First annual Zach Fest comes to Redwood City

By the time Davis-Price was about 2 years old, Davis said he was taking him to his own band practices. Davis-Price became a self-taught pianist and keyboardist and, by the time he turned 15, he joined his dad on stage for their first performance together at a Friday night concert in downtown Redwood City.

From then on, Davis said he became his son’s biggest fan. In return, Davis-Price became his trusted bandmate, often taking the lead on stage despite being the youngest there.

“He never looked nervous and he always came through,” Davis said. “I knew I could always rely on him because he just never buckled under pressure. That was really cool.”

Despite Davis-Price’s talent, however, he also struggled greatly. From a young age he exhibited signs of depression and was placed on medication. Davis said he believes medicating children can lead to a “false sense of remedy” and in Davis-Price’s case, an opioid addiction.

Davis said his son’s addiction began in his early 20s but much of that side of Davis-Price’s life is still unknown to his father. The two would often play together and, in retrospect, there were signs, but Davis said his son also had reasons to be tired given that he worked three jobs.

Eventually, Davis-Price began attending groups for addicts and got clean. It wasn’t until after Davis-Price’s death following a relapse on Dec. 28, 2020, that Davis learned of how hard addiction had gripped his son and how big of a role model he was to younger people in the group he became.

“I think it gave him a sense of responsibility, which is what he needed. It’s what we all need, which is why people who are sober work so hard to work with others,” Davis said.

It was the loss of that responsibility that Davis believes drove his son to use again. With COVID-19 running rampant in the Bay Area and across the world, groups that once met in person were forced to end face-to-face gatherings but those meetings are vital for people in recovery who look to others with shared experiences for support or can see when someone in the group is struggling.

Reflecting on who his son was, Davis described him in a few ways. He was someone who would show up for the people he loved in the middle of the night if they needed him. He was a music and concert fanatic like his mother, attending hundreds of concerts and playing in a few bands including one he formed with friends called Rebels.

Davis-Price was a good student with an amazing memory, which helped him memorize songs and finish his first year at the University of San Francisco School of Nursing with a near perfect grade point average. He self identified as a member of multiple minorities as a Black, Jewish, gay man.

He was loved and he was generous, Davis said. But ultimately, Zach Davis-Price was someone different and someone special to everyone who knew him, he said.

“The Zach you knew was for you, which also means the Zach I knew was for me and nobody knew him in any one particular way,” Davis said. “I don’t think this loss is not something I believe I’ll ever heal from but I can keep moving through it and I think that’s all I can really expect.”

Driven to keep his son’s memory alive, Davis said he began planning Zach Fest just weeks after his son’s passing. The idea came to him while sitting in shared grief with Rebels members.

With the support from friends and the Fox Theatre team, Davis said he’s proud to see his vision come to life and, in a way, he believes his son would be proud. The event will be hosted at 7 p.m. Saturday, April 2, just days before what would have been Davis-Price’s 30th birthday, April 7.

Taking the stage will be bands Davis-Price has played with at some point or another, including Skip The Needle, described as a “passionate powerhouse all-female band based in Oakland,” Rebels and, Davis’s band, Garrick Davis World Blues.

A video presentation honoring Zach Davis-Price’s life, developed by Ed Barber and supported by Visual Street Media will also be featured and a livestream of the event will also be available.

Proceeds from the event beyond expenses will go toward creating and establishing Zach’s Cares, a foundation Davis hopes will go on to help support education and awareness around addiction, prevention, early childhood medication and nutrition.

Tributes to others who’ve recently lost their lives to addiction will also be honored, Davis said, noting he hopes to build a community not only around Zach’s memory but also his passion for kindness.

“Even the person with the most loving family and great talent and a great outlook on life can still be depressed and still have issues relating to addiction” Davis said. “But it’s that love that can keep someone from actually living in despair.”

Visit gdworldblues.com/the-zach-fest-zach-s-cares to learn more about the first annual Zach Fest Memorial Concert and Zach’s Cares and to purchase tickets for Saturday’s memorial concert.

sierra@smdailyjournal.com

(650) 344-5200 ext. 106