Australian musician Alex ‘Zack’ Zytnik has died at the age of 79.
Alex was a founding member and lead guitarist of the seminal 1960s psychedelic rock band Tamam Shud.
News of the rocker’s death broke on social media and friends and fans were quick to pay tribute.
One fan, Nicci Davidson, shared the news of Alex’s death to multiple Facebook groups in November.
“Salute to Australian rock royalty, Alex Zitnik (Zac) who passed away today,” she wrote.
The post went on to describe Alex’s musical career, which started in Newcastle in 1964 in the band The Four Strangers.
Beloved Australian musician Alex ‘Zack’ Zytnik, founder and guitarist of pioneering Australian psych-rockers Tamam Shud, has died aged 79
Nicci also paid tribute to Alex’s musical skills and the influence of his work with Tamam Shud.
“Zac left an indelible mark on the Australian classic rock scene of the 1960s and 1970s, giving life to Newcastle’s surf rock culture,” the post continued.
‘RIP Zac, you will be sadly missed, but your music will live on – hopefully they give you a gig in rock ‘n’ roll heaven.
The post was met with an outpouring of tributes from friends and fans who took to social media to remember the guitarist.
“I first saw Zac in late 1963 at a church dance in Wickham, Newcastle, in a band who shortly afterwards called themselves The Strangers (later changed to The Four Strangers),” one fan recalled.
‘I bought the guitar he had at the time when he bought his Fender Stratocaster. His musical legacy will always consist of the many recordings he made with the bands he collaborated with.
‘His musical skills were always far superior to those of his contemporaries. RIP Zac.”
Another replied with a simple: “RIP old friend.”
News of the sonic architect’s (pictured second left) passing broke on social media and friends and fans were quick to pay tribute.
Alex released only one album with Tamam Shud, Evolution, in 1969 before being replaced by Tim Gaze for the band’s second album, 1970’s Goolutionites and the Real People.
Despite Alex’s limited production for Tamum Shud, his influence loomed large, especially in the burgeoning Australian surf culture of the late 1960s.
Alex formed the Four Strangers in 1964 with Eric Connell, Dannie Davidson and Gary Johns.
After several name and line-up changes, the band adopted the name Tamam Shud in 1967.
Alex released just one album with Tamam Shud, Evolution, in 1969 before being replaced by Tim Gaze for the band’s second album, 1970s Goolutionites and the Real People.
Despite Alex’s limited production for Tamum Shud, his influence was profound, especially in the burgeoning Australian surf culture of the late 1960s.
Four songs from the album Evolution were used in a surf film of the same and after Alex’s departure, Tamam Shud provided songs for the soundtrack of the iconic 1972 surf film Morning Of the Earth.
The band also has the honor of playing at the first ever outdoor rock festival – The Pilgrimage of Pop, held at Ourimbah on the NSW Central Coast in 1970.
Rock historian Ian McFarlane said the band was one of the first in Australia to be influenced by the psuchedelic sounds of San Francisco’s Haight-Ashbury scene of the 1960s.
‘Tamam Shud was one of the first local bands to embrace the psychedelic sounds of Cream, The Jimi Hendrix Experience, Pink Floyd, Eric Burdon and The (New) Animals of the late 1960s, plus the San Francisco stylings of The Grateful Dead and the like. he wrote.
‘As an outgrowth of the acid rock movement, Tamam Shud managed to translate the music into a unique Australian context.
‘Tamam Shud became inextricably linked with the surfing fraternity, with audiences seemingly captivated by the band’s enveloping acid-surf progressive rock.’