As a youth, he dreamed of becoming a pitcher for the New York Yankees, but his plans were halted when his hip popped out of joint at the age of 12.

On crutches for 4 months, he was advised to give up playing sports for two years so the hip could heal properly.

[1] In the fall of 1992, Zak got the call to join Savatage, replacing recently departed Jon Oliva.

In 1993, Plate moved back to upstate New York to regroup, joining a country rock band called Voodoo Rodeo.

After some member changes and a brief hiatus, they reformed in 2012 and released two more albums (Generation Nothing and XI) before Plate left the band in March 2017.

They recruited bassist Chris Rapoza, re-worked and re-recorded the original Wicked Witch material and ultimately released a self-titled album.