DAVID T. CHASTAIN interview for Hardline Magazine

Hello David, It is my pleasure today to lead the interview for Hardline Magazine with you. My name is Steve and here are my questions for you:

1. First of all thanks for the interview. Chastain can look back on a long history of US Heavy Metal, in your case that's almost 35 years, once we include your demo. How do you personally think the musical landscape has changed over the decades, especially from your point of view in the US and also worldwide?

David T. Chastain: The music business is definitely a different world today. In the late 80s there was nothing but Cds, Cassettes and Lps. A band made Dollars on a sale. Then came downloads and bands made cents per sale. Now with streaming bands make a small fraction of a cent per stream. As far as the music scene goes, back in the 80s the really popular stuff was pretty commercial metal in the US. I think the real heavy metal has held pretty firm all these years. There isn't a ton of difference between Chastain then and Chastain now. Maybe less shredding guitar parts but pretty close in most categories. Of course in the late 80s metal was king in the US and now it is very underground. Hard to find any metal in the Top 200 albums in Billboard. It seems Europe has held metal in high regards thru the years. I think Japan's market isn't what it use to be but is still OK. South America is also a good market.

2. At that time, you had made the decision to have a female voice on the microphone. Did that have a special reason, or had that just happened then?

David T. Chastain: I have always liked female voices. Mike Varney and myself weren't particularly looking for a female voice when I started Chastain. Someone sent in a demo and I said I liked the female vocalist. Varney told me if I wanted a metal female vocalist he knew the perfect person: Leather!

3. Currently you are releasing your older works from the 80s in vinyl, which is very accommodating to the current trend. Would you have personally thought that vinyl would be so hip again, or generally asked, how do you personally stand to the new types of music transmission, such as streaming etc ...?

David T. Chastain: I NEVER thought Lps would make a resurgence. Actually around the early 90s you could not give away vinyl. We ended up selling about 20,000 Lps for around 25¢ a piece... and we were happy to get it! They basically had no value at all. Streaming/downloads has ruined the music business. However it is what it is and we have to deal with it. In one way it helps the smaller bands because over the internet there really isn't much difference in sound between an album that costs $100,000.00 and one that costs less than $10,000.00. A little but not much. I think most all of the old school metal people prefer Cds and Vinyl. I ran a poll online and Cds were the big winner in people's preferences.

4. Back to music. Currently you are with your "The 7th Of Never 30 Years Heavy". How did you come up with the idea of doing these rereleases and how was the album selected? Is this album a special highlight in your story?

David T. Chastain: It is hard for me to believe those old albums are around 30 years old.... and people are still interested in them. To me "The 7th" probably has my most shredtastic guitar on any of the Chastain albums. There really wasn't a so called "Hit" on that album but there were many really good songs that made the whole album very strong. We want to provide the fans with whatever type of products they desire. Of course everyone loves the Lp packaging. That never changed.

5. Will it continue?

David T. Chastain: Yes. I designated 2018 the year of the reissues. There are 3 Chastain album reissues:
The 7th of Never
The Voice of the Cult
In An Outrage
All on vinyl and digital.
CJSS Demo albums on digital:
Embryonic Animation
Sands of Time

Also Mark Shelton and I recorded a demo in the late 80s we had planned to put out late this year. Needless to say I was shocked at his passing. Just a few days before he passed away he was sending in some final thoughts on the packaging. After conferring with all parties we decided to go ahead and release it in the form Mark wanted. It is actually quite good. Unfortunately it is just demo quality but Mark sounds amazing on it and his lyrics/melodies are always top notch. For further info you can go to www.sheltonchastain.com

6. You are still active. How has your music changed over the decades? Did you follow certain trends, or would you say the actual core was retained?

David T. Chastain: I think generally speaking the Chastain sound has been pretty consistent thru the years. Only "Sick Society" deviated from the norm and that was originally written for a different band. I usually write the music for a new song every day. I only put lyrics and melodies to them if I am going to record them for release. I probably have 1000 hours of unused music that will never be heard by the public.
As far as trends go I have never really been up on what is happening! Today when I look at a metal radio playlist I am lucky if I even recognize 20% of the band names. I was just never that interested in what other people were doing. Plus I am afraid that I might become influenced by others if I listen too much to any one band. If I listened to Maiden for 5 hours straight I would then immediately start writing music with their heavy influence. So best to stay was from too much of anything.

7. How would you describe your influences yourself? What did you grow up with? Are there special role models for you, especially in terms of your guitar work?

David T. Chastain: I have many diverse influences from Black Sabbath to Allan Holdsworth to early Scorpions to Kansas to the Mahavishnu Orchestra to the Allman Brothers to early Zep to Trower To Maiden to Dio to Hendrix to Priest. I have never "idolized" any particular musicians other than maybe the old masters Bach, Beethoven, Vivaldi and Mozart. When I first started playing I immediately wanted to do original music not copy anyone else.

8. How do you feel about the songwriting theme? Is that alone your thing, or teamwork?

David T. Chastain: I always write the music and I prefer the vocalist to write the lyrics and melodies. I can do that if necessary... however after writing 100s of songs it is hard to come up with new subject matter and new vocal melodies!

9. After all these years you certainly had other projects at the start. Are there any secondary sites to Chastain?

David T. Chastain: Pretty much everything can be found at www.leviathanrecords.com as far as all of the acts I have been associated with over time. The last time I counted there were something like 100 releases in one form or another. www.leviathanrecords.com/chasdisc.htm Even I forget about some of them.

10. What's the current situation with the band? Are there any new releases or will we be able to see you again sometime in Europe? When did you last visit Germany?

David T. Chastain: The only time I was in Germany was a promo tour for the Chastain album Sick Society in 1995. I probably won't be touring this year. Maybe a single show. Leather is trying to tour Europe again as a solo act and of course she plays a lot of the Chastain "classics." As far as a new Chastain album... we will see. We actually still have some tracks that didn't make the last couple of albums "Surrender To No One" and "We Bleed Metal" just sitting here. Hopefully they will see the light of day at some point as I think they are pretty damn good.

11. Finally, for you and you the opportunity to say a few words to your fans here.

David T. Chastain: I always appreciate the people who enjoy the music whether it be someone who has been there since the beginning or people just finding out about the band. I am always amazed at the young fans who contact me on facebook. Young fans who are into albums that were released before they were born! That blows my mind!!



















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