Survivor: Veteran Australian rocker Angry Anderson.
ERIN PEARSON
ROCK music is spurring on Rose Tattoo front man Angry Anderson as his legendary Australian band faces another battle with cancer.
Anderson lamented the death of his four previous bandmates from cancer as two others began their own treatments for the deadly disease.
Thank God for rock and roll, he said.
“I think music’s a wonderful healing component and is one of the things that helped us to get through on a personal level,” Anderson told the Independent.
“It’s been very difficult to lose so many friends.”
Anderson said the latest diagnoses forced the group to cancel its American and European tours scheduled for the next two months to instead focus on smaller, more-intimate Australian performances.
The traditionally “bone-crunching heavy rock group” would swap its trademark style for a philosophical approach this time around.
“People don’t want to come and see us staggering around drunk and falling around the place with blood streaming down our faces anymore,” Anderson said.
“It’s about the music and enjoying one another’s company now.”
Rose Tattoo formed its raw blues rock sound in 1976 with the distinctive slide guitar of founder Peter Wells and the powerful vocals of Anderson at the forefront.
Within months Albert Productions added the band to its stable including AC/DC and The Angels.
But cancer began to creep into the Rose Tattoo camp after more than 30 years together. Wells lost his battle in March 2006, with former bass player Ian Rilen following seven months later.
Anderson recalled the tough Wells fondly.
“He said to me in typical Pete style: ‘They’ll probably expect you to curl up in the foetal position or fade away to nothing’ and I laughed. He said ‘So f—- them. Just get up, we’re not going away; don’t do what people might expect’ ”.
Anderson, who has earned praise for his youth and charity work, said ’70s rock was still alive and well, pointing to the re-emergence of other Australian bands from the era, such as Cold Chisel, The Angels and The Radiators.
But rock and roll was more than drugs, girls and bad behaviour, he said.
“We had one delightful couple in Wollongong turn up with their two daughters and son in their 20s – they’d met at a Rose Tattoo gig. All these years later they were bringing their children to our gig.
“Not only was it heart-warming, it meant we’d stood the test of time.”
Rose Tattoo will play Deakin Waterfront Cafe on August 28.
