Rose is winning the battle

FEROCIOUS vocalist Rose Carleo is bringing her Sydney-based band back to Tassie this weekend to launch their latest single.

With a career spanning more than 25 years and featuring multiple awards and ARIA chart success, Carleo — who has been compared to Emmylou Harris, Melissa Etheridge or “a modern-day Janis Joplin” — is one of the best Australian singers you mightn’t have heard of.

Carleo started out as a country singer, with her song That Season Again named APRA/ AMCOS Single of The Year at the 2011 Southern Stars Australian Independent Country Music Awards.

But Carleo had always been drawn to the blues, and eventually her country-rock tunes took a not-so-subtle change of direction, with her acclaimed 2015 album Time is Now showcasing her ability to seamlessly transition from country to blues to rock.

She is now performing under the Rose Carleo Band moniker, with Steve King (bass), Mick O’Shea (drums) and Mick Adkins (guitarist with Hobart hard rock band Rogue Sharks) helping Carleo bring a contemporary edge to a genre made famous by the likes of Free, Bad Company and Led Zeppelin.

In April the Rose Carleo Band put out their latest EP, Battle Scars, and will this week release the second single from the EP, Faded Tattoo — a Rose Tattoo-style blues-rock track about dealing with the death of a good friend, which “perfectly captures the essence and undying bond of mateship”.

Touring Tasmania and New South Wales to promote Faded Tattoo, the Rose Carleo Band will join local hard-rock group Roadkill and Adkins’ old band Rogue Sharks for shows at the Republic Bar in North Hobart from 10pm on Saturday ($10 cover) and at the Longley International Hotel from 2pm on Sunday (free entry).