Although our hometown Corpus Christi is somewhat isolated on the Texas coast, in the 1960s it had a very active local music scene, which turned out to be the proving ground for the Zakary Thaks to develop a unique style and sound. From the outset, we were hell-bent on growing a reputation of being one of the rowdiest yet tightest bands around.
It’s hard to imagine it has been almost 50 years since the nucleus of the Zakary Thaks was formed. What is equally notable is in that time we have seen over a half-dozen compilations of our vintage recordings. Still, there were a number of tracks which had never been sourced from the original master tapes. When we briefly reunited in 2005 and found ourselves back in Sugarhill Studios inHouston, chief engineer Andy Bradley played us a song we had totally forgotten about recording – ‘A Passage To India’. We were shocked!
Even more exciting was the news Alec Palao had unearthed several more lost Thaks masters, in addition to those missing tape reels. With their discovery, Alec felt the time had come to put out a definitive anthology of our material – and we couldn’t agree more! It feels as though new life has been breathed into our songs, now that they’ve been professionally presented from the original sources.
We have never been more proud than with the release of this collection. The new discoveries, the title track, ‘It’s The End’, along with ‘She’s Got You’, have elevated the Thaks brand to the next level, and hopefully cemented our legacy in the annals of garage rock. The Zakary Thaks raison d’etre was and always will be making unabashed yet well-executed music. And now finally, Ace Records has captured that.
Chris Gerniottis
Lead singer for Zakary Thaks
