Rose Tattoo

If you can imagine a band who merge AC/DC riffery, Lynrd Skynrd’s Blues roots, Phil Lynott style imagery and the intensity of early Sex Pistols you’ll come close to Rose Tattoo.

With one of the most instantly identifiable guys on ‘throat’ (although ‘threat’ would fit the bill as well) in Angry Anderson and a back line that is as solid as they come Rose Tattoo made some of the most powerful and aggressive music around throughout the seventies, eighties and into the modern day.

Repertoire have released four albums that represent the band’s heyday when they were touring with the likes of Guns & Roses, Motley Crue, Aerosmith and ZZ Top and show off the music that proved such an influence on the whole Sleaze movement in LA and New York.

The band’s lineup was changing pretty regularly so that all the four albums have a different feel to them and the writing was inevitably influenced by the headliners that they were touring with but the heart of the band was always Angry Anderson’s vocals and Peter Wells screaming guitars, Geordie Leach on bass was in and out of the band but appeared on all four of the albums here. Wells left the band shortly before ‘Southern Stars’ and that forced a signal change from the sound that had served them so well and into a more melodic approach.

All four albums have great songs, passion and power and really, if you are a hard rock/ metal lover, these are all essential but if I had to choose one album to live with for life it would be the debut ‘Rose Tattoo’ – rough, harsh and massively aggressive but it has all the brashness and braggadocio you could wish for.