Rogue Traders are an ARIA-award winning pop and rock influenced electronic … Read Full Bio ↴Rogue Traders are an ARIA-award winning pop and rock influenced electronic dance music act from Australia, notable for their 2006 international hit singles Voodoo Child, Way To Go! and Watching You.

The band is fronted by co-founder, DJ and producer Jamie Appleby (aka James Ash), and lead singer Natalie Bassingthwaighte. Drummer Cameron McGlinchey and guitarist Tim Henwood (of The Androids & Palace of the King) complete the live line-up of the band.

Co-founder Steve Davis and Ash's wife, Melinda Appleby, often contribute to the songwriting process but choose to stay out of the spotlight. Appleby also provided lead vocals on some pre-Bassingthwaighte materiel, including the 2002 single Give Into Me.

Ash and Davis first met in London in 1989. Before forming Rogue Traders in 2002, the duo worked together on various projects, most notably dance act Union State.

In 2003, they released their debut album as Rogue Traders, titled We Know What You're Up To. Singles Give In To Me and Stay? (the latter featuring Ash on vocals) were both minor top 100 chart tracks in Australia. However their re-working of INXS' Need You Tonight, One Of My Kind, managed to achieve considerable success, peaking at #10 in the ARIA charts and scoring them an ARIA award.

After the success of One Of My Kind, Ash and Davis decided to form a fully-fledged band and returned in 2005 with their sophomore album Here Come The Drums featuring vocalist Natalie Bassingthwaighte. Bassingthwaighte had previously risen to fame in Australia as an actress on the television show Neighbours, and her roles in critically acclaimed stage musicals such as Grease, Rent and Chicago. Davis began working solely as a songwriter for the band and hid away from the spotlight.

The band went on to have major success in Australia, becoming of the biggest pop groups in the country with a string of consecutive hit singles and tours. In 2007 they released their third album, Better In The Dark. After embarking on a sold-out tour in 2008 in support of the album, Bassingthwaighte and McGlinchey, who had met in the band and been dating for quite some time, announced they would be parting ways with the group. Bassingthwaighte went on to pursue a successful solo career and married McGlinchey in 2011.

In 2009, indie pop singer/songwriter Melinda Jackson (nicknamed Mindi, so not to be confused with Ash's wife Melinda Appleby) joined the group as their new frontwoman along with Peter Marin replacing McGlinchey on drums. They released one album, Night Of The Living Drums, but failed to meet the success of previous efforts despite receiving positive reviews and the band were subsequently dropped from the label and went on an indefinite hiatus.

In 2015, it was announced that Bassingthwaighte and McGlinchey would be returning to the band for the 10th anniversary of Here Come The Drums. The band have since been performing live at various events around Australia.

In March 2017, Bassingthwaighte revealed they were writing new music, and in early April the band hit the studio for their first recording sessions. They have since performed 3 new songs live: "To The Disco", "Love Drunk" and "We Can Move Closer".

Their first new single in 12 years, "To The Disco", was released in Feburary 2023 which interpolates "On Your Way To The Disco" from their album "Better In The Dark" with the Skatt Bros 1979 cult classic "Walk The Night". "On Your Way To The Disco" was meant to be the 4th and final single from "Better In The Dark" back in 2008, but was scrapped when Bassingthwaighte left the band.

The band have confirmed "We Can Move Closer" will be released in 2024.

Rescue me
Rogue Traders Lyrics

Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴

Since you've gone
I just can't get to sleep
Lying awake lying awake
Lying awake
All alone.

Do you know I care
If you saw me would you know

Do you know
I care about you still - please ...

Rescue me
Tonight I am calling
Dangerously I might
Keep on falling.

So you win
My life is upside down
Love me again
Love me again
Love me again
Forever.

Feel your love inside of me
Common sense has made me see

That you are the only one
In this world to show me love

Overall Meaning

The lyrics to Rogue Traders' song "Rescue Me" portray a sense of longing and desperation. The persona in the song is unable to sleep because of the absence of someone they love. They wonder if this person would know that they still care about them if they saw them. The chorus "Rescue me, tonight I am calling, dangerously I might keep on falling" further highlights the persona's desperation for the one they love to come back and save them from feeling alone and lost.

The persona's world is turned upside down since their lover left, and all they want is to be loved by them again. However, towards the end of the song, the persona comes to the realization that their common sense has made them see that the one they love is the only person in this world who has shown them real love, and they should hold on to that love.

Overall, "Rescue Me" is a powerful song that captures the emotions of someone who is deeply longing for the love of the one they lost. It portrays a sense of vulnerability and the need for connection, ultimately finding comfort in the notion that true love is worth holding on to.

Line by Line Meaning

Since you've gone
Ever since you left

I just can't get to sleep
I am unable to sleep peacefully

Lying awake lying awake
I keep lying awake, sleepless

Lying awake
Just lying there, unable to sleep

All alone.
By myself with no one else around

Do you know I care
Do you realize that I still care?

If you saw me would you know
If you saw me today, would you recognize my feelings?

Do you know
Do you understand

I care about you still - please ...
I still have feelings for you, and I want your love

Rescue me
Save me

Tonight I am calling
Tonight, I need someone to come to my aid