Best Gigs The Rockbrat’s Seen ? Iron Maiden (1992)

Who: Iron Maiden When: Sydney 23 October 1992 This was Maiden’s third visit downunder (1982, 1985) and seven years was WAY too long to wait for another tour. The musical landscape had shifted a great deal since Maiden’s previous tour. Heavy Metal was still pretty much underground in Australia in 1985, though acts like Bon [...]

What’s The Rockbrat Been Listening To Today: Picture – Diamond Dreamer (1982)

Picture are a way underrated metal band. They released a bunch of albums in the career – but they never surpassed this one. Picture is a Dutch heavy metal band and are noted for being the first band in the country to play heavy metal. (Before Vandenberg?) In the early 80’s (and with Diamond Dreamer [...]

What’s The Rockbrat Listening To Today ? BLACK LABEL BAND – Blood Money CD (2010)

Black Label are the best live band in Australia – fact. Over a ten year career- they have played hundreds of shows, including countless shows with both Rose Tattoo and The Angels – and if heavy, blues based rock in the tradition of those bands is your bag – then you will dig Black Label. [...]

Rockbrat Remembers – Greg Clarke (Rose Tattoo / Billy Thorpe Manager)

Greg Clarke, the former tour manager for Billy Thorpe and current tour manager for Rose Tattoo has died in Sydney from a suspected heart attack. He had only just turned 50 in April.  Greg worked with Billy Thorpe from 1995 to 2007 and has been tour manager and Front of House Engineer for Rose Tattoo [...]

Rockbrat Wonders: About a Guns n Roses Re-union

Once upon a time – back in the late 70′s – a lanky teen from Indiana was feeding himself a steady diet of Aussie blooze and rock by way of the Angels and Rosie Tatts.   He ends up jumping a greyhound to LA and fronting a band powerful enough to take on the world (never did [...]

Rockbrat Remembers: Vicious Kitten Records and Rock n Roll War (2000)

It’s hard to believe that 10 years have gone since the release of the Rock n Roll War compilation CD’s. Prior to Rockbrat, back then, Cowboy Col was operating Vicious Kitten Records, an independent record label whose mission was to fight the war against the jive. I had the idea of releasing a compilation album [...]

Classic Album From The Rockbrat Collection: V/A – Heavy Metal Thunder

Picked up this killer comp in the UK twenty odd years back and I’m always amazed at the assembled line-up. It’s a Carrere Records pressing so that means only one things. It’s gonna be loud my friends. From memory they were chiefly a HM label outta France and tended to put out only the good [...]

Rockbrat Wonders: Is it possible to like Radio Birdman AND the Bay City Rollers?

You know I was recently reminded of a comment that Rob Younger once made about the Angels. He said that they were ‘contrived nonsense’ and I just wanted to reflect on that for a moment. From the outset, let it be known that I was a massive Rob Younger and Radio Birdman fan, (although more [...]

Rockbrat Remembers: Mick Cocks – died 22 December, 2009

For a long time there, particularly during the late 80s and early 90’s, Michael Thomas Cocks looked ageless, like he’d been drinking heartily from the fountain of youth. Yet he we are, the 22nd of December, 2010 and Cocksy has been gone for a year already. Sure there was benefit concert for him in July, [...]

Classic Image From The Rockbrat Photo Collection: Rose Tattoo – Wagga, Australia (1993)

Who: Rose Tattoo Where: Wagga, NSW Australia  – 22 January 1993 I’ve written about the 1993 Rosie Tatts reformation elsewhere on this blog so will not repeat myself. This was one of my favorite images I shot of the Tatts over the years. I can actually re-call walking past a venue in Adelaide in December of 1992 [...]