Alas, it’s the end of an era. Almost, anyway.
The lead singer of a classic hard rock group got candid about the fact that his band will be playing its final live show this year.
Blabbermouth reports that Gary “Angry” Anderson — the lead singer of beloved Australian outfit Rose Tattoo — recently sat down with Peter Kerr of “Rock Daydream Nation.” It was during this interview that Anderson opened up about Rose Tattoo’s pending disbandment, something which, of course, he has mixed feelings about.
“Yeah, I thought I was fine,” he said, as transcribed by Blabbermouth. “I thought when you preempt something or you have pre-knowledge, and I don’t mean to be gloomy, but when you know someone — I’ve just lost someone rather dear to me, yet another person, to cancer just recently, and we knew she was terminally ill.
“And so we had this two-years-plus leading up to it — constant treatment, talking about it, blah, blah, blah — but it didn’t prepare me for the shock. And it reminded me of losing the other members of the band. We all knew, months in some cases, years ahead of time, that they were terminally ill, but when it actually happens … and that’s just human nature. That’s just what happens.”
“Three years ago, when I first went to Scot Crawford, our manager, and said, ‘Are you aware of the fact that the band is 50 years old in a few years?’, two-and-a-half years, whatever it might have been,” Anderson continued. “And he went, Yeah, yeah, yeah.’”
He added: “[At] the end of the year, when I wake up on the morning, the first morning of ’27, I’ll wake up and the band will be gone.”
Indeed, Parade notes that — considering the band first formed in 1976 — it’ll be half a century in 2026. Specifically, on New Year’s Eve.
“I am proud to say — because I have survived all the original members, and a few along the way — we have achieved what we set out to achieve,” Anderson informed Melbourne’s 3AW. “At the end of the day if you can say that you are a lucky man.”
Rose Tattoo will embark on their final tour starting in Germany on July 24.