Chameleon Circuit (band)

Chameleon Circuit
Chameleon Circuit performing at VidCon, July 2011.
Background information
Origin	London, UK
Genres	Rock, Trock
Years active	2008 – 2014 (band on hiatus)
Labels	DFTBA Records
Associated acts	Sons of Admirals
Members	Charlie McDonnell Liam Dryden Michael Aranda
Past members	Chris "Ginger Chris" Beattie Ed "Eddplant" Blann Alex Day

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.

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. and charted on the UK iTunes Album and Rock Album charts, and on the Billboard Heatseekers chart in the United States at #23.

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).Charlie McDonnell, also a fan, did the same, and released an acoustic video performance of "Blink" on YouTube. With the addition of Scottish vloggers Liam Dryden and Chris Beattie, Chameleon Circuit were formed and immediately began work on their first album. 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. Regardless, it still received some critical acclaim, including a positive review on Den of Geek and an article in Doctor Who Magazine. 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.