The name Terry Trash is notorious in these parts. A fixture in Tucson’s music community for over 30 years, our punk rock hero obtained infamy when he was hit by a train, losing both his right arm and leg. He is lucky to be here but it is us, the music community, who are truly blessed with his influential and very much alive place in local music. Terry’s band, Texas Trash and the Trainwrecks have been getting people drunk and rowdy with their classic mix of punk and rockabilly for 12 years.  The group’s staying power speaks for their unrelentless quest for fun and for their country spiked hypnosis over the fans. The Trainwrecks refuse to let a fast moving train and a recent revamp of their band tie them down to the tracks, like some damsel dreading the conductor’s next move.

When I met with Kevin Henderson, of The Swigs and Fish Karma, at his home, I was greeted with a hug, a cold beer, and a 1974 Creem magazine with Iggy Pop on its cover. The hug was a sheer expression of joy and mutual appreciation for the meeting of the minds about to take place. The cold beer was only appropriate for the beautiful Tucson afternoon around us and the Creem magazine that was for inspiration. It was not for me to emulate but rather to think on a time in music journalism, made up of passionate people, just having fun writing about the music that fueled their lives. Inspired, that sums up the feeling I experienced when I spoke with Kevin and now whenever I put on The Swigs, pivotal rock album, Johnson Family Values.