Peter William "Pete" Wells (13 December 1946 – 27 March 2006) was the founder and slide guitarist in Australian hard rock band, Rose Tattoo, from 1976 to 1983.
Rose Tattoo were inducted into the Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA) Hall of Fame on 16 August of that same year.
In 1966 he was the bass guitarist of The Odd Colours with Ronnie Hausert, Steve Jones, Eddy Staarink, and Dave Tice on lead vocals.
[3] In Brisbane in 1968 Wells,[4] Jones on drums, and Tice formed a blues band, Head (1968–71), with Neil Jensen on guitar and Peter Leighton.
[6] In August 1971 Wells, Balbi, Baxter and Tice were joined by Alan Milano on co-lead vocals (ex-Mandala) to form Buffalo as a heavy rock group.
[8] Further line-up changes resulted in Lake being replaced by Angry Anderson on lead vocals, Mick Cocks taking over from Johnston on rhythm guitar, and in 1977 Dallas Royall substituting for Vandersluys on drums.
[3][7] Their "peerless, street-level heavy blues with the emphasis on slide guitar" style had developed a strong following leading to Albert Productions offering them a record contract.
[9] In November of the next year their self-titled debut album established their reputation with production by Alberts' in-house producers, George Young and Harry Vanda, formerly of The Easybeats.
[3][7] After the release of their third album Scarred for Life (November 1982), the band supported Aerosmith and then ZZ Top for several dates while on a three-month tour of North America.
[4][8] Wells and Leach (aka Fast Eddie) joined a blues group, Lucy De Soto Band, with De Soto (aka Patricia Anne Clements)[1][2] on lead vocals, piano and Hammond organ (ex-Living Daylights, Fat Time); and Ross Mercer on drums.
[4][13] It was produced by Fraser, Stevens and Kevin Shirley (Lime Spiders) for the Big Stars label and distributed by Mushroom Records.
[3] In the studio he used De Soto, Gaze and Strutt with Bernie Bremond on saxophone (ex-Johnny Diesel and the Injectors) and Scott Johnson on drums (ex-Jimmy and the Boys, Rose Tattoo).
Early in 1993 Wells rejoined Rose Tattoo with the line-up of Anderson, Cocks and Leach adding De Marco as their new drummer.
[7] During the brief reunion they supported two gigs by United States group, Guns N' Roses, on the Australian leg of their Use Your Illusion Tour.
In 1996, they recorded a second album, Volume Two, which remains unreleased, save for one track that appeared on an ABC Music compilation, Open Road II.
[3] In August that year it was followed by a four-track EP, Hard Done by You, co-credited to Peter Wells, Dave Steel (ex-Weddings Parties Anything), Bob Armstrong.
[3][4] Wells and De Soto travelled to Germany to work with a studio band, Romeo Dog, which recorded a self-titled album.
[4] Before its release Wells and De Soto had returned to Australia and, in Melbourne, worked with an R&B outfit, Blues Hangover, which included Ken Farmer on drums; Dave Hogan on vocals and harmonica; and Warren Rough guitar (all from The Paramount Trio); plus John Stax on bass guitar (ex-The Pretty Things).
[24] Australian musicians played benefit gigs for him in September and October 2005 including Rose Tattoo, Peter Garrett, The Beasts of Bourbon, Tex, Don and Charlie, Paul Kelly and Tim Rogers and the Temperance Union.
[21][28] His band, Rose Tattoo, was inducted into the Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA) Hall of Fame on 16 August of the same year.
[29][30] A week before his death, Wells was visited in hospital by members of Rose Tattoo, he told them to continue recording their next album, Blood Brothers (February 2007).