Wacotrib

Documentary celebrates influential Waco rock guitarist David Zychek

B.Lee27 min ago

The memory — and sound — of the late Waco rock guitarist David Zychek gets refreshed Tuesday night with the premiere of the documentary "Z: The Story of David Zychek" at the Waco Hippodrome Theatre, 724 Austin Ave.

The film, produced by Shawtime Productions and nearly seven years in the making, is a labor of love by Anna and Troy Shaw, who collaborated on the research, interviews, videography and editing on the project.

Zychek died from cancer at the age of 64 in 2016, ending a career as a talented rock guitarist and recording engineer, whose soaring, blistering technique had won him loyal fans across the state and beyond. He also was remembered by family, friends and colleagues as a generous, open person.

Zychek, his simplification of his family name Zajicek, started his music career in Austin during its heady 1970s, playing for such bands as Helix and Texas. After a short time in Los Angeles, he moved to Colorado where he joined a band called Airborne. After Airborne, Zychek returned to Central Texas and formed the celebrated blues-rock trio the Groove Kings.

He formed other bands — The Kangs, Zychek, Dead Heart Beating — and in between played studio dates with members of the Steve Miller Band and Uriah Heep, touring for a year with hard rock band Night Ranger. He and partner Ronnie Griffin started Largemouth Studio in the late 1990s, working with a number of Central Texas bands on their recordings. In his later years, Zychek headed the blues-rock trio Mojo Assassins and for years Zychek headed a Christmas Day rock concert at Sefcik Hall near Temple.

Videographer and musician Troy Shaw, now with Baylor University, had met and worked with Zychek since 1997, developing a long working friendship. The rock guitarist, in fact, was the first musician profiled on Shaw's music video podcast "In The Shedd."

Zychek's death in 2016 left a hole in the Waco music community and that planted an idea for what would become a documentary, recalled Troy's wife Anna. "David's passing hit hard with everyone. I had the idea of channeling it into something," she said. "I knew I didn't want it to be a sappy collection of videos ... we wanted to honor his talent."

That talent also raises the question that the documentary seeks to answer: Given his unquestioned ability and musicianship, why did Zychek never win the attention and fame that many thought he deserved?

Anna's work in earning a Baylor graduate degree in American studies prepared her in oral histories and research tools needed to do the groundwork for the documentary. Juggling full-time jobs while raising three kids, however, meant interviews, research and filming was done during the rare free time that the Shaws could set aside. As they got into the project, interviews opened doors and led to more interviews, from Waco to Denver to San Francisco.

Acclaimed record producer Ric Cabot Podmore, who had worked with Zychek during his Airborne days, steered the Shaws to others in the industry who knew Zychek, including Vic Johnson, a bandmate of Sammy Hagar, and famed rock record producer Keith Olsen.

"It really surprised us, the connections that David had ... we never had to beg anybody to talk about David," Anna noted.

The pandemic and widespread lockdowns chilled the Shaws' periodic work on the documentary, but a tipping point happened last year when a change in Anna's job freed up the time needed to focus on writing and producing, with Troy handling editing and production work.

New technologies that came about in recent years also smoothed the process, including using an AI-created voice to read Anna's script and guide Troy's early edits. A real narrator in the form of Domingo "Sunny" Ortiz, who played with Zychek in the 1970s, later recorded the film's actual narration.

"The story would have been very different had it been completed three or four years ago," Anna said.

The finished product features performance footage of Zychek, 22 interviews with the likes of Ted Nugent, Beau Hill, Johnson, Brad Gillis and others. It runs just under two hours.

There's an after party planned at The Backyard after Tuesday's screening, with former Zychek band members, family and friends in attendance. Brian Brown and Sloppy Joe will play at the party.

The Shaws are currently submitting "Z: The Story of David Zychek" for film festivals' consideration and one, the Doc'n Roll Festival in London, will screen it this spring, Anna said.