American indie rock band
Chamberlain is an American indie rock band from Indianapolis and Bloomington, Indiana, United States, previously known as Split Lip. They changed their name and their general sound away from post-hardcore punk in October 1995. The band split up in May 2000, reuniting in 2009 for occasional releases and performances. The band has been cited as a major influence for many following acts.
History.
In 1995, Split Lip returned to Detroit to record "Fate's Got A Driver," and the summer of 1995 saw the band hit the road with Ohio's Colossus of the Fall and DC's Samuel. It was during this month-long outing that the decision came to change the name and the direction of the band. By October 1995, the band was already playing shows under the name Chamberlain. Moore and Rubenstein returned to the studio in late 1995 and re-recorded the vocals and re-mixed the album, and Chamberlain was born.
The band re-released the updated Fate's Got A Driver as Chamberlain in 1996, toured the US and Europe and took time out to record a new demo with acclaimed independent music producer Paul Mahern, much of which would go on to become The Moon My Saddle. After much courting by numerous major labels, the band were due to sign for Revolution Records, an imprint of Warner Music Group, but a signing freeze just before putting pen to paper thwarted them.
The second Chamberlain studio album, "The Moon My Saddle," was recorded in the summer of 1998 at Echo Park Studios in Bloomington with producer Ray Martin and released later that year by Doghouse. The group continued performing for another two years, but without Snyder (briefly replaced by Stoll Vaughan, an intern at Echo Park during the recording of The Moon, My Saddle), Mead (replaced by Showermast/Red Devil, Blue Devil's Seth Greathouse) and Walker (replaced by Uvula's Wade Parish). During this time, a collection of demos recorded during rehearsals was compiled as their third album, Exit 263, and was released independently in 2000 through the band's management company, after being rejected from Doghouse. The band folded not long after that release, with members each going their separate ways and continuing to work on musical projects.
The double LP retrospective, "Five-Year Diary" (which is also the name of a song from Fate's Got A Driver) was released by the German label Hometown Caravan in 2002. The album features live tracks and old demo recordings as well as tracks from compilations and hard to find releases.
Since 2009, the band has occasionally regrouped for live shows and tours. In 2019, the band announced that they were working on a new LP, "Red Weather" with My Morning Jacket's Carl Broemel as the producer, and released the first single, "Some Other Sky" in June 2019.
The members have been involved with many different musical projects in New York City, Los Angeles and Indianapolis. Curtis Mead and Charlie Walker briefly played, together with former Brainiac bass player and video director Juan Monostereo and ex Bullet LaVolta/Juliana Hatfield drummer Todd Philips, in Model/Actress, which released an EP in 2008.
Chamberlain has often been cited as a major influence for younger acts. A testament to this was the release of "Fate's Got a Driver - Re-ignition" in 2021, a re-interpretation of the songs of Fate's by Dashboard Confessional, Tim McIlrath of Rise Against and Brian Fallon The Gaslight Anthem, Adam Lazarra of Taking Back Sunday, Arlo McKinley and others.
Reunion.
On the heels of a mini-Chamberlain reunion at the 2008 South by Southwest festival that featured Moore, Rubenstein, Walker and Mead, The band reformed with Snyder in May 2009 for a series of shows culminating in the Burning Fight book release show in Chicago. The show celebrated the release of the '90s hardcore book of the same name released by Revelation Records. Aside from the Chicago date, two other shows were played in Louisville and Indianapolis in May, followed by a December performance at New York's Bowery Ballroom with Walter Schreifels and Atlantic/Pacific. Prior to these gigs, Snyder had not played with the band since 1998.
Chamberlain toured with The Gaslight Anthem and Tim Barry in summer 2010, and performed at Krazy Fest 2011 in Louisville, Kentucky on May 20, 2011. An interview with Rubenstein in the July 2011 Alternative Press hinted at continued collaborations
In September, 2018 the band had a short tour to celebrate the 20th anniversary of its 1998 LP, 'The Moon, My Saddle', and announced that they were collaborating on new music for the first time since 2010.
June 2019 saw Chamberlain return to Europe for the first time since 1996 with a string of dates culminating in an appearance at Hamburg's Booze Cruise festival.
Band members.
David Moore – vocals (1995–2000, 2008–present)
Adam Rubenstein – lead guitar (1995–2000, 2008–present)
Curtis Mead – bass (1995–1998, 2008–present)
Clay Snyder – rhythm guitar (1995–1998, 2008–present)
Charlie Walker – drums (1995–1999, 2008–present)
Other members.
Seth Greathouse – bass (1998–2000)
Wade Parrish – drums (1999–2000)
Stoll Vaughan – rhythm guitar (1998–1999)
References.
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