Arazmo: Notice To Appear

Pinellas County based musical group, ARAZMO, formed in 1987 when an Omni Talent Agency circuit band called "Mad Hatter" split up. Guitarist, Vocalist and keyboardist, Brian Patton, his brother drummer, Jeff Patton and bassist Ronny (booger) Smith hired 19 year-old guitarist, Dave Arazmo. The group rehearsed at the Pattons parent's house in Seminole using headphones while standing in the upstairs hallway. The drums were mic'd up in the small spare bedroom. The group in this form recorded 11 original, Brian Patton written songs at Morrisound studios in Tampa. The group considered other names such as While Lies (the name of one of Brian Patton's originals) but it was Michelle Patton (sister of Brian and Jeff) who suggested calling the band ARAZMO. Being big fans of Van Halen, this seemed like a good, and certainly original, name.

At some point in 1987, the band decided that Brian Patton, who was busy with family commitments, would move to rhythm guitar and keyboards and the band hired Warren Buckingham to front the now five-person group. Due to other commitments, Brian left the band in 1988. Arazmo as a four-piece group became a South East club circuit band in 1989-90 booked by Fantasma Productions in WPB. Shortly after coming off the "road", the band had made a few member changes, notably the drummer and bassist. With Tony Wagner on bass and Vic Delatory on drums, Arazmo focused their efforts.

 

By 1991, and with the support of many friends, girlfriends and family members, Arazmo had become one of the Tampa Bay area's most popular bands along with groups like the Bleeding Hearts, St. Warren, Heartless, Deloris Telescope and a few others. Most popular music venues featured bands who played original material. Arazmo performed regularly at the Rock-it club on Dale Mabry and other popular night clubs; Mr T's Club 19, ML Chasers, Boomerangs, Gasoline Alley, Barritz, Kahunas, Gators and many others. When they weren't adding to their reputation as the Bay Area Bad Boys, the band rehearsed regularly and developed songs for 2 cassettes tapes (Arazmo I and Arazmo II) which were sold locally but put in a two part format mostly for the purpose of soliciting to record labels.

 

At the height of their local popularity, Dave Arazmo decided that the band should move their product to Los Angeles, California. Dave and Tony had recently made two trips to Hollywood; one to attend the Foundations Forum 1990 (a hard rock/ metal networking convention) and again in 1991 for Orion Pictures and MTV promotion for Keanu Reeves' movie Bill and Ted's Bogus Journey - Arazmo won the Air Guitar competition featured on a segment of Beach MTV with celebrity judges, Vince Neil and some girl from the TV show Beverly Hills 90210, among others. Arazmo band bassist, Tony, was often mistaken for Vince Neil of Motley Crue. Dave won the Air Guitar contest mainly by faking it to an original track that he wrote and recorded for the occasion. On that trip to Hollywood, while eating at the Hard Rock Cafe, Dave and Tony were recognized by one of the staff, Mark Martinez, the bartender. He said "Holy shit, it's Arazmo". This was, of course, exciting to Dave and Tony, because they were far from home. Mark, as it turned out, was from the Tampa area. Dave and Tony made friends quickly and spent several nights going to the Strip along Sunset Blvd to see the music scene - further solidifying the decision to move the band to L.A. In 1992, Dave and Tony got in his car and hit the road. They wrote the song "Get The Hell Out Of Texas" while attempting to do just that. Unfortunately, neither the drummer, Vic, or the singer, Warren were able to relocate. Arazmo "shopped" the tapes and made appointments with labels and management companies. He did manage to set up a showcase at the North Hollywood nightclub, FM Station.

 

While working at the Hollywood Guitar Center, Dave Arazmo met two businessmen who were importer/ exporters. They were discussing taking a musical act to China for a tour. Dave quickly promoted his band, Arazmo. It was decided that Tony and Dave would go back to Florida and prepare the group for the China tour. They made videos, they got passports, they typed out every lyric for the Chinese government representative(s) to scrutinize. They learned some Beatles songs as requested. They were featured in a St. Petersburg Times story. (Arazmo was also featured in the Times after winning the MTV "King of Air Guitar" crown).

 

The band folded in 19??.  In 2026, Dave Arazmo was asked if he wanted to release the very strong and sought after Arazmo album “Notice To Appear” (originally released in 1994).  Overwhelmingly, the answer was “Yes”!  So they were signed to FnA Records (www.fnareacords.net) amongst the labels plethora of other Florida bands.