History & Biography Rose Tattoo is an Australian hard rock band, which was founded in Sydney, Australia in 1976. The main man, and face of the band, became Angry Anderson over the years. It was not just the ‘Tatts’ sound, but production services by Harry Vanda and George Young for the first four albums that connected the band to AC/DC. Young was the older brother of Malcolm and Angus Young of AC/DC. The group disbanded in 1987, but reformed to open for Guns N’ Roses in Australia in 1993. The inevitable return was in 1998.
The initial line-up was singer Tony Lake, guitarists Peter Wells (who was the originator of the act) and Leigh Johnston and drummer Michael Vandersluys. Bassist Ian Rilen jumped into the parlour. He had been released from jail recently. The band’s first gig was New Year’s Eve at Sydney’s Bondi Lifesaver. Johnston left, however, Mick Cooks came in. Singer Angry Anderson replaced Lake. Anderson was a drummer previously. The newer drummer was Dallas "Digger" Royall. Both the singer and drummer were former Buster Brown members. AC/DC drummer Phil Rudd had been in Buster Brown before leaving in 1975. The connections helped the band sign to AC/DC’s label, Albert Productions. The debut charted in Australia. It was called Rock 'N' Roll Outlaw in the German market. Geordie Leach was recruited to replace Turner and both received credit on the debut. The band toured Europe and played at Reading festival in 1981. The group opened for Rainbow in the UK. Anderson’s headbutting the amps lead to his scalp bleeding. Mick Cocks left in the middle of the 1981 tour and was replaced by Rob Riley. Peter Wells left in 1983. Guitarists Greg Jordan and John Meyer and drummer Scott Johnston were heard on Southern Stars. Angry would also become an actor and appear in Beyond The Thunderdome. He would also become a TV personality. The act disbanded in 1987 with five albums under its belt. Anderson pursued a solo career.
Rose Tattoo members heeded the request of Guns N’ Roses and reunited to open for the Americans in Australia in 1993. The drummer was Paul DeMarco who turned out to be a thug and was thrown in jail on gun smuggling charges in 2014. Guns 'N' Roses reported Rose Tattoo as an influence and covered the band. Moreover, Rose Tattoo had a famous song called Suicide City, while GNR had Paradise City. Live From Boggo Road Jail 1993 was a DVD eulogising the closure of the jail of the same name in Brisbane. The band had, in fact, recorded the show on-site at a show called Jailhouse Rock. Regardless, the next reformation came in 1998. Dallas Royall died of cancer in 1991. He was in treatment for alcoholism and heroin addiction. Ian Rilen was on bass now. The group toured Europe in 1999. The band appeared at Wacken in 2000 (and would later sign to Wacken Records, which was earlier called Armageddon Music, and be managed by the same people). A live album called 25 To Life ensued. The band toured Australia as openers for Motörhead. Anderson told a reporter the band was about to retire, but of course that was not what happened. They played the Super Bock Super Rock festival in Lisbon, Portugal and Download festival in 2008. Guns N' Roses, ZZ Top and Rose Tattoo were touring Australia in March 2013. The band had opened for ZZ Top and then Aerosmith) in the USA in 1982. The act signed to Golden Robot in 2016. There was talk of an album of new material. Former AC/DC bassist Mark Evans joined in 2017. Rose Tattoo flew to Europe and appeared at the Bang Your Head festival. The 2018 tour of Europe was called Blood Brothers, which was a name shared with the 2007 album. The band conducted the Still Never Too Loud tour of Australia in 2019. Hard-Ons was announced as the opener. The band toured Europe with drummer Justin Ngariki in 2020. A US tour was shelved due to the pandemic. Instead, the band issued a self-cover version album of its debut called Outlaws in 2020. Rose Tattoo recruited guitarist Ronnie Simmons (Richie Ramone, Faster Pussycat, etc.) as its newest guitarist replacing the departed Bob Spencer (ex-Finch, The Angels, etc.) at the end of 2022. The act played Wacken in 2022. 2023 concerts were postponed to 2024 due to a medical issue with Angry Anderson. The band was in New Zealand in 2024.
