With:	Angry Anderson [Vocals]
Conducted by:	Jeff (in person)
Published:	30.04.2007
Band profile:	Rose Tattoo

This interview took place in a small Gothic pub of Paris. Angry Anderson was near of a table when I met him. The funny thing is that the interview started with a really funny misunderstanding. Angry didn't want to believe that I used a real tape recorder (a digital one, so of course it was small) and asked to me with a lot of fun if it was too expensive for a journalist to buy a tape recorder instead of to use a phone?

Angry: Are you sure that you'll be able to record the whole interview with your phone?


- Jeff: But it's not a phone! It's a recorder!!!(laughs)

Angry: I'm not sure?(laughs)


- Jeff: So, the first album of Rose Tattoo was released in 1978. And the new one will be released next year. So how do you feel, it's been a long road.

Angry: Yeah, 30 years this year. We started in '76. So it's been 30 years. I thought maybe this might be the last album after 30 years. But I think that with so much that's happened in so little time, not just with Pete dying but there's been a lot of changes in the last couple of years. I feel very strongly that before he died, I thought maybe we'd finish the band. Just leading up to him dying and since he died?Peter and I talked about the importance of the band going on. Mick and I are part of the original line-up, so as long as there is two of us I spose it's ok. And besides, Mick and I have always written most of the songs, we wrote most of the songs on this album.


- Jeff: You were at Graspop Metal Meeting two years ago. A lot of people said that it might be your last show.

Angry: I think at that time we all thought that.


-Jeff: When did you choose to continue with it? Is it in reason of the decease of your guitarists?

Angry: I was a combination of several things. Peter said towards the end that we never started the band to be effected by the fact that when someone leaves the band or someone dies. It's about the music and as long as the band has its original purpose, or original spirit, what we started out to do in the beginning, if that's true now then it's ok. If that changes or if one day that's not there, then it's time to stop. I think that with him dying we realised that even though he was such an important part of the band, we can still do what we set out to do, without him. People will always be in the band in spirit anyway.


- Jeff: So I know that you released right now an EP called Black-Eyed...

Angry: Yeah, that's out now, it came out in August with Wacken.


- Jeff: I know that you have some live songs on it?

Angry: They're some old songs, but they were from Pete's benefit. To have Peter involved, that was the only way, to have the last live stuff. We thought it would be inappropriate to have him?there's are some tracks we did with him, some demos, last year, when he was still able to play, and we thought maybe we might put them on the album, finish writing the song, but have his guitar playing. Even though it's just a demo, so they're pretty rough. But once he died, we felt that?well, it just didn't feel good. Maybe later, we might go back and as a celebration of the anniversary of his death and finish the tracks and do it on a limted EP, as it's not the same quality as what you'd put on an album, it's just rehearsals, so you know, it's pretty?you know. Maybe we might do that in the future, I don't know. We'll see how we go. Because I think there's a tendency to?it was important for him in the band, of course it was, he started the band, but it was an important milestone that he died, but we don't need to keep going back to beta. He's made his contribution and maybe it's more honourable not to you know, keep him in the music.


Jeff: So what about the new album, when will you release it?

Angry: In February


- Jeff: Does it have a name? Not yet, or??

Angry: There's a track on it called "Once In A Lifetime" and that was written once Peter died, I wrote the lyric to say goodbye. It's about death and resurrection. It's like, Peter died and a new band is born. It's a very spiritual/gospel lyric. It's about how we all seek, in the end to make peace with ourselves. People, when they realise that life is so fragile, life is just this fleeting thing, it can be over like that (snaps fingers). So when a man faces his own mortality, then maybe he realises or accepts the immortality of the soul, this life is important, but it's only important in a physical sense. Peter knew this towards the end because we spoke about it. He said to me "how long ago did you realise this?" and twenty years ago really made sense to me. I said jokingly "are you worried about meeting the devil?". I mean I don't believe in the devil, I don't believe in heaven, it's another state and I don't think Peter believed in heaven or hell either but he was catholic. He was never a practising catholic or anything though, he didn't believe in the Vatican or the Pope or anything. I really believe that he found peace at the end. He realised that mortality is one aspect and immortality is the other. They're like opposites; there are two opposites in everything. If you accept mortality, you know there is immortality, that's what I suppose, in a romantic sense, we try to tell people with music. It's the spirit that lives on. Spirit of the person, spirit of the music. Once we die?it's like Elvis, he's dead, his music lives forever though. I think that it was a comforting thing to him (Peter) that he realised he could die as a mortal. Through our children we're immortal, through his music he's immortal.






-Jeff: So it's really serious. But do have songs with some "rock 'n' roll" spirit?

