Rocky Athas' Lightning

In the late 70s and early 80s, Rocky Athas was the creative vortex behind Lightning, absolutely one of the biggest draws in Texas nightclub history. The band toured with the hottest arena acts of the time, including Ted Nugent, Pat Travers, The Kinks, Rick Derringer, Ritchie Blackmore's Rainbow, and Peter Frampton. Also at that time Rocky's fame was such that Guild introduced the Rocky Athas I guitar, and Gibson honored Rocky by making him the only non-record label endorsee in the company's history.

Ironically, it was their success on the local level that contributed to their ultimate undoing. The band that had started with the goal of scoring a record deal was caught up in a weekend to weekend grind that left them unable to see the big picture.A 1977 record deal with United Artists was a bitter disappointment when it was discovered that the band had actually been signed as tax write-off. In 1979, it seemed that the band had gotten their big break when they were signed to Phil Walden's celebrated Capricorn Records, the home of the Allman Brothers and the Marshall Tucker Band, but the label went bankrupt as their first album was in the mixdown stage. The band continued to slug it out into the 1980's, but threw in the towel shortly thereafter.

The 1980's and 1990's saw Athas re-emerge, joining up with Black Oak Arkansas. He also played with former Trapeze/Deep Purple bassist Glenn Hughes and recorded and toured with Buddy Miles (best known from Jimi Hendrix's Band of Gypsies) alongside Stevie Ray Vaughan's old rhythm section, Double Trouble.

He was eventually noticed by Tony Sweet's Blue Armadillo records of London, England and he formed the Rocky Athas Group with vocalist Larry Samford, who had been one of Lightning's original singers and bassist Guthrie Kennard (Ray Wylie Hubbard, ZZ Hill). Finally, he was able to concentrate on his original material again. 2003 saw the release of Miracle. Voodoo Moon followed in 2005.

The re-cut songs, recorded at Watson's home studio, drew much more interest than the label had anticipated, and Lightning Strikes Twice was released on CD, albeit a CD that resembles a small vinyl record. "Lightning never got their record out," Rocky explained, "but now we sorta do (laughing) - just a little one."

The logical next step was to get a live show together to support the CD, so Athas started off by re-teaming with Watson on drums. Getting 28 year-old son, Rocky II on bass followed next. He had experience playing in local bands, both in Dallas and in San Diego, where he had moved when he was 17, but he was more into the metal scene. This was truly a Godsend, especially considering that Rocky II didn't seem to show much interest in music as a child.

The comfort level between the members is undeniably real. Even in their off-time, they can be found playing in Watson's home studio, recording their originals or the songs of their youth like the Beatles, the Moody Blues and Hendrix.