METALLIAN - Castle Blak

March 20th, Anno 22

Babes In Toyland - 1985 - T.O.M.
Another Dark Carnival - 1986 - Stiff Kitten

Members

Vocals

The Tots, Asylum, Rat Patrol, The Bonamics, Avatar, Escort Service, Femme Fatale, Captain Howdy, The Angry Loners, Times Square, Circus Maximus>>REGENT ST. CLAIRE>>Solo, CandyAppleBlack

Guitar

David Chayce [David Victor]>>Velocity, Solo - CHUCK MORE>>Roulette, Soulstess

Bass

Keith Beattie - KEV MUELLER>>Shea Roxi, Le Mans

Drum

Electric Eyes, Ruby Slippers>>Matthias Montgomery - Speed Of Sound, Head On>>Scott Sanders

History & Biography

Regent St. Claire and drummer Matthias Montgomery formed this San Francisco band in 1983 as Fox. A demo dubbed Ready, Willing And Able is issued before the band changes its moniker to Castle Blak.
With the addition of guitarist David Chayce (a.k.a. David Victor) and bass player Keith Beattie, the band records its debut Babes In Toyland through T.O.M. Records. This album is licensed by France's Black Dragon Records for the European territory. This line-up never plays live in support of the album.
With a line-up that is revamped, the California glamsters record a second album entitled Another Dark Carnival. This one is issued by St. Claire's own Stiff Kitten imprint and licensed for Europe by Black Dragon subsidiary High Dragon.
With success not being forthcoming for the band's brand of hard rock in Northern California, the act relocates to the more hospitable environs of Los Angeles. A slight change of direction occurs here and the group is now compared to The Sweet and The Georgia Satellites. At this point in time, the group renamed itself Monster Island. A couple of years later drummer Scott Sanders' drug use gets him fired from the act. Upon returning to San Francisco, Sanders shot and killed his girlfriend and himself in quick succession.
The band is engulfed in the rise of thrash metal and calls it a day. In 1990, the line-up of St. Claire, Montgomery, Brian Crow and Kev Mueller regroup under the Blak moniker. This line-up records a demo entitled Serious As A Fucking Heart Attack using the services of producer Alex Woltman who had previously worked with W.A.S.P. Once again, the band finds itself without a market, having regrouped during the alternagrunge era, and splits up. The band did manage to release a cassette-only album through Stiff Kitten called No Bed Of Roses in 1992. St. Claire does some solo recordings and forms a pop band called CandyAppleBlack. He, furthermore, releases a comic book called CandyAppleBlack, gets involved with film scores and publishes several books of poetry and prose. Head On featured Frank Wilsey on lead guitar who went on to play with Sea Hags.
In late 2002 the band was supposed to be the subject of a compilation CD issued by Fastlane Records called Glamour And Damnation. With Fastlane not seeing the project through to completion Glamour And Damnation: Greatest Hits & Dirty Little Secrets was released in 2006 by The Good Intentions Paving Co. owned by Regent St. Claire.

Reviews

Interviews

Castle Blak