I’ve listened to a lot of the projects that David T. Chastain
releases on his Leviathan Records label and I’ve finally concluded
what these releases have in common. Remember in the 80s when
Shrapnel Records would release all these ‘guitar hero’ bands,
predominantly solo discs from Vinnie Moore and Tony MacAlpine? You
knew that when you unwrapped the plastic and put a Shrapnel release
in your cassette deck, you were going to be blown away by the
guitar playing.
Two decades later, when I put
Double Your Pleasure in the old CD player, I was expecting
to be blown away by the guitar playing and that’s what I got.
Unlike the Shrapnel releases, Leviathan Records have a slightly
more diverse catalog, mainly because of the two Southern Gentlemen
releases. They have Joe Stump, they have the progressive band CJSS,
the guitar master series (I’ve only heard the Michael Harris
release in this series), and the power metal of Zannister. All of
these releases feature stoked guitar players that make me want to
tune up an air guitar.
Double Your Pleasure, the follow-up to the Southern
Gentlemen debut
Exotic Dancer Blues, continues the trend of Leviathan
releases inspiring air-guitar fantasies. Guitarist David T.
Chastain returns as the front man for the band, as does bassist
Kevin Kekes, but they have replaced Dennis Lesh with drummer Mike
Haid. The end result is blues that grooves.
Opening track “My Best Friend’s Girl” starts the release off
with an up-tempo guitar stretch. It becomes obvious very quickly
that this is Chastain’s showcase. These songs have a jam-band feel
and Haid and Kekes provide the foundation for Chastain to solo over
and groove over. Chastain also handles vocals and has a “dirty”
gravelly voice. The lyrics he sings are typical blues fodder,
focusing on relationships and women in practically all the
songs.
What could have made this CD better would be to re-arrange the
order of the songs. This CD grinds to a halt with the third track
“I Languish for You,” a slow ballad that just comes too early in
the CD. I know that there are many releases that put a ballad as
the third track, but on this release, it just doesn’t flow. The
first two tracks are two upbeat rock ‘n roll-style tunes and the
switch to this ballad is jarring, almost unsettling. In a perfect
world, I would have put track 4, “Not Worth My Grave” as track
three. It is a slower shuffling blues. It is not a full-fledged
ballad, but my recommendation is to play track 2, then 4, then 3 on
your CD player. In my ears, the songs flows better.
That is until track 7, a wretched 6:36 long track called
“Slutovirgin” which does nothing for me. It sounds like something
Poison would write: “She has the look/ She has the style/ She has
the way/ That drives men wild/ She’ll lead you on/ She’ll play the
part/ She’ll show her skin/ She’ll break your heart.” The music can
barely, barely, save the track. It’s an AC/DC-ish riff-based tune,
like “Back in Black,” with a solid drumbeat and a sparse guitar
part that lets the lyrics ‘hang’ in your ears between riff. Still,
if I had my druthers, this track would be on the cutting-room
floor.
The songs are predominantly in the 6:00 range, carrying forward
a characteristic of their debut. It’s like they turned on the
recorder in the studio and started jamming. I really like that live
vibe. The drums and bass parts are solid. The rhythm section
reminds me of AC/DC (them again). There’s not a lot of flash from
either instrument, a few brief ‘licks’ on the snare or toms, but
for the most part, the purpose of the Kekes/Haid rhythm section is
to groove. This CD would be a good example of how drummers and
bassists can play together for beginning musicians. The spotlight,
however, stays on Chastain.
