S2 E82 JOHN ZAC, Drummer for STONE & The Internationals, former for F.A.B, Division 4, Zep Boys, Flame Trees, SCAT, Subsonic Symphonee, Earthling777, Touring drummer for Graham Bonnet & Glen Hughes.

BAND IT ABOUT - Podcast Series

When you consider the fact that John Zak has had a career as a professional musician for over 45 years, despite being born with a chronic lung condition that at one time had his parents believe that he would be on an iron lung by the time he was 16, and that by the time he was in high school his first music teacher failed him and said that he would never make it, it is truly remarkable what he has managed to achieve during his musical journey! John was born in South Australia and grew up living in the Norwood area. He always loved music and at first thought that he would be a singer, that was until he took a liking for the drums after being inspired by The Sweet, so in 1976 his dad enrolled him to have lessons at 'John Reynolds Music City' with Robert Lloyd. His father then wanted to see if he could go further so he arranged for him to go and have lessons with another of my previous guests Jim Bailey, John accredits Jim as being the reason why he made it in the music industry. Being a student with Jim Bailey meant that John was gigging well before he left school, playing with various ensembles at the Dom Polski Centre and at the Festival Theatre. His first professional gig was with The Hot Boys, he then joined The Pits who eventually became F.A.B who had quite a bit of success in the mid 80's, they released a single called ''Happy People/The Fastest Song In All The World '' in 1985 on the RCA label, Produced by Eddie Rayner of Split Enz. This led to them playing their first big event "The Big Swing" which was held at Football Park, appearing on the same line-up as The Models and INXS. Thanks to former F.A.B singer/songwriter/guitarist Stuart Day for putting me in contact with John so that I could interview him. When F.A.B disbanded they became a popular cover band called Division 4. It was around this time that his fellow band mate bassist Warwick Cheatle had been to see the Zep Boys play, he told John that the Zep Boys were looking for a new drummer and bass player, so they joined the band and went on to play and tour with the band for 11 years, this includes the first time that the Zep Boys teamed up with the Adelaide Symphony Orchestra to perform the music of Led Zeppelin. John has also performed with the ASO performing the music of Pink Floyd and Queen. In 1996 Frank Corniola went to see John play with the Zep Boys and invited him to come to Melbourne to play at the Ultimate drummers Weekend Festival, Frank was impressed with his playing and suggested that John move to Melbourne and come and teach at Drumtek which he did, John has lived in Melbourne ever since. In Melbourne John has worked with a variety of artists, he was the touring drummer for Graham Bonnet and Glen Hughes, was a member of another band that almost made it big called 'Subsonic Symphonee', they were about to be signed by LA socialite and philanthropist, Daphna Ziman, but unfortunately their Australian Manager disagreed with Daphna's request for the band to change their image and refused to sign the contract, when he heard what had happened John and the guitarist left the band. John has continued to play with a variety of Melbourne bands including Flame Trees, SCAT, and Earthling777 just to name a few, he currently plays with Damon Stone in the bands 'STONE' and 'The Internationals'. John works as a production assistant/stage manager on corporate events with Kojo and The City of Stonnington.

Music intro "Band It About" theme song, written and recorded by Catherine Lambert and Michael Bryant. Outro "To be a Man" by Earthling777.

Links: https://instinctmusic.com.au/live-entertainment/damon-stone-melbourne-acoustic-performer/

All of the BAND IT ABOUT - Podcast Series links can be found here: https://linktr.ee/banditaboutpodcastseries