Chapterhouse (band)

Chapterhouse are an English shoegaze band from Reading, Berkshire. Formed in 1987 by Andrew Sherriff, Stephen Patman and Simon Rowe, the band began performing alongside Spacemen 3. They released two albums: Whirlpool (1991) and Blood Music (1993). The group temporarily reformed in 2008 after being asked to join Ulrich Schnauss onstage to perform his cover version of their song "Love Forever" at the Truck Festival in Oxfordshire. The band finished the brief reunion with two gigs in London (2009–2010) and tours in North America and Japan in 2010.

The band comprised Andrew Sherriff (b.16 May 1969, Wokingham, England), Stephen Patman (b. 8 November 1968, Windsor, Berkshire, England), Simon Rowe (b. 23 June 1969, Reading, Berkshire), Jon Curtis and Ashley Bates (b. 2 November 1971, Reading).

Rowe described that Chapterhouse was born from "friendship and common interests" among the founding members: Rowe, Sherriff and Patman. Rowe and Sherriff were next door neighbours who went to the same secondary school with Patman. As teenagers, they used to go to shows such as Cocteau Twins, The Jesus and Mary Chain, The Fall and others. The common musical interests the three shared then led them to learn guitar at age 17/18 and to form the band at about age 19.

In 1989, the band moved to London to take a more serious path. They rehearsed and gigged for well over a year before recording a demo tape. They were initially lumped in with the British acid rock genre, eventually becoming a part of the shoegazing scene along with acts such as Lush, Moose, Ride and Slowdive.

Bassist Jon Curtis left the group to study, and was replaced by Russell Barrett (b. 7 November 1968, Vermont, United States) in 1990.

Chapterhouse signed to the newly formed Dedicated label, releasing a series of singles, including "Pearl", which featured guest vocals by Rachel Goswell of Slowdive and reached No. 67 in the UK Singles Chart.

The band's first album, Whirlpool, released in 1991, has been cited as one of the genre's high points, but failed to capture a wider market despite reaching No. 23 in the UK Albums Chart. In the same year, Chapterhouse also appeared in their home town Reading Festival immediately following Nirvana's performance.

The band's second album Blood Music, which was stylistically different, was released in 1993. According to Rowe, while the first album "originally had a very raw feel" and was made as an attempt by the band to sound like The Stooges live, Blood Music was "a different concept altogether". It had a lot more dance music influences that mainly came into play from Sherriff. Singles from the album "She's a Vision" and "We Are the Beautiful" were relatively successful. Some copies of Blood Music included a bonus disc "retranslated" by Global Communication, called Pentamerous Metamorphosis that was withdrawn due to a sampling lawsuit, but later reissued in a slightly altered version.^{[citation needed]}