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BIOGRAPHY
Originally from St. Charles, Missouri, and the son of a musical family (both his mother and father were singers and songwriters), Zak Perry was curiously destined not to become a musician. Instead he was to become a professional golfer. This did not sit well with the young man, however, “I knew deep down that this was not the direction I wanted to take. That’s when I decided I wanted to set up a band. It was certainly a form of rebellion,” Zak recalled to the Texas based www.galvestonislandguide.com website.
During his tenure in New York, Zak made several fateful encounters including Tim Beattie of The Four Horsemen and Marry Me Jane and guitarist Tony Saracene. However, there was one chance meeting that would solidify the next piece of the musical foundation that Zak had been trying to construct since he wrote his first song at the age of 13; in 1997 Zak met guitarist Vern Vennard. Vern, who’s most recent gig at that point had been as a guitar tech for Marry Me Jane recalls, “Tim and Zak were part of a songwriters circle gig at the Bitter End in New York City. I was just hanging out cuz I knew so many of the cats that were playing that night. I was hanging backstage and he came up to me and said that he had a small mid-western tour coming up and would I be interested in going with him. Except, I thought he wanted me to be a guitar tech!”
Vern realized that Zak actually wanted him in the band when, just before leaving, he turned to Vern and asked, “you play slide, right?”
So began the journey that took Zak and Vern from NYC to Memphis, TN and then to St. Louis, MO where they meet the next person to become a loyal musical companion: Drummer Jason Charron. With a revolving cast of bass players in tow, the core trio leaves the Midwest for the musical Mecca of Austin, TX, where, in 2000, they form the combo Ma Driver. Soon after adding the fourth key player, Scott “Sting” Ray on bass Zak re-christened the group, The Zak Perry Band, further defining his true musical signature.
Since 2016, Zak Perry has been performing regularly for his European audiences. To date, he has engaged in five tours, either with the band or as an acoustic duo with Vern, in France, Belgium and the Netherlands. The very first acoustic duo tour in 2016 was documented by the live album “Unplugged In Belgium” , which received a rave review in Blues Magazine NL.
