Mark Lizotte better known as Diesel launched himself onto the Australian charts as leader of Johnny Diesel and the Injectors.

Born in Fall River, Massachusetts in 1966, Lizotte and the family immigrated to Australia in 1971.

Arriving in Sydney, the family piled into a newly acquired station wagon and travelled along the Hume Highway before settling in Albury, NSW. The Lizotte family then moved to Perth, but through all this movement one thing remained stable, Lizotte's love for music.

Read: Return of the working class man

Read More: Brian Haydon will serve up a feast for Pie Time

Read Further: Drummer Mark Lucas speaks about a life in rock n roll and The Radiators

Like many musicians, the love for music was entrenched into Lizotte as a child. And like musicians before him and well after him, he had the dream to play music, but was a little unsure on how to realise those ambitions.

"I wanted to pick up the guitar very early on," Lizotte said.

"I found myself a guitar buddy in primary school. I'd just come over from America and I found someone else into guitar. We both didn't have a guitar just yet, but we would spend recess making guitar noises with our mouths. It would have been late 70s, early 80s rock music on the radio so we made massive distortion sounds with our mouths.

"My brother, when I was eight years old, took me to the WACA Oval in Perth to see the Doobie Brothers. They had pyrotechnics on stage, and I didn't know what pyro was. I thought their amps were blowing up.

"I've always been really infatuated with the raucous, masculinity of an electric guitar.

"It's such a forceful and abrasive sound in a way."

It was a string program in school that had him learn the ways of music, but the guitar wasn't the first string instrument Lizotte placed in his hands.

"I picked up the cello at eight or nine," Lizotte said.

"In the back of my mind I thought it was cool. It had strings, was kind of big and I loved the sound of it. I learnt really basic Bach pieces on it and got really good on it in due course, like when you apply yourself to anything. I got to play with the WA Youth Symphony at 13-14 and still didn't own a guitar.

"But there was a dude across the road from where I lived who was three of four years older than me. He was finishing high school and I was just starting and it was an odd match, but we both loved guitar and he had one.

"It was a s####y nylon stringed guitar and we would fight over it (laughs). I would take it back to my place and he would stomp over and demand his guitar back.

"This went on for a while and my parents weren't paying attention to it and said "we bought you a cello, you're playing cello."

"I finally got a guitar when my older siblings got part time jobs and bought me a cheap Korean electric guitar. Then when my older brother left the house he left an amp behind. It was a vintage Vox amp, I didn't know anything about equipment, I learnt it all from music magazines."

Lizotte's guitar influences include, Jimi Hendrix. Lizotte still includes the Hendrix song 'Hey Joe' in his set to this day.

He had a show the same day as another one of his influences, but that wasn't going to stop Lizotte from seeing him.

"I was playing a show the same day as Stevie Ray Vaughn (SRV)," Lizotte said.

"David Bowie's 'Let's Dance' album was all over the radio and Stevie plays on practically every song on that record.

"I saw SRV at the Perth Concert Hall and that old cliche of seeing a show and it changing your life, well that rang true for me. I walked out wanting to be more ferocious than ever. That was a really big moment for me.

"After we played my gig that same day my band mates were saying "what the hell happened to you?" They thought I was tripping on acid (laughs).

My friend, Suze DeMarchi said "Leave him alone, he's just seen Stevie Ray Vaughn for f##k sake" (laughs).

Lizotte's original band, Innocent Bystanders had a good run and when it ran its course, it was time for the artist we now know as Diesel to come to fruition.

But first was coming up with a name.

"The last thing on our mind was the name," Lizotte said.

"We just wanted to play and have enough songs to fill a set. We got covers from my dad's blues vinyl collection. We were three months into playing with no name, and when it came time to put an advert in the paper to promote a show we needed one.

"I was sharing a house with the bass player John Dalzel. Someone made a joke about his name, and said it like "Johnny Diesel". His wife was also having another kid and they joked, "little Johnny Diesel and his little injectors."

"I had no idea it was about an engine, then I started seeing signs everywhere promoting diesel injectors. We put that in the paper and then someone bought us a drum skin with the bands name on it.

"People started yelling out "Hey Johnny, play this" and I'd look over at the bassist and he was like "he's talking to you mate".

"It wasn't a big deal until we got to Sydney and started playing bigger shows. People really thought my name was Johnny. When we made the record and it came time for artwork I had to decide whether to stick with the name.

"I didn't know the magnitude of agreeing to it but it was better then explaining my name wasn't Johnny to everyone."

It won't be the first time Lizotte has had Southern Highlanders singing along with him to his songs. It looks like the Highlands is on his touring map for good and this time around he'll be bringing all his hits.

"I've played the Highlands a few times now," Lizotte said.

"For a while it wasn't on the touring map but it's good that there are people who champion music up there. I've always looked at as not just a weekend place, or holiday destination.

"There are people up there that actually live there and want to come out and see some music where it's intimate and they can get up close to artists.

"Luckily there's no songs I loath to play (laughs) so people will hear all the hits on this tour."

Diesel will perform at the Bowral Bowling Club on his 'Give Me Saturday Night Greatest Hits solo tour' and celebrates 30 years of making music on Saturday, June 15.

Tickets are available from www.moshtix.com.au.