After leaving school in 1976, Rob did various jobs from grocery packer, bulldozer operator to geological draftsman. In 1977 he wrote his first song, 
Jim Beam Blues
which has proven to be one
of the favourite live songs in his set today.
In 1983, a year after his marriage to Leonnie and birth of their only daughter Anastasia, he decided to start a band with the intention of his own style of song writing and guitar playing.
With the influences of Jimi Hendrix, AC/DC and blues masters of the likes of BB King, Rob and some local musicians started Skidrow Boys. The band enjoyed the chance to gig in clubs around Tasmania, but within 2 years Rob felt the need to move on to improve and gain the much needed experience that has been honed into his style and playing today.
In late 1985 Rob moved to Melbourne and managed to secure a job with a touring covers band playing chart material. Not used to playing this style he decided to quit the band as soon as a replacement was found. The replacement was found in Queensland so Rob and his family settled in the cane growing town of Nambour.
At this stage of his career he had never sang and was forced into the position when the new band that he was putting together could not find a suitable singer - The Outlaws formed.
Within 4 months The Outlaws had gone on to collect 3 categories at the 20th Annual Queensland Rock Awards at the Roxy in Brisbane at the end of 1986. (Best guitarist, best drummer and best band) Tognoni and band had earned themselves a reputation of not tolerating bullshit and refusing to bow to trends within the industry...this built up a huge following for the band.
The Outlaws located to Melbourne in late 1989 and were invited by cult Australian band The Angels
(Angel City) to place a then recent demo song of
Rob's, I Got You - You Got Me
on The Angels upcoming EP release, The Dogs Are Talking in May
1990 along with The Hurricanes and the then newly formed Baby Animals. The Outlaws changed their name
to The Desert Cats just before the release.
Backed by a 4 week national tour the bands played sell-out gigs and achieved #7 on the Australian Mainstream Charts. The release achieved gold status. Previous to this, Rob was approached by management to form the Baby Animals with Suze DeMarchi. Believing in his own music, he turned the offer down.
The Desert Cats disbanded due to poor third party management. Trying to pick up the pieces, Rob re-assembled the Outlaws with a new line up but the band failed to gain sufficient industry attention so it disbanded for the last time in 1992. During their career the band had played with many greats including Lonnie Mack, Joe Walsh & the late Roy Buchanan.