Chastain (band)

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". 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 ImageSize = width:800 height:auto barincrement:18 PlotArea = left:120 bottom:90 top:10 right:20 Alignbars = justify DateFormat = mm/dd/yyyy Period = from:01/01/1984 till:07/01/2023 TimeAxis = orientation:horizontal format:yyyy Colors = id:vocals value:red legend:Lead_Vocals id:guitar value:green legend:Guitar,_keyboards id:bass value:blue legend:Bass id:drums value:orange legend:Drums id:album value:black legend:Studio_Album Legend = orientation:horizontal position:bottom ScaleMajor = unit:year increment:3 start:1984 ScaleMinor = unit:year increment:1 start:1984 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 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 ==