ROSE TATTOO

Rose Tattoo was formed in Sydney in 1976 with Leigh Johnston on rhythm guitar, Tony Lake on lead vocals and were led by slide guitarist Peter Wells—who had just departed as bass guitarist of heavy metal band Buffalo. Drummer Michael Vandersluys completed the line-up. Ian Rilen (ex-Band of Light) joined on bass guitar. He had taught himself to play while in prison and gave Wells' band the street-cred he was looking for. Rhythm guitarist Mick Cocks soon replaced Johnston; Lake and Vandersluys were substituted by former Buster Brown members Angry Anderson and Dallas "Digger" Royall respectively. Melbourne-based Buster Brown had enjoyed local notoriety, playing at the 1974 Sunbury Festival and had included future AC/DC drummer Phil Rudd. Rose Tattoo made their public debut on New Year's Eve at the rock club Chequers.

Chiefly inspired by The Rolling Stones, Faces and Billy Thorpe and his 1970s Aztecs, Rose Tattoo's hard-rocking sound quickly earned a devoted following in the Sydney area. Members of AC/DC were fans and recommended them to their label, Albert Productions. The band's debut single "Bad Boy for Love" was written by Rilen, who left to form punk rock group, X, (not the L.A. band) prior to its release in October 1977. "Bad Boy for Love" was produced by Vanda & Young (ex-The Easybeats, AC/DC's producers) and peaked at #19 on the Australian Kent Music Report Singles Chart. Initially Cocks switched to bass guitar to cover Rilen's departure, then Chris Turner (ex-Buffalo) was brought in. The band toured nationally on the pub rock circuit competing with The Angels, Cold Chisel, Dragon and Kevin Borich Express.

One-time Buster Brown bass guitarist Geordie Leach was recruited to record their self-titled debut LP, 'Rose Tattoo', which reached the top 40 on the Australian Kent Music Report Albums Chart in November 1978. The album, produced by Vanda & Young, was released in some markets as 'Rock N' Roll Outlaw' after their second single, "Rock N' Roll Outlaw" which did not reach the top 50. Leach left the band in May 1979 to be replaced in October by guitarist Lobby Loyde filling in on bass (ex-Coloured Balls, Purple Hearts, Wild Cherries).

During his brief tenure, they recorded "Legalise Realise" which was released as an independent single in March 1980, backed with the track "Bong on Aussie" by singer Colin Paterson, to publicise a campaign to legalise marijuana. Later in 1980, they toured the United States and then toured Europe (including UK), but by September Loyde had left and Leach had returned. Early in 1981, "Rock N' Roll Outlaw" started to chart in Europe, peaking at #2 in France, #5 in Germany and #60 in UK. The line up of Anderson, Cocks, Leach, Royall and Wells toured Europe from April. Three years after their debut the band issued the follow-up album, 'Assault and Battery' in September, which reached the top 30 in Australia. Both 'Rock N' Roll Outlaw' and 'Assault and Battery' peaked at #1 on the UK heavy metal albums chart.

Rose Tattoo's 1981 tour of Europe included an appearance at the Reading Festival, where Anderson repeatedly headbutted the amp stacks until his scalp started bleeding. They were hailed as the loudest band to play London's Marquee Club since Led Zeppelin. Returning to Australia, the band began work on their third album; with new guitarist Robin Riley replacing Cocks, who went on to join Heaven, they issued 'Scarred for Life' in 1982, subsequently touring the US in support of Aerosmith and ZZ Top. The band's US visit was not a major success but proved to be influential on the underground sleaze metal scene in Los Angeles, with bands such as Guns N' Roses which later cited Rose Tattoo as a favourite and recorded a cover of "Nice Boys" on Live ?!*@ Like a Suicide in 1986.

In 1983, after the US tour, Riley, Royall and Wells all left. The remaining duo of Anderson and Leach recruited guitarists Greg Jordan and John Meyer from Perth progressive metal band Saracen. With drummer Scott Johnston (ex-Jimmy and the Boys) the band recorded 1984's 'Southern Stars', their last album for Albert Productions and Vanda & Young as producers. Leach then exited to join Cocks, Rilen, Royall and Wells in Illustrated Men, which toured during 1984–1985.

