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

Shrapnel Records Shrapnel Records is an American record label founded in 1980 by record producer Mike Varney. History Guitarist Marty Friedman (formerly of Megadeth and Cacophony), one of the label's most successful artists, first appeared on the album ''U ...

Career

The band was put together in 1984 by

Mike Varney Mike Varney is an American record producer and music publisher. He is the founder of the Shrapnel Label Group, which includes Shrapnel Records, Tone Center Records, and Blues Bureau International. He also has a 50% stake in Magna Carta Recor ...

, president of Shrapnel for a David T. Chastain solo album. Varney had noticed the

shred guitar Shred guitar or shredding is a virtuoso lead guitar solo playing style for the guitar, based on various advanced and complex playing techniques, particularly rapid passages and advanced performance effects. Shred guitar includes "fast alternate pi ...

ability of Chastain, member of the

Cincinnati Cincinnati ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Hamilton County. Settled in 1788, the city is located at the northern side of the confluence of the Licking and Ohio rivers, the latter of which marks the state lin ...

-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 San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...

band Rude Girl. The first band lineup included Leone, Chastain, CJSS bassist Mike Skimmerhorn and drummer

Fred Coury Fred Coury (born October 20, 1967) is an American musician best known as the drummer for the glam metal band Cinderella. Coury lists Neil Peart, Peter Criss, Bobby Blotzer, John Bonham, Eric Carr, Tommy Lee and Tommy Aldridge as his drumming in ...

, who later played in

Cinderella "Cinderella",; french: link=no, Cendrillon; german: link=no, Aschenputtel) or "The Little Glass Slipper", is a folk tale with thousands of variants throughout the world.Dundes, Alan. Cinderella, a Casebook. Madison, Wis: University of Wisconsi ...

. 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 ''Ruler of the Wasteland'' is the second studio album by the American heavy metal band Chastain, released in 1986 through Shrapnel Records. During the same year, David T. Chastain released also two other studio albums with his second band CJSS ...

'' (1986), both through Shrapnel, and ''

The 7th of Never ''The 7th of Never'' is the third studio album by the American heavy metal band Chastain, released in 1987 through David T. Chastain's own record label Leviathan Records in the USA. In Europe the album was reissued by Massacre Records in 1995. ...

'' (1987) through David Chastain's own label Leviathan Records. Drummer

Ken Mary Ken K Mary is an American musician who has worked as a drummer, producer, engineer, singer, record executive and writer on over thirty-five albums that combined have sold over five million copies worldwide. He has worked in genres from heavy roc ...

(

Fifth Angel Fifth Angel is an American heavy metal band from Bellevue, Washington. Biography Fifth Angel was formed in the suburbs of Seattle in 1983, specifically, in the Bellevue area. The band's initial lineup consisted of Ted Pilot (vocals), James B ...

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) replaced Coury from 1986 to 1988. The fourth album ''

The Voice of the Cult ''The Voice of the Cult'' is the fourth studio album by heavy metal band Chastain, released in 1988 through Leviathan Records. Critical reception Andy Hinds at AllMusic gave ''The Voice of the Cult'' two stars out of five, calling it "mainly ...

'' was released in 1988. On 1990s '' For Those Who Dare'', new virtuoso bass player

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replaced Skimmerhorn and drummer John Luke Hebert replaced Mary, who went to play for

Alice Cooper Alice Cooper (born Vincent Damon Furnier, February 4, 1948) is an American rock singer whose career spans over five decades. With a raspy voice and a stage show that features numerous props and stage illusions, including pyrotechnics, guilloti ...

. 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 Vicious Rumors are an American power metal band, originally formed in 1979 in the San Francisco Bay Area. The band was conceived by founder and guitarist/vocalist Geoff Thorpe, and has been actively recording and touring worldwide since thei ...

) 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) *

– bass (1989–1992) * Kevin Kekes – bass (1997–1998) * Dave Starr – bass (2001–2005) *

– drums (1984–1986) *

– drums (1986–1990) * John Luke Hebert – drums (1990–1992) * Dennis Lesh – drums (1995–1998) * Larry Howe – drums (2001–2005)

Timeline

ImageSize = width:800 height:auto barincrement:20 PlotArea = left:120 bottom:90 top:10 right:20 Alignbars = justify DateFormat = mm/dd/yyyy Period = from:01/01/1984 till:01/01/2018 TimeAxis = orientation:horizontal format:yyyy Colors = id:vocals value:red legend:Lead_vocals id:guitar value:green legend:Guitars id:bass value:blue legend:Bass id:drums value:orange legend:Drums id:album value:black legend:Album Legend = orientation:vertical position:bottom columns:3 ScaleMajor = unit:year increment:2 start:1984 ScaleMinor = unit:year increment:1 start:1985 BarData = 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" PlotData = width:11 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 LineData = layer:back 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

Discography

* '' Mystery of Illusion'' (1985) * ''

'' (1986) * ''

'' (1987) * ''

'' (1988) * '' For Those Who Dare'' (1990) * '' Sick Society'' (1995) * '' In Dementia'' (1997) * '' In an Outrage'' (2004) * ''The Reign of Leather'' (2010) * ''Surrender to No One''(2013) * ''We Bleed Metal'' (2015) * ''Chastainium'' (2017)

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