Rose Tattoo is an Australian blues/hard rock band, led by Angry Anderson. Among their best known songs are "We Can't Be Beaten", "Scarred for Life", "Rock 'n' Roll Outlaw" and "Bad Boy for Love". Their first four albums were produced by Harry Vanda and George Young who also worked with AC/DC. Along with AC/DC and The Angels, Rose Tattoo helped establish an Australian rock sound in the 1970s that was copied around the world.
Rose Tattoo was formed in Sydney in 1976 by slide guitarist Peter Wells, who had just departed the bassist role in Buffalo. Ian Rilen from Band of Light joined on bass. Rilen had apparently taught himself to play bass while in prison and thus gave Wells' band the street-cred he was looking for[1]. Rhythm guitarist Mick Cocks, singer Tony Lake and drummer Michael Vandersluys completed the line-up however the last two only remained for a few rehearsals and were soon replaced by former Buster Brown members Angry Anderson and Dallas "Digger" Royal. Like Buffalo, Buster Brown had enjoyed a level of notoriety, playing at the Sunbury Festival in 1974 and at one point had featured AC/DC drummer Phil Rudd[2]. Rose Tattoo made their public debut on New Year's Eve at the rock club Chequers that several years earlier had launched the career of AC/DC.
Chiefly inspired by The Rolling Stones and the Faces, Rose Tattoo's hard-rocking sound quickly earned a devoted following in the Sydney area. Among the band's fans were the members of AC/DC, who recommended them to Albert Productions; the band's debut single "Bad Boy for Love" was written by Rilen, who left the lineup prior to the record's release.
Anderson's onetime Buster Brown bassist Geordie Leach was recruited for Rose Tattoo's self-titled debut LP; after nearly three years of extensive touring, during which time Leach temporarily left the band to be replaced by Lobby Lloyde, they issued the follow-up, Assault and Battery, in 1981. During Lloyde's brief tenure with the band, they recorded a song, "Legalise Realise" that was released as a single in 1980, backed with a track by country singer Colin Paterson to publicise a campaign to legalise marihuana.
Rose Tattoo toured Europe in 1981 and featured at the Reading Festival, and 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 extremely influential on the underground sleaze metal scene in Los Angeles, with bands such as Guns N' Roses later citing Rose Tattoo as favourites. That group went on to record a version of "Nice Boys" and issue it on the G N' R Lies album.
After the US tour, Wells, Royal and Riley all left the group, with the remaining duo of Anderson and Leach recruiting guitarists Greg Jordan and John Meyer (from Perth progressive metal band Saracen) along with drummer Scott Johnston to record 1984's Southern Stars. Leach then exited to join Wells, Royal and Riley in the short-lived Illustrated Men. Anderson also 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 version of Steppenwolf's "Born to be Wild", their first release for Mushroom Records. Meyer left and Rose Tattoo recorded 1986's Beats From a Single Drum as a four piece.
