Today we’d like to introduce you to Zakk DuBois.
Hi Zakk, we’re thrilled to have a chance to learn your story today. So, before we get into specifics, maybe you can briefly walk us through how you got to where you are today?
New Jersey-born in 1990, Nashville-raised from 2001–2013 & 2018–current; growing up with music around & constant since my first breath. Whether it was a studio at home in every house I grew up in, or my folks constantly blasting rock from the ’60s–’80s as our ambience. Whatever excuse to have the tunes rolling day in and day out. How could music not be my future with an upbringing like this?…. Then to find out that my folks named me after Zakk Wylde in middle school…. I mean, come on! The destiny is in the details!!!
At age 12, my dad would buy a Pearl Export drum kit for our home studio. The timing was so divine because, at this point, my best friends were musicians, and I was starting to be influenced by them, along with the music I was discovering through WWE, MTV, VH1, Tony Hawk Pro Skater, and other sports video games… Little did I know how potent the “vampire’s bite” would become… I just started sitting behind the drums day by day and was feeling the itch to learn songs I loved… and I was… which I couldn’t believe I was doing…
Within a day, my entire future and path would change when I would play my final hockey game; to within a few hours, be called by my best friend to come play a student concert at World Music Nashville in the spring of 2005 to drum on Metallica’s “Seek and Destroy”…. The moment I walked up on that stage and sat down to look out at the crowd and the lights, it was game over for sports… and game on for music… A moment that I am so grateful my father still has the video recording of to this day….
From 2005–current, I would have the honor and blessing to have played for many different bands over the course of rock, metal, alternative, and more. Playing countless amounts of shows and grinding/cutting my teeth here in the music scene from 2008-2013, as well as in the scene of the tri-state area from 2013-2018. Then, in 2021, my biggest journey would begin with my former band Guillotine, where I got to play on the Broadway circuit, as we were the hosts of Metal Mondays and Thursdays at the Mellow Mushroom, JBJ’s, and Bowies from 2021–2025. Yes, that’s right, metal on Broadway!! Couldn’t have been more proud to be the black sheep!! On top of it, also leading us to playing Sturgis, the final KISS Kruise in 2022c doing our first full North American tour across the country and back, and even into Canada in 2023. Some of the biggest chips on my shoulder that finally got to be accomplished!!
I as well had the privilege of organizing and throwing 3 of what I called ZakkApalooza’s, which were multi-venue, local rock & metal music-focused events/mini-fests at Mercy Lounge/The High Watt and then Live from the Rock Block 1 & 2 at Exit/In & The End. Which, ironically enough, started out as house party shows back in high school. Never would I have imagined it even reaching that point, and there’s always the thought of wanting to do more down the line.
The story has many, many more special moments and stories, accolades, and whatnot. But to finish this with where it has all brought me to: I am now drumming for rock ’n’ roll band Tattered Sons, as well as beginning to start my very own hard rock/metalcore band. I couldn’t be more excited and proud, as I hope to be sharing this journey with you as things begin to and keep unfolding into 2027!!!
I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
Far from a smooth road. You could just about say it is and has been the equivalent of when Interstate 440 was full of potholes & everyone avoided it like the plague… Extremely nerve wracking, rocky, bumpy and full of so many chances that the tires could be blown out right from underneath you at any moment…. but it made the moments that were smooth feel like such incredible blessings, and getting through the potholes proved that the persistence, patience, attentiveness and relentless pursuit would pay off. Not being afraid to go down the more difficult & treacherous path…
Struggles, I would say I would correlate more to sacrifice, in which they brought struggles. Comfort, stability, peace & then some were thrown out the window. Whatever job allowed me the freedom to do music, no matter the hourly wage and/or the countless jobs to make it work… I did what I felt was right and necessary to pursue what I call life’s biggest gamble (in having an all-around successful music career & “MAKING IT”), especially financially….
Hell, right now I’ve been a full-time Domino’s delivery driver for 2 years, and it has been insanely beneficial… but it’s also worn on my mental gears, into my physical gears like no other, and makes certain days just full of anxiousness and frustration… especially needing to make sure I’m mentally and physically feeling sharp to drive for hours on end… It is no joke by any stretch of the imagination to pursue this dream many are bitten by at such young ages… but in the end… it is ALL worth EVERY ounce of what it is you will go through and endure.
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
I am a professional hard rock drummer of 20+ years. It is what I specialize in, and I am most known for my role with my previous band, Guillotine, which also happens to be one of my proudest accomplishments in all we got to do and accomplish as a band.
I am most proud of the fact that, even though I’ve had every reason in the book to just hang it up and move on, there’s always been this grit within me that never allows me to say die. And when those moments come that I have the choice to roll over or keep going, life somehow shows me some way or sign that I have made the right choice once again to not give up and keep pushing forward.
I truly believe what sets me apart is beyond my playing. For it is what it allows me to do, which is express my story through the release of my pain & suffering, the set-backs and more I have endured in my lifetime, in a healthy and creative way. You could say that it makes me feel more like a performer who plays drums rather than just a drummer. Simply, music is my therapy.
How can people work with you, collaborate with you or support you?
They can find me on my social media platforms under Zakk DuBois. Same for collaborating. But in regards of supporting me, it’s just being there for me through the unknown. That just because I’m not selling out arenas and stadiums across the world, it doesn’t change their view that they believe in me like I believe in me to go get it and make something so special that fulfills my purpose and desires/dreams in this life.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/zakkyd3113?rpxt=MTZ4OXRjcGQ4bWw5MA%3D%3D&utm_source=qr
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/share/1BuHrayj7u/?mibextid=wwXIfr
