Legendary Australian hard rock band Rose Tattoo has lost another member to cancer, with guitarist and founding member Mick Cocks succumbing to liver cancer in a Sydney hospital. Cocks, who was one of the band's main songwriters, had been battling the disease for about twelve months

"We're very sad to announce that Rose Tattoo founding member and guitarist Mick Cocks lost his battle against liver cancer and passed away today, on December 22th," said a statement on the band's website yesterday.

It comes just months after some of Australia's best-loved rockers joined forces to put on a benefit gig for the stricken performer. Rose Tattoo, Jimmy Barnes, You Am I, Ian Moss and The Screaming Jets played at the Enmore Theatre in July to raise money for Cocks.

Singer Angry Anderson said he felt like he had lost a son: "I knew him the longest out of all of the guys. He supplied the music to the first two albums and most recent one, Blood Brothers. He made a hell of a contribution to Australian music."

The hard-living band has now lost four of its members. Drummer "Digger Royal" died in 1991 and fellow guitarists Ian Rilen and Pete Wells died in 2006 and Lobby Loyde died in 2007 ? all to cancer. Guitarist Pete Wells formed Rose Tattoo in 1976, joining forces with Angry Anderson, Mick Cocks, Ian Rilen and Dallas Royal.

Anderson admitted that the band was paying the price for its hard living: "We're losing them hand over fist these days and it's very hard seeing them all go before you but what we do is what we do. I've spoken to returned servicemen who have lost a handful of friends in a small space of time, and it doesn't get any easier. It's not like we didn't know the risks we were taking, but would we change any of it? No way...."

Anderson said the band would continue playing as a homage to fallen bandmates: "After Pete (Wells) died I was emotionally crippled and I didn't know if we'd ever recover. But we kept playing without Pete, because he would have wanted it that way. And Mick, too, would have wanted us to keep playing the songs. We'll keep playing with integrity, passion and commitment and keep breathing life into the songs to pay homage to the fallen."

Source:	smh.com.au
Band profile:	Rose Tattoo