Waco-based, David Zychek, has been in the business for over 30 years and during that time has worked with some of the biggest names in Texas music. He recently lent his voice to a widely-circulated video on You Tube entitled Take Stock in America - a track written by award-winning songwriter, Rita Jones, expressing concern for the state of America today.
Aside from his work with Rita, her musician husband, Mike and other renowned artists from the Lone Star State, David has been writing with and producing a dynamic young English singer/songwriter named Deborah Jones, a new and exciting talent who he first met two years ago.
The Perfect Musical Pairing
"She got in contact with me," recalls David. "I have a friend who works for Roland, who make keyboards, systems, drums - they have just about everything. He told me he was putting something together with Mike Pender called Song Wars. They were going to ask people to put music on a website and he asked me if I’d like to be a judge on the panel.
Deborah heard about it and through that, she basically sent e-mails out to some of the judges. I looked at her site and was really happy to hear some songs which weren’t overproduced. Her voice was great, her lyrics were great and we set up a meeting by phone. With her melodies, I was able to put something together. I was really happy too, as I needed a songwriting partner.
We got along so good, that the next thing you know, she found a really cheap fare to the States and I guess in two years time, she’s made maybe six or seven trips over here."
Southern Style
Right from the start, David was blown away by Deborah's powerful vocals, killer stage presence and positive "can-do" attitude. Initially believing her to be from his side of the pond, he intended to use her voice on a very American type of music.
"When I first started working with Deborah, I couldn’t believe how much she sounded like a southern United States performer. She had a lot of soul to her voice and it was just her and an acoustic guitar. I thought she was country!"
After planning to record Deborah singing in a kind of Texas Country/Red Dirt style, David realised, after much subsequent experimentation with keyboards, drum machines and the like, that neither country nor electronically-enhanced music was the way to go.
"Red Dirt was what I originally thought, but it didn’t turn out that way at all. I guess it’s modern rock with a pop sensibility. We leaned a little bit into the modern dance-type fills. We used keyboards, loops and samples, but none of these brought back the feedback we were hoping for."
"Straight-Ahead Rock"
"I must have worked on six songs with her, but she saw her style more as rock. We since went back through the material and we now have about 12 or 13 songs. We took all the keyboards out and brought in a real drummer instead of using a drum machine. Remember Blondie? It’s almost like you cross the sound of Debbie Harry with something that’s more straight-ahead rock.
Guitar was the primary instrument and the industry people in London liked it. We worked on six of the songs and made it more like a four-piece band - I did the guitars. We got something that sounds really really good."
"It’s almost like listening to The Beatles Anthology," muses David, referring to the painstakingly long trial-and-error-laden process that led to the finished product. "They experimented with tempos and styles and we’re kind of like that. We have many drafts."
Stealing Wishes
The name London-based Deborah chose for the band she and David put together was "Stealing Wishes" - a moniker which suddenly came to her one day in the unlikeliest of places.
"Deborah was at a party of one of her nieces," explains David. "She saw her blow out the candles on her birthday cake (a time when children traditionally make wishes) and the name just popped into her head."
Stealing Wishes' first release, the epic Hamilton Boulevard, has caused something of a stir online and has generated a lot of interest on both sides of the Atlantic.
"This is our attempt to get the industry interested in what we’re doing," says David. "We’ve had a couple of shows in Texas and she absolutely brings the house down. I’ve never had a chance to work with someone like this!
We really wanted this to turn into something she and I can do together. She’s a joy to work with and I’m not just a guy over here putting music to her vocals. We both want to see these songs see the light of day."
Adrian Peel - Adrian is an English freelance writer and journalist currently living in Mexico. Over the past eight years, he has had articles, features ...
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