Artist description One of the best mid to late 80's US metal bands. Unique metal with so much class! These tracks are studio demos of the band before they recorded their first Cd World Gone Mad and includes some very rare CJSS music.

Music Style Traditional Metal

Musical Influences Judas Priest, Maiden, Sabbath, AC/DC and other mid 80s metal

Similar Artists Judas Priest, Maiden, Sabbath, AC/DC and other mid 80s metal

Artist History CJSS was formed by guitar wizard David T. Chastain during early 1984 with two other members of the band Spike, drummer Les Sharp and bassist Mike Skimmerhorn,and vocalist Russell Jinkens who had gained fame for his stint in local Cincinnati cover band Prizoner. Spike had recorded and released the album 'The Price of Pleasure' in 1983. Spike toured the United States with many acts, the most well known being Black Sabbath.David was not satisfied with the commercial slant of Spike's material and was at constant odds with the band's management and booking agency whom had been trying to push the band in a even more commercial direction. In order to play the music they loved the four musicians decided to form the band CJSS.The band's first show was October 4, 1984 at Bogarts. The club's management had expected a week night crowd of only a few hundred but were pleasantly surprised when well over a thousand fans showed up. This was just the beginning as CJSS regularly appeared at the Cincinnati venue drawing huge throngs throughout the 80's.Even to this day the band still holds all attendance records at the club. The largest being November 15, 1986 with a crowd of 1452 paid and more turned away at the door. In the summer of 1985 the band went into the studio and recorded the album 'WorldGone Mad.' This album was released in January 1986 and was received very favorably worldwide. This album included some of the band's classic cuts such as; 'Hell On Earth' 'World Gone Mad' 'Destiny' and the band's contemporary version of the Zeppelin classic Communication Breakdown. After doing a short tour of the US the group went into the studio in the summer of 1986 and recorded the bands pinnacle release 'Praise the Loud.' The album was released in October 1986 to intense worldwide acclaim. The track 'Metal Forever' became a rallying cry for metal fans everywhere and became the theme song for the metal syndicated radio station Z ROCK. The praise lavished upon the band was universal. CJSS had released two classic metal albums in the less than one year. A feat unmatched in metaldom. CJSS continued to do concerts up until 1992 to huge throngs in Cincinnati but attempts at that time to record another album fizzled for different problems that could not be rectified to the satisfaction of all parties involved.CJSS never officially broke up but the members just drifted into their own projects to satisfy each members' own musical vision. Mike continued recording with the band Chastain for 4 Cds. Even though Les and Russell never commercially released other albums they continued to record with numerous projects that never saw the light of day for one reason or another. David T. continued his assault on record buyers worldwide and today has well over 30 titles in his catalog. In the year 2000 the band reformed to record 'Kings of the World' which showed that the band could still create their magic brew of metal.

Group Members David T. Chastain-Guitar**Russell Jinkens-Vocals, guitar**Mike Skimmerhorn-Bass, vocals**Les Sharp-Drums

Instruments guitars, bass and drums

Albums World Gone Mad, Praise the Loud, 2-4-1, Kings of the World, Retrospect, Embryonic Animation

Press Reviews 'Majestic Metal stuffed to the bursting point with all the guitar heroics you could possibly want, highly sophisticated, very technical and, what’s more, they play real songs!'-Kerrang Magazine **'Cultured Metal with an IQ of at least 200!'-Kerrang Magazine

Location Cincinnati, OH - USA

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