Now a professional snake and wildlife rescuer, Patrizio (Pat) Lazzaro hails from Calabria, Italy, migrating with his parents and seven older siblings to Melbourne in 1970.
It was natural for Pat to be immersed in his household’s traditional culture, singing Calabrian folk songs in family harmony and listening to songs from Italian recording stars Adriano Celentano, Little Tony and Albano. Pat joined the church choir, developing his ear for harmony, and was fortunate to have received his Grandfather’s old 4-string guitar to play.
Pat also spent these formative years listening to Jimmy Hendrix, the Rolling Stones, the Beatles, Deep Purple, Led Zeppelin and Black Sabbath. To develop this blend of influences further, from the age of 13 he worked after school and weekend jobs to pay for guitar lessons, leading to work in school bands, garage bands, cover bands, weddings, hotel gigs, and session playing.
Gigging at night, Pat also held full daytime employment in a range of industrial, hospitality and logistics jobs, as well as volunteering with the Rural Fire Service and following his passion for animals working with wildlife rescue and rehabilitation services.
Pat bought these life experiences to the military in 1998, becoming a Combat Engineer and logistics specialist. Multiple roles as a Squadron Quartermaster Sergeant followed, including a deployment to Afghanistan in 2007 with the Tactical Engineering Group.
When the chaos in life gets too much, Pat listens to music, loudly, that makes him want to move with it. Listening for every note, he sings along, imagining he’s on stage playing it with them (and exploring the occasional private dance move!)
Pat cites feeling and cherishing the moments when he jams with someone as absolute magic — jumping into a groove and experiencing the creative flow, allowing an 8 bar riff to become 800.
That’s life’s heartbeat for Pat, and what was rekindled while on the ADF ARRTS Program in 2015.