June 5, 2025 (Los Angeles, Calif.) — Nickel and Dime/Triple X Records is excited to announce code blue’s self-titled studio album which originally debuted on Warner Bros. Records in 1980, plus Recharged!, the remastered version (featuring exclusive bonus tracks). This digital double album drops on July 31, 2026.
“We have been huge fans of code blue since the 1980s when this record first came out,” says Peter Heur of Nickel and Dime/Triple X Records. “When we heard that for some mysterious licensing related reason almost none of the band’s music is available online we knew we had to remedy the situation stat!” Dave Gray of Nickel and Dime adds. “And fans can look forward to the never before released album, Live at the Fab Mab ’78 recorded at Mabuhay Gardens in San Francisco slated for later this year. That vinyl LP comes out just in time to join the 50 Years of Punk celebrations all over the world.”
Band founder Dean Chamberlain adds “the label guys and I thought the remastered version sounds so different from the original – a lot heavier guitar, a fuller sound, more impact, most songs slowed down so they actually groove – that it would be valuable to include the original for die-hard fans and fans of the ‘80s new wave sound. Recharged! is digitized from original safety masters, then remastered using new software to isolate elements (vocals, guitars, drums) and do a quasi-remix using just the two-track stereo masters achieving a much different sound and vibe.”
The album was recorded March through June of 1980 and produced by code blue with Nigel Gray. Gray also produced The Police including Outlandos d’Amour (1978), Reggatta de Blanc (1979), Zenyatta Mondatta (1980); Siouxsie and the Banshees’ Kaleidoscope (1980), Juju (1981), The Thorn (1984); Girlschool’s “Don’t Call It Love” (1982), Screaming Blue Murder and many other iconic artists and releases. “After Gray was let go” Dean says, “we did additional overdubs and mixed at The Record Plant in LA.” Another studio of eminence with a jaw dropping list of artists who have recorded there.
When asked to describe the sound Dean says “someone called us The Motorhead of New Wave and I’m okay with that.” The songs feature melodic rock elements mixed with a raw, hard-rock sound, and dark abstract lyrical themes, mixed with pop hooks.
“At the center of code blue’s crisp, tense sound, is singer-guitarist-writer Dean Chamberlain,” said Los Angeles Times writer Terry Atkinson in 1979. “A member of the original Motels, the tall, lean guitarist has a distinctive, powerful playing style, and charismatic stage persona.”
“Code blue, an L.A.-based band whose striking album has just been released by Warner Bros., won’t fully reunite the pop-rock audience, but the group does have the potential to cut across boundaries now in much the way Queen did a few years ago…” opined Robert Hillburn for the Los Angeles Times in 1980. “Dean Chamberlain’s guitar playing is the band’s most immediately identifiable trait: a taut style that combines searing Yardbirds-cum-Led Zeppelin energy and a rumbling Link Wray tension.”
The music will appeal to fans of Cheap Trick, Thin Lizzy, Chris Spedding, The Police and Jimi Hnedrix’ guitar playing. And those same fans will be thrilled to know code blue opened for Thin Lizzy in 1980 hitting both West Coast markets like San Francisco and Los Angeles, but also Cleveland and Youngstown, Ohio as well as NYC, Washington D.C. and other East Coast stops. They also shared the stage with Pretenders, Bow Wow Wow, Television, The Motels, Legal Weapon and many others.
code blue Live Show Itinerary:
Saturday, November 13th at Mabuhay Gardens in San Francisco, CA
code blue line-up:
Dean Chamberlain – guitar, lead vocals.
Randall Marsh – drums, percussion, background vocals.
Gary Tibbs – bass guitar, background vocals.
Dean Chamberlain and code blue online:
Therealcodeblue (Instagram)
Therealcodeblue (facebook)