by Ernie Thomas
N.W. Indiana’s Nast Devin has been around for three years, but still
think of themselves as “brand new” since the addition six months ago of
guitarist Mike Krischano.
“We started completely over when Mike joined us,” said bassist Nick
Summers, who founded the group. “We scrapped all of the original songs we’d
had and started writing fresh material once Mike joined.”
Nick’s younger brother Jon Summers was behind the microphone in the
beginning days, but left for a spell. He has since returned as lead
vocalist. Drummer John Ripperdan has held down the rhythmic groove with the
elder Summers for two years. This is the first real band for all of them,
except Krischano, who had flirted with a major record contract while with the
local band, AK-47.
“They had label interest,” said Nick of AK-47, “but things didn’t work
out. That was a good break for us. Mike is a remarkable guitar player and a
great songwriter.”
Nearly a dozen original songs have since been written. “We usually
only play five or six originals in our set,” said Summers. “But what’s
cool is that people really seem to like them.”
While planning to record this winter, at present, Nast Devin is
primarily a cover band who do faithful renditions of tunes by Creed, Fuel,
Godsmack and the Red Hot Chili Peppers.
A chunky Chili Peppers groove permeates Summer’s playing. “Yeah, I’m a
big Peppers fan, so I do a lot of slap bass and funky bass stuff,” said
Summers, who usually winds up wearing only his Snoopy boxer shorts on stage
by their set’s end.
“Dropping my pants and playing in my ‘Joe Cool’ Snoopy boxers is kind of
a tradition now,” he laughed. In fact, recently when this writer saw the
band, many in the audience were chanting for Summer s to “lose the pants!”
They named the band after a rare 1958 kit car called the Devin, which
the bassist has been in the process of restoring for the last few years. “My
dad (their manager) used to drag race and I’m what you’d call a gear head
myself,” explained Summers.
A love of fast cars is not the only thing their father, Denny Summers
passed on to his sons. “My dad was a drummer back in the day,” said the
bassist, who started his musical journey playing a viola in his school
orchestra.
“My brother has been singing since he was a kid,” he continued. “Jon
has been involved in a lot of choirs and things and has won awards.”
Summers said his band plays out nearly every weekend these days. “Seems
like we are always hauling our gear and our asses somewhere,”he laughed.
“But I’m not complaining. We love playing for people. I don’t know who has
more fun at our shows, us or the audience...”
Nast Devin is no stranger to Midwest BEAT readers, as they have played
several of our BEAT Bashes over the last two years and always succeeded in
entertaining us.