 2011. The album charted on the Billboard Heatseekers chart at #23,[11][2] the first of two DFTBA Records releases to ever do so.
On July 31, Chameleon Circuit performed songs from Still Got Legs as well as a few from their first album, in a live show at VidCon 2011.
| Title | Album details | Peak chart positions | |||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| US Heat [11][2] |
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| Chameleon Circuit |
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— | |||||||||||
| Still Got Legs |
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23 | |||||||||||
| "—" denotes album that did not chart or was not released | |||||||||||||