Rose Tattoo guitarist Pete Wells passed away today.Rose Tattoo only toured the U.S. once, supporting Aerosmith and Pat Travers in 1983, but they never made it to the West Coast. The band's lineup disintegrated during the tour and 3/5 of the band quit. When the Aerosmith / Travers tour rolled into the Bay Area they weren't on the bill and the godawful Black 'N Blue opened the show instead.
The following was posted on the Rose Tattoo web site by a guy who was one of the few who saw them in '83:
"Me and three of my mates saw Rose Tattoo live at a club called Headliners in Madison, Wisconsin, USA. They were supporting Pat Travers. Obviously, the crowd was there to see Travers, cuz when the boys took the stage no one had a clue who these ugly Aussies were except us. When the band took the stage we rushed it and went crazy, and after numerous efforts of the bouncers trying to get us to sit down, they couldn't control us. The coolest thing was when Angry pointed to us and said "I'd like to dedicate this next song to you, you, you and you." And they broke into 'One Of The Boys'. After the band was done, we told Pat Travers to fuck-off, tore down the Scarred For Life promo posters and split. My only regret was not sticking around and having a drink with the band. Rose Tattoo was the baddest, toughest, kickass, rock-n-roll band that ever lived."
Although Rose Tattoo did get back together off and on in various incarnations over the years, they never made it to the States again.
Rose Tattoo are one of those bands who still have a mythic quality for me, and I know several people reading this feel the same way about 'em. They coulda / shoulda been as big as AC/DC.. Now I have to find my bootleg cassette of their legendary performance from the 1981 Reading Festival.
"Nice boys don't play Rock 'N Roll... I'm not a nice boy.."
Click HERE for the interview The Rock & Roll Geek Show did with Wells in 2005 (MP3 format).
R.I.P. Pete.
(From the Umlaut Attic)
