Wagga’s own Steve Watts and Phoebe Pinnock, from Heaven the Axe, started writing music together, fell in love and documented their journey in original songs. 

It all started when Phoebe was 13 and she wrote a song about the ‘bad boy’ she saw driving a maroon panel van around Wagga.

Fast forward to when she was 20, Steve had recruited her to be the voice of his new musical venture. 

“When we hooked up to play music I said ‘here is a stupid song I wrote about this dude I saw’,” Phoebe said. 

“I did the maths in my head and asked what colour the van was and realised it was me,” Steve said. 

Phoebe joked that since her first song was about him, her dreams came true. When Steve first heard her sing, he couldn’t believe her talent.

“I didn’t know anybody could sing like that,” he said. 

With their decade-long stint in Melbourne and all they have accomplished, Steve said it was easier and easier to be content. 

“It felt right to come home, we were at peace and now we play music because we love it,” he said. “I am super proud of what we have achieved.” 

With more than 18 years of song-writing and performing under their belt Phoebe and Steve said working alongside people you care about is imperative. 

“You can’t play music with people you don’t like because it doesn’t have the chemistry,” Phoebe said. 

“None of this agenda stuff,” Steve said. “It will never be over because it was us, it was always Steve and Phoebe and friends.” 

Steve can easily identify the highlight in their extensive career.

“When we finally completed our album and we went to the studio in Sydney to have it mastered,” he said.

“It was the best mastering studio in Australia and it was never going to sound better, sitting there holding hands with Phoebe,” he said. “It was the ultimate ‘we did it’ moment.” 

Phoebe said performing to 30,000 people in Jakarta was one of her best memories, feeling like ‘Britney Spears’. 

Together in life and in music has not always been easy, but the pair are far from done. 

“We are in the process of setting up some time to record acoustic music,” Phoebe said. “We are hoping to perform at people’s homes in private gigs, in response to the lack of live music venues.”

To any hopeful artists in the community, the duo said their best piece of advice is to play with people you love.

“Hold onto the feeling of jamming with your friends when you were 15,” Steve said. 

“You have to have the discipline as well, you have to lock that rehearsal in even when you don’t want to,” Phoebe said. 

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