Alright. Today's song stems from my fangirling ways.
I was browsing through YouTube and found this "You Know if You're a Fan of Doctor Who" video. I thought the song playing in the background was pretty cool because it was specifically about the Doctor and about the Doctor only. I thought, "Well, that's interesting. Usually, there aren't any legit songs dedicated to one fandom. Let's see what else this 'Chameleon Circuit' band has to offer." And so I searched them up on YouTube and, oh boy, was I happy. They're a 100% Whovian band that writes and sings songs just about Doctor Who. Sadly, I'm not that far into Doctor Who so I couldn't relate to most of Chameleon Circuit's songs. But I did find one song: "An Awful Lot of Running".
And, oh man, did this song stir up my Ninth Doctor and Rose Tyler feels. This song is literally about Rose and Nine and the general relationship between the Doctor and his companion. Seriously. The Doctor and his companiondorun, a lot. It's the perfect song to describe the Doctor and the companion. I really don't know how to explain this if you're not a Whovian. ._. I guess you'll just have to start watching Doctor Who (starting from the Ninth Doctor. Don't skip the Ninth.) to understand this song.
Anyway, what first caught my eye on this song was the Doctor Who theme in the beginning. That made me think, "Oh man, this is so legit. So, so, so legit." Then came the lyrics and I was like, "asdfjkl; This song. What is this. What. Chameleon Circuit, let me love you."
Usually, I wouldn't like rock songs like this. But, this song isn't terribly rock-y and because it has something to do with Doctor Who I can deal with it. And the Doctor Who theme in this song is just icing on the cake. Because let's face it, any song that incorporates the Doctor Who theme is an awesome song, at least in my opinion.
I think once I watch more Doctor Who and get to the Eleventh Doctor, I'll end up just loving this band. Because only then will I be able to understand everything in all of Chameleon Circuit's songs. But for now, I'll stick with "An Awful Lot of Running" because it's the only song I can connect to.
So, now for some background on Chameleon Circuit. First, the name. The chameleon circuit is the name of the device or system that allows the Doctor's TARDIS to automatically blend into it's surroundings. Like the name suggests, the TARDIS becomes something like a chameleon and changes it's appearance when placed in a new environment so it becomes unnoticable. But, when the TARDIS landed in London in 1963, when Doctor Who first started airing, the chameleon circuit broke and the TARDIS is forever stuck as a blue police box. Back in the 60s, a blue police box was a common sight in London, like the red telephone box now. The police box offered a way to quickly call the police or to arrest someone by placing them in the box. Now, there are no more police boxes but the TARDIS's weird appearance still manages to go unnoticed by people. Now, you non-Whovians may be wondering what the TARDIS is. The TARDIS stands for 'Time And Relative Dimension In Space' and is the Doctor's space ship. The Doctor is a Time Lord, a person who can travel through space and time. He is the last of his kind, the Time Lords, as his home planet, Gallifrey, was destroyed in the Time War, a battle fought between the Time Lords and the Daleks.
Alright, I went really off topic. Back to Chameleon Circuit, the band. Alex Day started writing and producing songs based off Doctor Who after being influenced by Wizard rock, songs for Harry Potter. He dubbed this genre "Time Lord rock". Charlie McDonnell did the same and released an acoustic version of "Blink" on YouTube. Chameleon Circuit then formed with the addition of vloggers Liam Dryden and Chris Beattie. They began producing their first album. But, their album, Chameleon Circuit,was never completed after Circuit's producer didn't want to release the album. Nevertheless, the album was released unfinished. Chameleon Circuit was featured in the Doctor Who magazine and former Doctor David Tennant even commented on Chameleon Circuit, saying it was "proper decent music".
In January 2011, Chameleon Circuit's Chris Beattie left the band, Ed Blann joined, and it was decided that their second album would be called Still Got Legs, the Eleventh Doctor's exclamation after regenerating. Trouble arose in production for Still Got Legsafter producer Micheal Aranda was denied entry back in to the UK after going to France. The band members set up a petition online and Aranda was eventually able to return and become part of the band. Along the way, the drink company Red Bull found out about Chameleon Circuit's predicament and offered to help them complete their recording by sending the band to Paris.Still Got Legswas released in July 2011.
