I was in a band called Heavy Axe. Palo Verde 77, 78 ---We started the desert scene in Tucson. Our first desert party was at the old prison camp on Mt Lemmon for The Huns. Thousands of people showed up. We played mostly rock but got dubbed new wave because we played ACDC before they were on the radio. Our first gig at The Night Train was called New Wave comes to Tucson with The Suspects, Heavy Ave, and Rampage. My cousins lived on a ranch at what is now Valencia and Kolb when that whole area was only desert. My oldest cousin grabbed a tractor one day and drove down the dirt road that went to Houghton. When he was about a mile short of Houghton he made a road into the desert south off Old Vail Road. He cleared out a huge area and called it "The Buzz" Heavy Axe played a couple of parties there and thousands of Tucson High Schoolers would show up. One of my friends from Palo Verde Paul Wilkens (bass player for Roc Lochner) started hanging out with Robby as he was getting ready to make his debut. Paul had a party at the buzz and held a lead guitar contest. Robby took the stage and played the lead in heartbreaker by Led Zep. He got everyones attention. Heavy Axe was history after that performance. Roc Lochner made a huge splash and Heavy Axe faded into oblivion. Robby and I have been friends for decades. He played in a band called Born and Bred with Milton Cox (Heavy Axe) The songs on the album they recorded are among my favorite songs that Robby ever played on. Meet you on the other side and Body for Business are epic.
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