There was something incredibly intoxicating about standing in the middle of the Bondi Lifesaver or the Stage Door Tavern in 1978 and listening to the blistering and soulfull slide licks of Peter Wells in the version of Rose Tattoo that Dave McCay so passionately remembes…(you could have made your point a little more diplomatically Dave;)
When ever I think of the tats (and yes I also did monitors for them) I remember a night at the Stage Door, about 12 bourbons and six joints in me, about a thousand people in a room licenced for 187, and the band rocked me to the core.
Where you’ve really made an arse or yourself Dave is labeling all those other musicians as “just facsimilies”.
The mid 80′s version of the tatts that boasted the musical genius of such players as John Meyer, Andy Cichon, Tim Gaze and Scott Johnston were musically miles ahead of the origonal band.
They just wern’t the origonals, they didn’t have the same vibe or the 12 bar magic thing happening…but to label them as facsimilies is just plain ignorant.

Thanks for the info but 0 out of 10 for manners. Please don’t walk in here, crap on the rug, and expect to be welcome. Opinions and memories are always welcome but not rants.

This is not meant to be a listing of founding members but anyone who has been in the band. I saw the Tatt’s recently and the only member on your list was Angry. Guys like Dai Pritchard and Paul DeMarco ARE members of Rose Tattoo and would be offended that you think they don’t deserve a mention. Stop living in 1978.

People with your knowledge and experience are exactly the sort of person we normally enjoy around here. Please come back with some manners.

Ian Rilen was a songwriter, NOT part of Rose Tattoo.

The rest of the individual musicians you identify were/are just facsimiles of the originals with the exception of Mr rob Riley who was truly a Tatt of the first order…

David McCay
Rose Tattoo – Stage Manager & Monitor Engineer 1976 – 1978

if you could email or phone (0427 251 624) to discuss swap?

As far as uploading them publicly, that’s really up to the copyright holder (usually the songwriter or publisher) to give permission. If you ask nicely and you aren’t making money out of it then you’d be surprised how many will allow it. I ran an all-Australian internet radio station for a few years and I had hundreds of acts give me permission to play thousands of songs all without royalty payments of any kind. Again, ask nicely and most folks are reasonable.

Speaking of Black Label, I’ve just updated their page to include a live gig I did with them earlier this year. Some random guy just filmed it on his phone and uploaded it to youtube. It’s a bit distorted in parts but came out great for a phone-camera. Check it out & let me know what you think of my mix!!!

I also have a show of the Choirboys and Black Label as I used to do their sound as well.

Jeff