Angry: This album goes back more to the beginning, more like the first album. That's where we're headed. Even before he died, Peter and I talked about, the last album was an experiment. We said everyone write songs, and we'll put them together on an album. You know, figure out where we're going. For me and for him, what came out was we want to go back to the blues. As we get older and do more albums?he joked that it would just be the two of us left and we would be two silly old cunts sittin' in a bar on stools, singin' the blues. And no one will know who we are. We used to laugh about that. We thought that's the way we'd go, we'll end up 70-80 years old, two silly old buggers in a bar playing the blues, perfect. And that's where we're going, to the blues. On this album, there's a lot of that early blues influence.


- Jeff: So the next album will be like you first one musically speaking it will be blues/rock?

Angry: Pretty much yeah. One of the things that? partly because of old age, but partly because?it's a natural involvement. We did some things that really established ourselves in the early days. And then the next couple of albums were like that. Assault & Battery was really a vicious album, really a lot of anger. Scarred For Life was still the anger, but it was also a bit more philosophical a little bit more look at things, positive/negative you know? There are songs on Pain like that too. House Of Pain is a very reflective song. It's like scarred, it's like growing up; this is what happens when you're young. You grow up angry, you grow up sad or frustrated or whatever. There was a bit of philosophy on it as far as?this album is more about 30 years down the track. All that anger is not so explosive anymore. It's more like angry about injustice, angry about you know, too many children dying of starvation in Africa, different things. This is more of a grown man's album. When we first started, it was 30 years ago, we were just boys. Well, you know, not boys as in teenagers but we were just young. Now it's 30 years down the track. You can be angry or disappointed inside, but you can't be like that forever. You've gotta evolve, move on. Otherwise you'd just fuckin' kill yourself. And I think, in a sense, that sort of thing, catches up with people. Not everybody ends up being in therapy, fucked in the head. Particularly in rock 'n' roll with drug addiction, alcohol or you end up?you eat yourself from inside and in the end you end up just shrivelled up, nothing left. I remember saying to Peter years ago?we were in America and it just wasn't working for us in America. We were playing and going crazy and I said to Pete "this is fucked". If we don't stop this, we'll be dead in five years. This is in '83-'84, I said "we'll be dead by '90, I wanna live". It's just, so much booze, so many drugs. What we used to do, there's a price to pay. Even though we loved that then, it was killin' us. You can't keep doing it. It's like you get on a motorcycle and ride, and you're in a straight line going 120, 140, 160, 180, 200km/h. How far can you go? Sooner or later (smacks hands) something's going to happen, and it's all over. Because you hit something. Wind, whatever. Have you ever ridden a motorcycle? (I replied with "yes"). You know what it's like. You can only go so far, so fast for so long. Sooner or later you're gonna fuck up and it's gonna kill you, you'll be dead. I remember, that was what happened to us in the early days. We just?Peter used to love riding. We got back to Australia and the record company was fucked anyway. You know, they got in your hair and they'd swear and spit on the stage (laughs). The Americans, they were scared of us, they thought we were just fuckin' lunatics. Well, we were lunatics, those days, we were crazy. One of the most famous incidents of craziness was here actually, down south. There was a bit riot at the?I can remember where it was exactly, you'll have to ask somebody, but we were on tour with Foreigner and we were doing all the beaches.


- Jeff: In Nice maybe?

It was at a big gig. Maybe some of the older guys would remember, but it was like huge riots, it was like fuckin' whoa. We only played one and a half songs (laughs). What I'm saying is you know, we were fucked, it was too crazy. So these days it's different. The music is?we don't need to be like that to play. It's still the same music, with the same passion, but privately, in our own lives we're not as fucked up anymore. As we were really really fucked up (laughs). (Jeff: You're a wise man (laughs)) Yeah if you live long enough you get wise (laughs). Really though, I don't think I'm wise, I'm smarter. Like you bang your head against a wall and you stop and you go "ohhh that's good" (laughs). Doing this is good too, but it hurts. So it's like that. And children, I've got fuckin' four children at home, and it's 30 years down the track. I get on the motorcycle now and I ride100km/h. It's lovely. Ride at 100 all day. Still get the same feeling, you know still get the same "ohh yeah!". No more 140, 180, forget it!






- Jeff: Can we consider that you're next album will be the last one?

Angry: Nah (laughs)


- Jeff: No? (laughs) You will do one other?

