Tom Louis Chapman is a Franco-British musician, producer and songwriter, best known as being the bass guitarist of English rock band New Order. He is also one of the founding members of Anglo-American group ShadowParty.
Chapman joined English alternative rock band Bad Lieutenant, formed by Bernard Sumner during a break from New Order, in 2009 as bass player. The band also featured Phil Cunningham, Jake Evans, Alex James, Jack Mitchell, and Stephen Morris. In addition to performing on the debut Bad Lieutenant album Never Cry Another Tear, Chapman also played on tour with the band for their live shows across the UK and Europe during 2009 and 2010.
New Order
In September 2011, New Order played two charity gigs at the Ancienne Belgique, Brussels on 17 October and at the Bataclan, Paris on 18 October, to benefit the group's long-standing collaborator Michael Shamberg. Chapman was invited by the remaining group members to replace former bassist Peter Hook for the two dates. Following these two concerts, the band received tour offers from across the world; and Chapman joined as they proceeded to tour extensively from 2011 to 2013. In January 2014, New Order announced that they would perform live at the 24th Annual Tibet House US Benefit Concert on 11 March, alongside Iggy Pop, Patti Smith, and Philip Glass. The band revealed that the set would be performed by just three members of the band: Chapman, singer Bernard Sumner, and guitarist Phil Cunningham. The trio would return in 2017, with a memorable show with Iggy Pop, and once again in February 2019 where they played alongside Lenny Kaye, best known for his work with Patti Smith. In 2013, the band commenced recording sessions on new material, including Chapman on co-writing duties. The product of these sessions was New Order's 10th album, Music Complete, which was released on 25 September 2015. The lineup has also had successful gigs since the release of the album, such as a concert in aid of the Teenage Cancer Trust at the Royal Albert Hall in London, 4 nights at the Vivid Festival, held at the Sydney Opera House, both in 2016, the MiF festival in Manchester in 2017, which saw the band perform with a 12 piece synthesizer orchestra, Alexandra Palace in 2018, headlining the BlueDot festival at Jodrell Bank in 2019 and a 4 night residency at the Jackie Gleason theatre at the Fillmore in Miami in January 2020.
Rubberbear
Since 2013, Chapman has also been working with Steve Trafford as a duo called Rubberbear. The band has released three EPs and have performed several live gigs throughout the UK including headlining the Bankswood Festival in August 2015. The music video for their debut single "Let's Move Somewhere Else" features the critically acclaimed actress Maxine Peake. In July 2014 the band announced they had signed a deal with Republic of Music, and their EP Other Side of the Fence was released on the label on 14 September 2014.
ShadowParty
In 2014, Tom Chapman met Josh Hager, guitarist and keyboardist for Devo, in Boston, Massachusetts, and the foundations for a new group called ShadowParty were laid. Chapman's New Order bandmate, Phil Cunningham, and Hager's Devo bandmate, Jeff Friedl, joined to complete the lineup. Work began on the writing and recording of their eponymous debut album, which included collaborations from Manchester born singer, and former Primal Scream collaborator, Denise Johnson, Black Submarine and The Verve guitarist Nick McCabe, Jack Mitchell and Iwan Gronow, drummer and bass player for Johnny Marr. The Mute label released the album in July 2018. The band appeared at several festivals beforehand, the North By Northwich Festival, hosted by The Charlatans, The Great Escape Festival in Brighton and The Dot To Dot Festival in Manchester, Bristol and Nottingham. ShadowParty also featured at the Festival No.6 in Portmeirion, Wales, before they embarked on their debut headlining tour of the UK in September 2018. The band toured Italy in January 2019, and also supported The Slow Readers Club in March 2019 on their successful UK tour. In May 2019, the band headlined in Glasgow, as well as supporting A Certain Ratio in Manchester
Chapman uses Fender Basses and a Music Man StingRay for live performances. Whilst recording with New Order in 2013 and 2014, Chapman used a Fender Precision Bass. He also plays keyboards and guitar. Chapman is also an endorsed artist for the Fender brand
