Geordie Leach – Podcast (Part 2)

The first part of my conversation with Rose Tattoo’s bass player Geordie Leach covered the early days of his career in Melbourne from where he first met and played with Angry Anderson in Buster Brown, to his migration north to Sydney to join Angry in his new band Rose Tattoo in the late 70’s.

Under the guidance of songwriting and producing supremos Harry Vanda and George Young at the Alberts stable Rose Tattoo ripped into the Australian music scene from the outset with their work hard, live hard and play hard ethic. From the blue collar working class neighbourhoods to the bad boys doing time for their crimes the Tatts were a big hit.

In the final installment of this podcast Geordie recalls how Rose Tattoo conquered Europe with a formidable live reputation and their no nonsense brand of blues based rock n roll. From Angry’s bleeding skull after relentless head bashing against the amplifiers at the Reading Festival to their top 5 chart success in Germany and France with Rock n Roll Outlaw – the song Geordie wrote with Angry that is now proudly tattooed on his arm.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vcwj86WkXb8

Then it was on to America supporting Aerosmith where Angry incited the crowd to join him for a fight and they tore the place apart. It became the swan song for the original line up, although the band would reform many times in the years after, usually with Geordie and Angry as the only remaining stalwarts.

In 2006 Rose Tattoo were inducted into the ARIA Hall of Fame and while Geordie says it was long overdue he also admits that Vanda and Young should have been given far more credit for the Tatt’s success. It was their incredible knack of knowing what worked to make a hit record and their production smarts that made Rose Tattoo’s records what they were.

With five former Tatt’s members now lost to us from cancer there’s very few who can reliably tell the story of Rose Tattoo in any great detail. The band’s take no prisoners approach brought them infamy but it came with a hefty price.

Geordie Leach is a man more content now than ever before having left his rock n roll outlaw days behind him. You can keep up to date with the Geordie Leach Band here.

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