Anderson has espoused racist and dated views over the years despite charitable activities and being the son of immigrants. He has run for the conservative National Party as late as 2011. Angry Anderson was associated with Australian Liberty Alliance now and fundraising for the right-wingers in 2016. He was also a candidate for the party, which demanded a moratorium on Muslim immigration. Anderson further campaigned against a carbon tax despite half a dozen members of Rose Tattoo dying of cancer. The Liberty Alliance’s core policy was opposition to Islam. With no sense of irony, Rose Tattoo then readmitted drummer DeMarco in 2022 following a criminal charge and jail time. Anderson is also appropriately inked and succumbed to hearing loss in more recent years. Angry's son Liam Anderson was kicked to death by a friend, called Mathew Flame, while high on drugs in 2018. Flame contended that he had had a Satanic vision.
Reviews ROSE TATTOO - PAIN - SPV
Formed in the late seventies and achieving a following via albums like Assault & Battery, Rose Tattoo collapsed around 1984 seemingly in a haze. A 1993 Aussie tour, a couple of European appearances in 1999 and 2000 (the latter at Wacken) confirmed the come back is real and so here is the band's first studio album in over 25 years. Pain is one explicit album. Notice titles like The Devil Does It Well, Someone To Fuck, Hard Rockin' Man and you will know the band leaves little to the imagination. Rose Tattoo is one high-energy hard rock 'n boogie band. From the opening chord of Black Magic (although House Of Pain later banishes all black magic) you know these are no old time geezers. Every songs has a story to tell with one like Seventeen Stitches simply a showcase for being tough and Someone To Fuck being about just that. The album ends on a high note and in rocking fashion with One More Drink With The Boys. There are 16 tracks and 56 minutes and the production takes the side of the vocals on most of those minutes. Fans of boogie woogie from down under know what they have to do.
ROSE TATTOO - BLOOD BROTHERS - SPV 
SPV first sent us UFO and now, through a deal with Wacken Records which explains the one-year delay in arrival, gives us Rose Tattoo in a series of older bands that light a fire under the ass of younger and ostensibly more energized acts. It is difficult to imagine Rose Tattoo having ever produced a more vibrant, hard, attitude-driven record in its heyday of the early '80s. With three younger members around the veteran guitarist Michael Cocks and singer Angry Anderson this album (purportedly their last or not according to a featured answer on the DVD) smokes. From the kick-off of the cover version of Black Eyed Bruiser, which was penned by the Vanda and Young production and writing team that launched the career of Rose Tattoo in some ways, to the sped-up rock and roll of Lubricated the Aussies dish hard attitude reminiscent of early Jackyl and more. Now, yes, Rose Tattoo showed up ten years ahead of Jackyl, but the comparison highlights the attitude, the energy and the sense of excitement on the record. Angry’s vocals tear up with gusto, the guitars are what hard rock guitars were meant to sound like with their crunch and the lyrics, well they are a punch in the face, aren’t they? Of course, the slide guitars and the boogie is intact. The production really neglects the drums though.
This might be the band’s last hurrah given the many deaths, turmoil and illnesses within the ranks. If so, this is one bruise that will last. The references to the good lord above and grace and other superstitions are dumb certainly, but this music is really designed for loud cruising at high speeds not intellectual pursuits and the lyrics negate the religious denotations anyway. And people nowadays think Coldplay is a real rock band nowadays!
The Special Tour Edition comes with a video of the band’s performance at Wacken in Germany in 2006 and band members answering fans’ questions at length. - Ali “The Metallian”
ROSE TATTOO - LIVE IN 1993 FROM BOGGO ROAD JAIL (DVD) - MVD 
This 1993 recording reunites the original members of the Australian band to commemorate the closing of Boggo Road, which happens to be a jail! The others who performed at this closing concert were The Divinyls and Billy Thorpe & The Aztecs. The quality is good for a 1993 recoding as usually these types of releases fall into the lost tapes category, but Live In looks and sounds better than average. The commitment is not lacking and this reunited line up do what they do best. The singer, Angry Anderson, seems to dislike mic stands as he complains on more than one occasion that the worst thing about the night is 'getting mic stands to work.' For anybody not familiar with the band the song titles give a good indication of what they are about. The songs included in this 53 minute DVD are Out Of This Place, Bad Boy For Love, Assault & Battery, Tramp, The Butcher & Fast Eddy, Rock'n'Roll Is King, Street Fighting Man, Rock'n'Roll Outlaw, One Of The Boys, Nice Boys and Going Down. - Anna Tergel
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