Angry Anderson took time out to play the character 'Ironbar' Bassey in the 1985 film Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome. That year Rose Tattoo, as Anderson, Johnston, Meyer, Andy Cichon (bass) and Tim Gaze (slide guitar), released a cover of Steppenwolf's "Born to be Wild", their first release for Mushroom Records. Meyer left and the group recorded 1986's 'Beats from a Single Drum' as a four-piece for Mushroom. Soon after Anderson started his solo career and the band separated by the end of 1987.

Rose Tattoo, with original bassist Ian Rilen replacing Leach, reformed yet again in 1998 for the "All Hell Breaks Loose!!" tour, however Rilen remained with the band only for the duration of this tour. By the following year, Leach had returned to the fold once more, although his place was taken by Steve King in 2000. Rock music historian Ian McFarlane wrote that they are "one of the most revered bands of all time. The Tatts played peerless, street-level heavy blues with the emphasis on slide guitar and strident lyric statements" in his Encyclopedia of Australian Rock and Pop.

Since that time Rose Tattoo has toured regularly around Australia and throughout Europe. In 2000, the band appeared at the Wacken Open Air festival as part of their tour. These shows formed the basis of the '25 to Life' live album. 2002 saw the release of 'Pain', the band's first studio album in 16 years. Cocks rejoined the group, and they prepared material for a future album.

Plans for their next album, 'Blood Brothers' were disrupted when Wells died on 27 March 2006, four years after his diagnosis of prostate cancer. On 16 August, Rose Tattoo were inducted by musician, Sarah McLeod, into the Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA) Hall of Fame alongside former member Lobby Loyde and Daddy Cool, Divinyls, Icehouse and Helen Reddy.

In June 2007, Rose Tattoo supported Guns N' Roses with Sebastian Bach on their Chinese Democracy Tour's Australian leg. In October they supported Motörhead on their Australian tour dates. In an interview with Australian rock magazine Unbelievably Bad, Anderson announced his intention to retire the band after one more album. In 2008 they played the Download Festival in England. Rose Tattoo celebrated their 35th anniversary in 2011. They were demoing songs for a new album in 2012 but nothing was ever released. In an interview with Australian rock journalist Nick Milligan on Friday, 25 March 2011, Anderson confirmed that the record would be the group's "final statement". It became unclear if the band would continue after drummer Paul DeMarco was arrested and jailed in 2014 for illegal gun possession and being a member of a gun-running syndicate. On 5 August 2017 a new Rose Tattoo line-up of Angry Anderson, Dai Pritchard, Bob Spencer (ex-Finch), former AC/DC bass player Mark Evans and John "Watto" Watson was announced. Spencer and Pritchard left the band and were replaced by Paul DeMarco and Ronnie Simmons/

Five former members have died, all of cancer—Dallas Royall (cancer, 1991), Peter Wells (prostate cancer, 2006), Ian Rilen (bladder cancer, 2006), Lobby Loyde (lung cancer, 2007) and Mick Cocks (liver cancer, 2009). John Meyer died in 2020.

Members

Gary "Angry" Anderson (vocals), Peter Wells (slide guitar), Ian Rilen (bass), Mick Cocks (guitar), Dallas "Digger" Royall (drums), Geordie Leach (bass), Lobby Loyde (bass), Rob Riley (guitar), 

John Meyer (guitar), Scott Johnston (drums), Greg Jordan (slide guitar), Steve Balbi (bass), Andy Cichon (bass, piano, keyboards), Tim Gaze (guitar), Paul DeMarco (drums), Steve King (bass), Dai Pritchard (guitar), Paul DeMarco (drums), Mick Arnold (slide guitar), Ronnie Simmons (guitar)

SINGLES

Bad Boy for Love

14 NOV '77

#19

Rock 'n' Roll Outlaw

4 SEP '78

#68

One of the Boys

27 NOV '78

#95

Rock 'n' Roll is King

5 OCT '81

#60

We Can't Be Beaten

15 NOV '82

#28

Branded

11 APR '83

#97

I Wish

20 AUG '84

#32

Born to Be Wild

11 NOV '85

#25

Calling

29 SEP '86

#23

Get it Right

12 JAN '87

#100

Falling

4 MAY '87

#100

 

References

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rose_Tattoo

http://top100singles.blogspot.com.au/