Rock N Roll is King | Unisex Tank

Throughout our early careers Rose Tattoo and Cold Chisel’s paths crossed a hell of a lot. We travelled the same country, playing the same gigs, on the same endless tours

that took us to every single bar that would let a Rock’n’roll band play their music LOUD.

On the odd nights we weren’t gigging we always seemed to end up drinking at the same bars.  Places like Chequers or the Bondi Lifesaver in Sydney and Bombay Rock or Bananas in Melbourne were where we could let our hair down … well … those of us who had hair. After our shows we would invariably all end up in one of these bars again, looking to wind down but somehow we always seemed to get wound up and ready to rock again.  We shared stages, we shared crew members, we even shared equipment at times.  Rock’n’roll was king and we were all young, taking on the world together.

Friendships were made and friendships were lost. Lots of us never made it through but Angry and I always seemed to remain standing. He was my friend; my brother in arms. We laughed a lot, talking about taking the rock establishment by the throat and shaking it as hard as we could, in an endless struggle to get the best out of it. Like all mates we saw the world differently at times, but one thing mattered more than all that: we liked the same music; music that came from the heart. We liked music with substance, music with backbone, music that moved our souls.

Rose Tattoo played that kind of music. The first time I saw them they immediately became one of my favourite bands in the world. They took no prisoners. Played hard. Lived hard. I spent so many nights drinking until dawn with them and their roadcrew that sometimes I almost felt I was one of them. I even tried to make Mossy and the guitar players in my solo band sound a bit more like the Tatts, turning up the volume on their amps when they weren’t looking.

Rose Tattoo were the ultimate rock band. They showed those so-called hard rock bands overseas how it was REALLY done. There were always some killer muso’s in their lineup from Ian Rilen, Pete Wells and Digger Royal in the early days, right up until recent years when my son Jackie joined them on drums for a few years. But out front was always Angry, driving the band harder. Faster. Harder. Faster. If there was ever anyone who deserved to be called a rock’n’roll singer, it was him.

Over the years some of the Tatts guys did stints in my own band, including rockin’ Rob Riley and Mick Cocks but it wasn’t quite the same without Angry. I covered a few Tatts songs too. “One of the Boys” is probably in my top 5 rock’n’roll songs of all time but “Rock’n’Roll Is King” summed up their whole ethos for me. Rock’n’Roll drove us all and it made us who we are today.

I spoke to Angry about covering that song for my last album and he was excited. We cut it but it didn’t make the record for some reason even though I love the recording. I couldn’t wait to sit down with Angry and play it to him because the song takes on a whole new meaning for me now, looking back through all those years and all those gigs.

But The Lifesaver and the Bombay Rock aren’t around anymore so Angry and I didn’t see each other as much as we used to do. Plus, rock singers are never in one place for long, so I never got to play it for him. Now that Angry has left us I want to release this song, I won’t keep any money it makes, I just want to tip my hat to my mate and let the world know what great songs he and his band wrote.

I hope you like it. Turn it up fucking LOUD. Angry’s gone to the Big Gig upstairs but I bet he’ll be listening” - Jimmy Barnes