When Zac Cross Band takes the stage, those country boots start shaking.
The Rockhampton exports are firing country music up with ear-splitting snares and more grunt than a farm ute.After amassing almost half a million streams, the band are set to release their debut album 'The Music Lives On', bending the genre as far as the strings on their guitars, all atop Cross' heartbreakingly honest lyricism.
"Around three, I got my first kids' guitar," Cross recounts the early days of his musical journey. "Then when I was eight, I got a nylon string guitar and had lessons for a year before I quit. In grade six, I bought myself a Squirer Strat. I'm pretty sure I still got it here," he hints at his sentimentality.
Music has always been Cross' solace in a wild world, giving him whatever he needed from moment to moment, and pulling him from the darkest places. "If I can't articulate myself or I'm trying to process something, music's always that way I can express it.
"I was a naughty kid in school, but if I had earphones in, I could get lost in the music and stop disrupting the class. It soothes the soul. The chaos can stop and creativity can come out."
Collaboration was a natural progression for Cross, who earned his stripes in watering holes that are often unforgiving. He recounts how the current band came together.
"I dipped my toe in the water in 2016, and I was really nervous to play in front of people. Me and this guy from school started playing all the pubs. Then one day at my parents' house, I heard music downstairs.
"I ducked my head in and my youngest brother's mate Lachlan Plant, who was 16 at the time, played 'Hotel California' start to finish perfectly, solos and everything.
"I went, 'we'll have to do something about that'. He started playing in the pubs and we had to be his legal guardians. He just got better and better, and eventually old enough to have a beer himself. He's an absolute weapon, but we try not to tell him.
"Fast forward to 2020, our drummer Baz [Bailey Connor] parted ways with another band, and Lachlan's dad was friends with Baz's dad and said, 'why don't you reach out?' And he's been with us ever since.
"Then we were like, 'who the hell are we gunna get on bass?' I reached out to Jaymon (Bob), and he said, 'I don't really play bass, but I can play bass'. That was August last year, and then 'Australian Idol' reached out to him around the same time.
"He did that and made Top 6. It's unique to have a Top 6 'Australian Idol' playing bass," Cross laughs.
'The Music Lives On' started forming in Cross' mind during some of the darkest days of his life. His decade-long relationship ended, forcing him to return home to try to find the peace to start again. Sage fatherly advice started him on the right track.
"I ended up moving back into my parents' house for a few months after a hectic time in my life. It was definitely the lowest, angriest, and saddest I've ever been. I was cursing the world.
"Then the old man goes, 'why don't you find solace in God?' He was scraping the barrel, I looked at him thinking, 'what are you talking about?'. But that sparked something, and that night I wrote 'Dear God'.
"I wouldn't consider myself a man of faith, pretty much the opposite, but I reference God many times on this album. It's not like I've never wanted to believe in Him. I wrote 'The Music Lives On' for my pop who passed away in 2009, and you want to believe they're in a better place, but at the same time, when so many terrible things are happening, you're like, 'how?'."
The album, recorded with award-winning producer Jared Adlam (Travis Collins, Adam Brand), begins with 'Who I Am', an anthem shouted from an unsettled man, commencing its arc of redemption that ends with Cross' song for his grandfather.
Along the way, Cross happened upon a pretty blonde that would soon become his wife. "It's funny, around the same time as I wrote 'Dear God', we played a music festival on Great Keppel Island called Sunset Sessions," Cross recalls, fresh from the honeymoon.
"I was having a shocking day, so I was having a beer and this little blonde girl gave me a wave. I thought she was waving at my mate. Turns out I had met her before. I went and played and then we found each other again.
"One thing led to another, and I was supposed to leave on the 7 o'clock ferry, but I pulled some strings and ended up leaving on the last one, that's a line in 'Matter Of Time'. I reached out the next day and the rest is history.
"It's weird because I wrote in 'Dear God', 'do I pray for her? Do I pray for me?' And then literally that next weekend, in comes Ashley."
As the final words of the album declare, the music has always been where everything begins and ends for Cross. He reflects on how far the band have come, and his perspective on purpose.
"The music industry is a freaking roller coaster, and it's hard to define success. Sometimes you get a bit impatient or you want things to work better. You have to take a step back and realise how fast you have progressed in a short space of time.
"Coming from a low place and having to drag yourself out of it, music has helped the whole way. I feel like that's the purpose there. That's why our sound has a certain flavour that's maybe not normal for country-esque music.
"We do find ways to enjoy what we're doing and hopefully change someone else's day or change someone else's life, whether it's live or through a song. That is the purpose right there."
Zac Cross Band 2025 Tour Dates
Fri 6 Jun - Boys From The Bush - The Concert (Rockhampton)Fri 27 Jun - The Music Lives On @ Flamingos (Rockhampton)* album launch party
Fri 25 Jul - Country On Quay (Rockhampton)
Sat 23 Aug - Maraboon Tavern (Emerald)
Sun 24 Aug - A Rainbow Of Music (Emerald)
Sun 31 Aug - Gympie Music Muster
Fri 26 Sep - Twin Hills Rodeo & Campdraft (Twin Hills)
Sat 27 Sep - Bull, Bronc & Barrels (Imbil)
Sat 11 Oct - PBR - Touring Pro Division (Kilkivan)
Sat 25 Oct - Kilcummin Ladies Day (Kilcummin)
