Chastain (band)

Chastain is an American heavy metal music band, formed in 1984 by guitarist David T. Chastain and signed by Shrapnel Records.

Career

The band was put together in 1984 by Mike Varney, president of Shrapnel for a David T. Chastain solo album. Varney had noticed the shred guitar ability of Chastain, member of the Cincinnati-based band CJSS and, at the same time, he wanted to create an output for the talent of young singer Leather Leone, formerly with the San Francisco band Rude Girl. The first band lineup included Leone, Chastain, CJSS bassist Mike Skimmerhorn and drummer Fred Coury, who later played in Cinderella. In 1986, Chastain readily declared that "I could never work with these people on a full-time basis because they live all over the country (...). We just get together once a year, record an album and then go off and do our own things". In the case of Chastain, he wrote music for CJSS and his solo albums, as well as producing other artists and managing his own record label.

Their debut album ''Mystery of Illusion'' was released worldwide in 1985, followed by ''Ruler of the Wasteland'' (1986), both through Shrapnel, and ''The 7th of Never'' (1987) through David Chastain's own label Leviathan Records. Drummer Ken Mary ( Fifth Angel, TKO, Flotsam and Jetsam (band)) replaced Coury from 1986 to 1988. The fourth album ''The Voice of the Cult'' was released in 1988. On 1990s ''For Those Who Dare'', new virtuoso bass player David Harbour replaced Skimmerhorn and drummer John Luke Hebert replaced Mary, who went to play for Alice Cooper. Having put on hiatus CJSS to favor the more commercially successful Chastain, the band became also David T. Chastain main touring occupation, with a succession of world tours until 1991.

After some years of quiescence, when David T. Chastain dedicated his time to other solo projects, in 1995 appeared '' Sick Society'' and in 1997 '' In Dementia'', which were recorded with a new cast: Kate French on vocals, Kevin Kekes on bass and former Trouble member Dennis Lesh on drums.

Until the appearance of the 2004 album '' In an Outrage,'' the band disappeared again. The lineup for this album, in addition to David Chastain and singer Kate French, saw also her husband, Larry Howe and Dave Starr (both ex-Vicious Rumors) on board.

Chastain reformed with original vocalist Leather Leone, Mike Skimmerhorn and drummer Stian Kristoffersen (Pagan's Mind) to release "Surrender to No One" in 2013 and "We Bleed Metal" in 2015. Leather continues to tour under her own name performing classic and new Chastain tracks.

Lineup

Current members

* Leather Leone – vocals (1984–1992, 2013–present)
* David T. Chastain – guitar, keyboards (1984–present)
* Mike Skimmerhorn – bass (1984–1989, 2013–present)
* Stian Kristoffersen – drums (2013–present)

Past members

* Kate French – vocals (1995–2005), bass (1995–1997)
* David Harbour – bass (1989–1992)
* Kevin Kekes – bass (1997–1998)
* Dave Starr – bass (2001–2005)
* Fred Coury – drums (1984–1986)
* Ken Mary – drums (1986–1990)
* John Luke Hebert – drums (1990–1992)
* Dennis Lesh – drums (1995–1998)
* Larry Howe – drums (2001–2005)

Timeline

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DateFormat = mm/dd/yyyy
Period = from:01/01/1984 till:07/01/2023
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id:guitar value:green legend:Guitar,_keyboards
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bar:Leather text:"Leather Leone"
bar:Kate text:"Kate French"
bar:DavidC text:"David Chastain"
bar:Mike text:"Mike Skimmerhorn"
bar:DavidH text:"David Harbour"
bar:Kevin text:"Kevin Kekes"
bar:Dave text:"Dave Starr"
bar:Fred text:"Fred Coury"
bar:Ken text:"Ken Mary"
bar:John text:"John Luke Hebert"
bar:Dennis text:"Dennis Lesh"
bar:Larry text:"Larry Howe"
bar:Stian text:"Stian Kristoffersen"

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bar:Leather from:start till:02/01/1992 color:vocals
bar:Kate from:02/01/1995 till:09/01/1998 color:vocals
bar:Kate from:02/01/2001 till:09/01/2005 color:vocals
bar:Kate from:02/01/1995 till:02/01/1997 color:bass width:3
bar:Leather from:01/01/2013 till:end color:vocals
bar:DavidC from:start till:02/01/1992 color:guitar
bar:DavidC from:02/01/1995 till:09/01/1998 color:guitar
bar:DavidC from:02/01/2001 till:09/01/2005 color:guitar
bar:DavidC from:01/01/2013 till:end color:guitar
bar:Mike from:start till:08/01/1989 color:bass
bar:DavidH from:08/01/1989 till:02/01/1992 color:bass
bar:Kevin from:02/01/1997 till:09/01/1998 color:bass
bar:Dave from:02/01/2001 till:09/01/2005 color:bass
bar:Mike from:01/01/2013 till:end color:bass
bar:Fred from:start till:02/01/1986 color:drums
bar:Ken from:02/01/1986 till:02/01/1990 color:drums
bar:John from:02/01/1990 till:02/01/1992 color:drums
bar:Dennis from:02/01/1995 till:09/01/1998 color:drums
bar:Larry from:02/01/2001 till:09/01/2005 color:drums
bar:Stian from:01/01/2013 till:end color:drums

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color:album
at:02/12/1985
at:08/01/1986
at:08/01/1987
at:08/01/1988
at:07/21/1990
at:09/26/1995
at:10/01/1997
at:07/06/2004
at:11/19/2013
at:11/06/2015
at:08/25/2017

Discography

Studio Albums

* ''Mystery of Illusion'' (1985)
* ''Ruler of the Wasteland'' (1986)
* ''The 7th of Never'' (1987)
* ''The Voice of the Cult'' (1988)
* ''For Those Who Dare'' (1990)
* '' Sick Society'' (1995)
* '' In Dementia'' (1997)
* '' In an Outrage'' (2004)
* ''Surrender to No One'' (2013)
* ''We Bleed Metal'' (2015)

Re-Arranged Albums

* ''Wicked Riffs 8790'' (2012)
* ''Surrender to No One Uncut'' (2013)
* ''We Bleed Metal 17'' (2017)
* ''1321'' (2021)

Compilations

* ''The Reign of Leather'' (2010)
* ''Metal in Your Face'' (2012)
* ''Chastainium'' (2017)
* ''The Reign of Kate'' (2019)
* ''Chastainium v2'' (2022)
* ''The Reign of Leather II'' (2023)

See also

*''Shock Waves'' (1989) Leather Leone album

References

External links

David T. Chastain official siteLeviathan Records official siteShrapnel Records official site

{{DEFAULTSORT:Chastain
Musical groups established in 1984
Heavy metal musical groups from Ohio
American power metal musical groups
Shrapnel Records artists