The formation of Tattoo Rodeo would have to be one of the most ill-advised moves in all of melodic rock. Just why pomp/AOR heroes White Sister changed horses to become cowboy rockers was downright confusing.
Written by: gdmonline
ARTIST: Tattoo Rodeo
ALBUM: Rode Hard Put Away Wet
LABEL: Atlantic
SERIAL: 7-82241-2
YEAR: 1991
CD REISSUE: Discogs Reissue List
COUNTRY OF ORIGIN: USA
LINEUP: Dennis Churchill Dries – vocals, bass * Rick Chadock – guitars * Richard Wright – drums * Michael Lord – keyboards
TRACK LISTING: 01 Strung Out * 02 Sweet Little Vicki * 03 Been Your Fool * 04 Everybody Wants What She’s Got * 05 Ain’t No Reason Why * 06 Let Me Be The One * 07 Blonde Ambition * 08 Love Shuffle * 09 Shotgun Johnny * 10 Tell Me Why * 11 One Way Love * 12 Down * 13 Hard Like A Rock
Background
The formation of Tattoo Rodeo would have to be one of the most ill-advised moves in all of melodic rock. Just why pomp/AOR heroes White Sister changed horses to become cowboy rockers was downright confusing.
Of course back in the day, many of us bought this CD based purely on the WS legacy. But I’d put money on it we all offloaded our CD pretty much after giving it one spin.
It’s amazing how the rock music industry can influence so many acts. Mesnwhile Bon Jovi, Tesla, Tangier and others were upgrading their leathers and studs. Swapping out for tassles, stetsons and rawhide during this era. Some bands came to the party late, Tattoo Rodeo being one such outfit.
Look don’t get me wrong, I have huge respect for Dennis Churchill-Dries, Rick Chadock and Co. But even they could look back and perhaps say to themselves ‘what the heck were we doing’?
Having given this a recent re-listen, I’ll admit this isn’t such a bad CD after all. It’s just not what many of us expected. Kept in the context of southern rock, then it would probably sound half decent to the uninformed and non trainspotter.
It’s just that we all need to mind blank White Sister for 40 minutes while listening to this. Dennis has an amazing voice on any given day, and even on this album, he sounds great.
The Songs
When Dennis and the boys stop pretending to be cowboys, they do cause a bit of a ruckus. But let’s be honest. It’s hard to be a convincing cowboy rocker from Burbank Los Angeles, rather than Austin Texas.
The opener ‘Strung Out’ and ‘Everybody Wants What She’s Got’ are two good examples. While ‘Shotgun Johnny’ and the excellent ‘One Way Love’ follow this up with some fine melodic hard rock. The latter is in keeping with White Sister material.
‘Been Your Fool’ is a southern slow crawl ballad with Dennis giving a rollicking vocal performance. It lines up nicely against southern rock ballads from this time frame. It was one of the singles from the CD.
‘Let Me Be The One’ was the other single. Again, another slow burn ballad with barroom piano, with Dennis sounding unnervingly like Dave Meniketti.
‘Down’ is probably the next best ballad (after ‘Been Your Fool’). It features an orchestral backdrop with great vocals and lots of acoustic guitar.
Other tracks dabble with the southern rock genre, lots of slide guitar, Jack Daniels flavoured attitude, you get the drift.
In Summary
If Tattoo Rodeo had delivered songs that were more melodic rock and less of the cowboy influences, then this might have sold a lot more. As it is, the band didn’t move heaven and earth during 1991, and were kinda forgotten about by many.
Atlantic dropped the band, though Tattoo Rodeo did reappear with a new album in 1995 called ‘Skin’ on the Belgian label Mausoleum, but not many people were listening or taking interest.
In a popular move, the band returned to their former glory as White Sister. They reformed with keyboardist/vocalist Gary (Garri) Brandon, though losing drummer Richard Wright to cancer a few years ago and Rick Chadock as well. WS even played Firefest during 2008 with a rejigged lineup, great news for all us Sister fans.
If you feel inclined to pull out ‘Rode Hard Put Away Wet’ for a nostalgic listen, please do so. If only to listen to the excellent tracks ‘Been Your Fool’ and ‘One Way Love’.
Tattoo Rodeo on Video
Click to go to YTM album page.
