In 2000, Noah Harmon and Mike Pedicone played the "Star Spangled Banner" at a Canyon Del Oro High School assembly.
Last month, Harmon played the national anthem with his band, The Airborne Toxic Event, before a Lakers game at Staples Center in Los Angeles.
"When we were 14, we never imagined playing shows like this," Harmon said. "Now I've played in Japan, Korea, Slovakia and I feel really fortunate."
Harmon, 29, graduated from CDO in 2000 and went on to earn a degree in jazz bass from California Institute of the Arts.
He made his living in Los Angeles playing jazz and teaching music and became a well regarded electric and upright bass player in that highly competitive scene.
In 2006, Mikel Jollett approached him about playing bass for a band he was putting together, The Airborne Toxic Event.
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Jollett, a former journalist and fiction writer, plays guitar and sings in the band.
They started writing, recording and playing shows in the Los Angeles area and in 2008 released the single "Sometime Around Midnight," which got immediate attention from local radio stations and peaked at No. 4 on the Billboard Hot Alternative Songs chart. It was also iTune's No. 1 alternative song of 2008.
"For a while, I couldn't go into the grocery store next to my house without hearing that song," Harmon said.
The band released a self-titled album later in 2008, which peaked at No. 35 on the Billboard Rock Chart and have since played cities around the world.
"I've played every show, but I did miss three songs once," Harmon said. "I was flying from Chicago to Seattle and the flight was running late. Mikel put his phone up to the mic and I was talking to the crowd while I was in the cab on my way over."
Airborne Toxic Event has played Lollapalooza music festival in Chicago, Coachella Valley Music and Arts festival and the South by Southwest music conference, which was just a few weeks ago.
It's a pretty big deal to play these music festivals, but Harmon recalls being more nervous taking the stage at CDO.
"When you're 15 or 16, Dorado Stock seems like the most important things that you've ever done," he said of playing the annual CDO student concert. "When you get older, nothing seems that important. I can't tell you if it was more exciting to play Lollapalooza or Coachella."
Harmon learned to play the guitar and bass in fifth grade. He was listening to The Misfits, Nirvana and Metallica when he and best friend Mike Pedicone formed the band The Suicidal Infants.
"In 1993, we did a tour of the Donaldson playground," said Pedicone. The two attended Donaldson Elementary school - on Tucson's Northwest Side - together and, later, Cross Middle School and CDO.
After the Suicidal Infants, the two played in a number of bands - Fugue, Four Alarm Fire, Little League and The Dishwashers - until they graduated.
They spent most of their weekends at Skrappy's Youth Collective.
"Everyone we knew would go. Meeting a lot of people in Europe, they all tell a similar story of having the super cool all-ages club," Harmon said.
The Airborne Toxic Event is on a tour of Europe and the United States. Island Records will release the band's second full length album, "All At Once," April 26. The band will be at Ovations Theatre, at the Wild Horse Pass Hotel and Casino in Chandler June 13.
