Chamberlain (band)

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. 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.

The members are currently 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.

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. Prior to these gigs, Snyder hadn't played with the band since 1998.

Chamberlain toured with The Gaslight Anthem and Tim Barry in summer 2010, and performed at Krazy Fest in Louisville, Kentucky in May, 2011. No further touring is planned; however, an interview with Rubenstein in the July '11 Alternative Press hinted at continued collaborations

Other members

Seth Greathouse – bass (1998–2000)
Wade Parish – drums (1999–2000)
Stoll Vaughan – guitar (1998–1999)

Post-Split Lip/Chamberlain Projects

Full length albums

Visual discography of Split Lip / Chamberlain: http://uniontown.virb.com/

EPs