Gary “Angry” Anderson had no idea this interview would be his last.
Just days before his cardiac arrest, the frontman sat down with German musician and radio presenter Lotto King Karl to discuss Rose Tattoo’s farewell tour and the next chapter of his life.
Three days later, on August 10, Anderson suffered a cardiac arrest and was taken to hospital after performing with Rose Tattoo in Cologne, forcing the Australian hard rock band to cancel the remaining date s of its European farewell tour.
In the interview, Anderson spoke with the energy and openness that had defined a career spanning five decades.
The final tour had been billed as “Rock’n’Roll Outlaws — One Last Ride”, marking half a century since the rock legends formed in Sydney in 1976.
The band had played across the Netherlands, Switzerland, Belgium, Sweden, Norway, Austria, Hungary and Poland, including a final appearance at Wacken Open Air in Germany in July, one of the world’s biggest heavy metal festivals.
Wacken Open Air paid tribute to Anderson this week, describing him as a “warm-hearted, genuinely lovely bloke” and “a legend with no airs and graces”.
Rose Tattoo first played the festival more than 25 years ago and returned repeatedly over the decades.
The heavy metal institution said Anderson and the band had helped shape Wacken, including its early “Night to Remember” shows.
When Rose Tattoo recorded their album 25 To Life at Wacken, Anderson told the crowd: “We are walking on Holy Ground.”
The festival said those words had since become inseparable from Wacken, where the band performed one last time in July.