The Casanovas are a three-piece band who formed in 1999. The band comprises of Damian “Damo” Campbell on vocals and bass, Brett “Wolfie” Wolfenden on drums and Tommy Boyce on vocals and guitar. Tonight at the Prince Bandroom in St. Kilda they are the first support act for Rose Tattoo, something they first did twenty-one years ago on almost the very same date. The Casanovas are a guitar lovers Australian hard rock band. Musically they are highly skilled, with strong and heavy drum beats to which magical guitar rifts are applied.
Their experience on stage shone through their well performed set. Their musical influences of ACDC, Thin Lizzy, Cheap Trick and Kiss are obvious to the keen listener. The Casanovas played a 30 minute set which contained 9 songs and had the punters rockin’ out. My favourite song of the set was “Devil in Me” off their new album “Backseat Rhythms” released in 2023. This song should be on all radio lists.
Electric Mary are a fusion of classic, blues and stoner rock. Rusty Brown, Pete Robinson, Alex Raunjak, Brett Wood and Paul Marrett make up the five-piece band. Tonight’s performance had Dale G Thomas from Bottle of Smoke stepping in on the drums for Paul Marrett. Electric Mary are not just about the vocals, the music is just as important, with lots of non-vocal moments with guitars jamming and fingers flying across the strings. All of this led by strong and hard Drum beats that you can feel inside your body.
They have a huge stage presence and at times I felt the small stage caged them in. I wanted to see them on a bigger stage where they could really let their big personalities loose. The 63-year old lead singer Rusty Brown, who gave me Brett Michaels and Axel Rose vibes does not hold back. They played a 30-minute set with nine songs and closed with “My Best Friend” dedicated to Stuart Fraser, the former head of HMV in Australia, who was a great champion to Electric Mary.
It is almost disrespectful to review Rose Tattoo. Rock legends like this don’t need me to tell you how good they are. This is more of a reminder that they have not lost it and are well worth the ticket price for the music and the trip down memory lane. The Prince band room was full of testosterone with the high percentage of male punters waiting for their Australian rock royalty Rose Tattoo and Angry Anderson is definitely the King of the room.
Rose Tattoo current members are Angry Anderson on vocals, Mickey Arnold on slide guitar, Ronnie Simmons on guitar, Mark Evans on bass and Paul DeMarco on drums dressed all in matching Rose Tattoo denim and leather vests. Musically and Vocally the sound is unmistakable Rose Tattoo. The band’s age melts away as they perform and Angry left it all on the stage as he staggered off after the set was finished. A incredible effort for a 76-year old. Angry spoke of being sober again and as always likes to chat on stage.
His crowd interaction had them completely in awe of him. Rose Tattoo were on stage for 1 hour and 30 minutes with a 16 song set containing crowd favourite “We Can’t be Beaten” mashed with “Bad Boy for Love”. They closed with “Nice Boys” (Don’t Play Rock and Roll). And the crowd cheered for more as the lights came on.
With special thanks to Creative Services for the media access.
Review by Kelly Green – Gallery by Oz Greeny’s Photography
