Code Blue

Code Blue is a new wave group from Los Angeles, active from 1977 to 1981. The line-up includes Dean Chamberlain, Randall Marsh and Gary Tibbs. The band begins as part of the Los Angeles new rock scene of the late 1970s, and it develops from earlier incarnations before settling on the Code Blue name.

Formation and earlier history

Guitarist and bandleader Dean Chamberlain starts out in San Mateo, south of San Francisco, where he begins playing electric guitar at 14 and attends a wide range of Bill Graham concerts. He sees artists including Howlin’ Wolf, The Charles Lloyd Quartet, Big Brother and the Holding Company and Jimi Hendrix. As a teenager he also spends a year in Brazil, where he plays with Robertinho de Recife and Arto Lindsay. After studying at U.C. Santa Cruz and then Berkeley, he forms an early group with Martha Davis, Richard d’Andrea, Robert Newman and Chuck Wada; this later becomes The Motels.

After moving to Los Angeles, Chamberlain works at Paramount Recording Studios and later at Warner Bros. Records, where he listens to demo tapes for the A&R department. He also assists on sessions with Sly Stone, Bob Crewe and Bobby Womack. In Los Angeles he continues developing his own band ideas at a time when the local live scene offers limited opportunities for original music.

Skin and the move toward Code Blue

Chamberlain rents a rehearsal space in Hollywood and places an advertisement for musicians. After auditioning many bassists and drummers, he recruits Randall Marsh, who has previously played in the original Mudcrutch with Tom Petty, and Michael Ostendorf on bass. This group plays under the name Skin and builds a following by late 1978. The band records demos, and Chamberlain writes much of the material for the first album during this period, including songs such as “Modern Times”, “Hurt”, “Face To Face” and “The Need”.

Skin attracts interest from major labels. Warner Bros. offers a deal, and Columbia also bids for the band. Producer Nigel Grey, known for his work on the first two Police albums, signs on and suggests recording in London. During this period, Michael Ostendorf leaves and Gary Tibbs joins on bass as the group adopts the name Code Blue. Tibbs has recently played with The Vibrators and appears on Roxy Music’s Manifesto album and world tour.

Recording and release

Code Blue records at Olympic Studios in London, then continues work at Nigel Grey’s studio in the south of England before the project stops and the tapes return to Los Angeles. The band later resumes sessions at Sound City in Van Nuys with engineer Mike Stone. Benmont Tench of The Heartbreakers adds organ parts, and Chamberlain, Marsh and Stone complete the mix. The resulting album presents a spare, direct style centred on Chamberlain’s guitar and songs.

The group’s record-release party becomes a large and unruly event, and the band then tours the United States. It opens for Thin Lizzy and travels in a rented sedan. The tour receives mixed reactions and leaves the band drained. Code Blue continues for another period before splitting up. A second album, True Stories, later appears as a posthumous collection of demos.

Style and legacy

Code Blue is a Los Angeles new wave band, but its music also comes out of punk’s arrival in the city in 1977 and the broader late-1970s alternative scene. Chamberlain’s playing is described as restrained but loose, with single-note lines and noise fragments rather than showy lead work. The band’s material is noted for romance and danger, and for avoiding obvious lyrical themes common in mainstream rock of the period. The track “Whisper/Touch” later appears in a scene from Pretty in Pink.