Zach Blair (born December 26, 1974) is an American musician, best known as the lead guitarist and backing vocalist for Chicago-based punk rock band Rise Against. Before joining Rise Against in early 2007, Blair was a member of

melodic hardcore Melodic hardcore is a broadly defined subgenre of hardcore punk with a strong emphasis on melody in its guitar work. It generally incorporates fast rhythms, melodic and often distorted guitar riffs, and vocal styles tending towards shouting and ...

group Only Crime along with his brother, Doni Blair, who currently plays with the Toadies. The brothers were founding members of the bands

Hagfish Hagfish, of the class Myxini (also known as Hyperotreti) and order Myxiniformes , are eel-shaped, slime-producing marine fish (occasionally called slime eels). They are the only known living animals that have a skull but no vertebral column, ...

and Armstrong. Blair was also

Flattus Maximus Flattus Maximus is the name of a character and former guitarist in the American heavy metal band Gwar. He is known for his red face, white dreadlocks, dinosaur-head shoulder pads and reptile feet. The name "Flattus" is indicative of the charact ...

GWAR Gwar, often stylized as GWAR, is an American heavy metal band formed in Richmond, Virginia in 1984, composed of and operated by a frequently rotating line-up of musicians, artists and filmmakers collectively known as Slave Pit Inc. After th ...

from 1999 to 2002. He made a return to GWAR as Splattus Maximus on the 2013 album '' Battle Maximus''. He has also been a second touring guitarist for The Loved Ones and was second guitarist on the instrumental band The Mag Seven's album ''The Future Is Ours, If You Can Count''. Rise Against's fifth studio album, '' Appeal to Reason'', released in 2008, was its first with Blair. He also appeared on the band's sixth studio album release, ''

Endgame Endgame, Endgames, End Game, End Games, or similar variations may refer to: Film * ''The End of the Game'' (1919 film) * ''The End of the Game'' (1975 film), short documentary U.S. film * ''Endgame'' (1983 film), 1983 Italian post-apocalyptic f ...

'', which was released in 2011. Rise Against's seventh studio album, '' The Black Market'', was released in 2014. As of early 2015, Blair has taken part in playing guitar for the punk band Drakulas alongside members of

The Riverboat Gamblers Riverboat Gamblers is an American punk rock band originally from Denton, Texas, formed in 1997, now residing in Austin, Texas. The band's current line-up comprises vocalist Mike Wiebe, guitarist/voc Fadi El-Assad, guitarist/voc Ian MacDougall, ...

. Blair currently resides in

Austin, Texas Austin is the capital city of the U.S. state of Texas, as well as the seat and largest city of Travis County, with portions extending into Hays and Williamson counties. Incorporated on December 27, 1839, it is the 11th-most-populous city ...

. He is straight edge, a

vegetarian Vegetarianism is the practice of abstaining from the consumption of meat (red meat, poultry, seafood, insects, and the flesh of any other animal). It may also include abstaining from eating all by-products of animal slaughter. Vegetariani ...

and an

animal rights Animal rights is the philosophy according to which many or all Animal consciousness, sentient animals have moral worth that is independent of their Utilitarianism, utility for humans, and that their most basic interests—such as avoiding s ...

advocate and actively promotes PETA with the other members of Rise Against.

Equipment

2018 RiP - Rise Against - by 2eight - DSC1864

Guitars *Gibson Les Paul Custom (Black). Custom made for Blair by Gibson. Single humbucker (bridge), single knob (volume) and toggle switch middle and neck position made into kill switch *Gibson Les Paul Classic (Black) w/Seymour Duncan JB pickups (with Motörhead symbol) *Gibson Les Paul Goldtop Reissue (Chambered Body) w/Seymour Duncan Distortion Pickups *Gibson Les Paul Standard (Black) w/ Seymour Duncan JB Pickups *Gibson SG Standard (Black) w/ Seymour Duncan Distortion Pickups *Gibson Les Paul '68 Custom (Black) w/ Seymour Duncan JB Pickups, without Pick-guard. (White) Amps and Cabinets *Marshall JCM900 4100 100watt Hi Gain Dual Reverb amp head (with 5881 Tubes) *Mesa Boogie 4x12 Recto Cab with Celestion Vintage 30 speakers *Mesa Boogie custom built Road Ready Cab with Celestion Vintage 30 speakers Effects and More *Boss TU-2 pedal *Lehle P-Split A/B/Y splitter *Boss NS-2 pedal *Line 6 Echo Park pedal *Rivera Channel Switcher *Furman Power Conditioner *Shure ULX Wireless Receivers *Voodoo Lab Pedal Power 2 Plus Strings and Picks *Ernie Ball Coated Slinky guitar strings (10-46 gauged) *Ernie Ball Hybrids .10 - .52 *Dunlop Tortex Standard Guitar Picks (.50 .60 .73 .88)

Discography

;With Hagfish *'' Buick Men'' (1993) *'' Rocks Your Lame Ass'' (1995) *''

'' (1998) *''Caught Live'' (1999) *''That was Then, This is Then'' (2001) ;With GWAR *''

You're All Worthless and Weak Gwar is an American heavy metal band formed in Richmond, Virginia in 1984. Their discography includes fifteen studio albums, two live albums, two compilation albums, and two EPs. The band has also released nine singles. Discography Studio albums ...

'' (2000) *'' Violence Has Arrived'' (2001) *'' Battle Maximus'' (2013) ;With Armstrong *''Dick, the Lion-Hearted'' (2002) ;With Only Crime *'' To the Nines'' (2004) *''

Virulence Virulence is a pathogen's or microorganism's ability to cause damage to a host. In most, especially in animal systems, virulence refers to the degree of damage caused by a microbe to its host. The pathogenicity of an organism—its ability to ...

'' (2007) ;With The Mag Seven *''The Future is Ours, If You Can Count'' (2006) ;With Rise Against *'' Appeal to Reason'' (2008) *''

'' (2011) *'' The Black Market'' (2014) *''

Wolves The wolf (''Canis lupus''; : wolves), also known as the gray wolf or grey wolf, is a large canine native to Eurasia and North America. More than thirty subspecies of ''Canis lupus'' have been recognized, and gray wolves, as popularly un ...

'' (2017) *''

Nowhere Generation ''Nowhere Generation'' is the ninth studio album by American punk rock band Rise Against, released on June 4, 2021 on Loma Vista Recordings. It is the band's first album in four years, serving as the follow-up to 2017's ''Wolves''. Four singles ...

'' (2021)

References

;Other sources *

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Blair, Zach Living people American punk rock guitarists Singers from Chicago American heavy metal guitarists People from Sherman, Texas Singers from Texas Only Crime members 1974 births Guitarists from Chicago Guitarists from Texas American male guitarists 21st-century American singers 21st-century American guitarists 21st-century American male singers Rise Against members Gwar members