Angry: Sure, we'll do two or three more. Until it's just not true anymore, you know. Hopefully we'll hit about 65. Maybe not true anymore. I said to Mick the other day I said?Peter and I used to have this conversation where we'd laugh about?I remember sitting in a bar like this, in Paris and Peter said to me "this is where it'd be good to do this and we'd travel around the world". And we thought this but we thought everyone else would die and it would be just him and me. You know, 80 years old, two fat old cunts drinking whiskey, smoking cigars, sitting in a bar, playing the blues. He said "that's how we'll end up, that's what's for us". And he said to me "you cool with that?" and I said "yeah, my kids will be grown up, pfft! who gives a fuck you know" (laughs). What a great life. We'd have all the young girls suck our dicks, you know, because we'll be legends. Sounds like a good life (laughs). I said to Mick now that Pete's dead, now Ian's dead. I said "that'll be you and me now. In 10-15, maybe 20 years, that's us". He said "yeah, sounds alright". I think that's what'll happen after two or three more albums (laughs). We'll start to make albums a bit mellower. The band, I dunno, but certainly I think Mick and me.


- Jeff: I think that you will be on the road next year?

Angry: We start in March.


- Jeff: Will you be coming to France?

Angry: Ohh yeah!


- Jeff: Is it with Saxon?

Angry: Yeah, some. We're in Europe for eight weeks. From the beginning of March, to the end of April. Then we come back halfway through July, and then we go through to August to do all the festivals.


- Jeff: You will do the big festivals next year? Wacken?

Angry: Yeah, and some clubs. I think yeah, March-April, we have two or three in France.


- Jeff: Yeah, I think that you must be in Toulouse and here?

Angry: We always play there! It's like home, we always play there! (laughs)


- Jeff: Ok, last question. How did you come to sign with the German label Armageddon? Because your EP is with Armageddon.

Angry: Yeah, we always wanted to work with Thomas. When we first came back, it was to play?his company, Thomas Jensen runs Wacken and his company worked with Armageddon. They brought us back. I just heard the other day, Mick told me, some of our oldest friends here, Trust. You've heard of the band Trust?






- Jeff: Yeah, yeah of course! They're like French a Rock legend!

Well they've reformed, they're going to play again so we would love to do a tour with them. In the early days we first got here and we were with a French label I think. The first time we ever came here, the first thing that ever happened, we met them. We didn't know who they were and they said "ohh yeah, we're in the band Trust, blah blah blah". So spent the first couple of days out drinking, you know, seeing the sights and stuff. And then they would come to our gigs and play with us, then we finally got the chance to see them play, on the same bill. And then because we're very much the same, philosophy wise. Bernie loves the people; he's very idealistic, very political. I really love that. It's less obvious with Rose Tattoo. Peter would rather, if he made a political statement, he would rather talk about the Irish telling the English to get out of Ireland. Because Pete had Irish ancestry, but his political stuff is more the rebel stuff. But yeah anyway, we went back to those early days, and it's good to hear that Trust is going to play again. Fuckin' mighty band. Hopefully next year, or sometime down the road?I'd love to do a tour with them. Particularly in France. They were like monsters. Trust was huge in France. Big in England too but, they're a French band


- Jeff: Yes, they're a big French Hard-Rock band.

Angry: Yeah, I remember going to one of their gigs, one of their big gigs and we were touring, but we had some time off and we went to their show. But we actually got up and jammed with them. It was fuckin' huge! It was the first time I'd ever seen them play on a big state in a big place. It was like, I knew they were a big band, but you know what it's like when you actually see it. It was like "fuck!" this was serious. I think it was the farewell.


- Jeff: But this time I don't know, I'm not sure that it's like a comeback, maybe more like a farewell tour. Bernie used to be a movie producer. So I don't know if he can do music anymore

Angry: Sure you can! (laughs) I'll tell him that (laughs) See we need people, rock 'n' roll needs people like that?need people to defend, the people. They need people to say this is wrong, don't put up with this, don't just be silent, speak out. Revolution, it's good. Cultural revolution is good you know. Even violent revolution, if it has a point in history that's proven that that's the way to cleanse or change something. Sometimes that's gotta happen. We don't want that to happen, because no one wants to fight a war but fuck it, you know. If someone comes and says "we're going to change your way of life because that suits us" and then you say "sorry?no" then that's what happens. But modern music?Bono can't do everything (laughs). I would love to see Trust come back, make some more albums.


- Jeff: I hope you will be able to do a show in France with them!.

Angry: Ohh yeah! That'd be fuckin' awesome! Rebellion, revolution, we need some more of that.

- Jeff: Ok, thank you for your time!

Angry: Ok! Are you sure that you have recorded everything?

- Jeff:? It's a digital recorder! Not a cellular phone!(laughs)


Many thx to Angry and Rose Tattoo, Jerome and Underclass and Will for the help with the interview