Tesla have been splitting fan opinions with their last few albums, but from what it appears, perhaps ‘Shock’ has come close to impressing most of the fan base.
The most noise surrounding this album seems to be the ‘Leppardization’ of the sound, given then Def Leppard guitarist Phil Collen is producing. Yes, it’s obvious, but how can that be a bad thing, really?
The production is big and fat and the guitars are front and centre, Jeff Keith sounds in better shape and the songs are very strong.
For me it is great to hear Tesla back to their classic tone, leaving the modern tuned down aspect of their last couple behind – for the most part. The album’s title track certainly delivers a bombastic modernized set of riffs, but it fits well within the album.
Two ballads in the first 5 songs might be pushing things a bit – but both are classic Tesla.
I do have to raise my concerns with the carefree, breezy California Summer Song. It’s horrid. Lets Get Rocked meets that jackass Kid Rock with a truly obnoxious song. Then it’s another ballad – and the weakest of the album. So the album really suffers for pace through the middle, but finally The Mission comes to kick ass and rescue us from the mid-album cheese.
From here out it’s nothing but hooks and riffs and little for any Tesla fan to complain about.
The album’s twelve tracks clock in at only 44 minutes, but a slight tweak in the sequencing and the abandoning of California Summer Song would bring this album closer to the band’s best work. Their first 4 albums are untouchable.
New Tesla album 'Shock' will be a more polished production, 80's sound- Guitarist Frank Hannon
Jimmy Kay from Canada's The Metal Voice (www.facebook.com/themetalvoice) recently spoke to Tesla's guitarist Frank Hannon about his new solo album of covers called "From One Place To Another Vol. 2" which wass released on May 2019 as well as the musical style on the upcoming new Tesla album called Shock that will be produced by Def Leppard's Phil Collen and released in February 2019
When asked about how many cover solo albums he is planning on releasing in the near future
"I'm a fly by the seat of my pants artist this whole thing wasn't even planned to be a series. I was just recording songs for fun and for a challenging exercise to develop my singing voice. I learned to play guitar by learning from the old masters Jimi Hendrix, Check Berry, Eddie Van Halen and Randy Rhoads, you learn guitar from learning from your elders. So I said I really want to learn to sing better, so I started recording. Then one of my business associates said hey man you should put this out, there was so much material we had to spread it out over time. I don't know if there will be more albums in this series because I do have some original songs that i am writing for my solo projects coupled with the fact that Tesla has a new album coming out in February of this year 2019. So I don't know what is going to happen in the future. Keep in mind not only do i have these cover albums but I also have 6 solo albums."
When asked about the intricacies of singing and playing guitar on this covers album
"There are different approaches of playing guitar you can noodle, you can play fast, shred or you can play melodies. I like to shred and I like simple melodies that make you feel a certain way that you remember. So I think actually singing actually makes you a better guitar player cause it can make think more about the song in general then just noodling on the guitar."
When asked about him covering Black Sabbath's song Sweet Leaf on his covers album Vol 2
"I like punk music, I like Metal, I would like to cover Judas Priest the Ripper. There is a song that Judas Priest does called Running Wild I love that song and would love to do that. I love all the spectrum's everything from the Grateful Dead to Iron Maiden to Black Sabbath. I love it all so why not? "
When asked about his new video and song covering Deep Purple Hush and what he brings to that classic song
"The melody is what you keep from the original, it's the melody that lives forever so you pull that and then what I did I got rid of the 3/3 organ stuff that Deep Purple did and I put in Randy Hansen to play some funky Jimi Hendrix style guitar and percussion. You keep the melody the same but you crank up the guitar and put different kind of sounds to it. "
When asked about what Phil Collen will be bringing to the table producing the new Tesla album Shock
"Phil really helped us, Phil had a bunch of song ideas and a lot of the writing on the new album is co-written by Collen he interjected a lot of positive energy into us. Phil is bringing production quality and details that we would have not done and haven't done in the past. Some fans may not like it, some fans are gonna love it. This is something that we wanted to try we never worked like this before. Mutt Lang is a producer that really has techniques that are very detailed in the studio and Phil Collen obviously has experience with all that and he brought that type of approach to making the Tesla record which we never done before. the sound on this new album is really powerful."
When asked about the musical direction of the new Tesla album:
"It definitely has an 80's kind of polished production but there really is no direction we don't really put ourselves into one sound we got elements of metal, country etc..
This new album has the big production but every song sounds different, you are going to hear some slide guitar riffs there and then there is also hear some Queen, Beatles, big Beatles vocals type influences on it. You are going to hear some Def Leppard style influences and there is some of that big back vocals too. We are going to be on tour in February playing new songs off the new album and if you buy a ticket to the show in February 2019 it gets you a copy of the new album in advance. So February March 2019 the new Tesla album Shock."
Hannon's "From One Place... To Another Vol. 2" was released on May 18, just four months after the initial installment in what is planned to be an ongoing series of solo cover albums.
"From One Place To Another Vol. 2" track listing:
01. Hush (featuring Randy Hansen)
02. Lord Of The Thighs (featuring Graham Whitford)
03. You Can't Always Get What You Want (featuring Duane Betts)
On this episode of Westwood One's Rock Talk With Mitch Lafon, new interviews with Canadian guitarist ALDO NOVA and Tesla's FRANK HANNON. Former Guns N' Roses & Great White manager Alan Niven co-hosts.
In our first interview, guitarist Aldo Nova talks about his new album 2.0, where does this reboot lead, future plans, Foreigner's Lou Gramm, his work with Bon Jovi, working with Celine Dion, Rick Hughes and SWORD, Blood On The Bricks, and much more.
Our second interview is with TESLA guitarist, Frank Hannon (interview starts at approx. the 1hr03 min. mark). He talks about his latest release 'From One Place... To Another Vol. 2', Tesla's new album Shock (approx. 1hr 18min.), new producer Phil Collen, Aldo Nova, future solo releases, why he's chosen not to cover Led Zeppelin, the production team of Steve Thompson & Michael Barbiero (approx. 1hr 27 minutes), upcoming TESLA deluxe editions (approx. 1hr 34 minutes), his new HUSH video and much more.
Alan Niven mentions the Izzy Stadlin/Bon Jovi tour that almost happened and more. We also discuss George Thorogood's annual Who Do You Love charity drive that starts Monday November 12th and runs until December 24th 2018. For more visit: www.georgethorogood.com
I love this album from the bottom of my heart. Well, the original at least! Mechanical Resonance is I think, one of the greatest debut albums of all time. It’s still the best Tesla album ever (although their catalogue is wonderfully consistent) and it’s hard to believe its 30 years old.
Recorded over the course of a tour of the USA, the original 12 songs are compiled here in order of that magnificent debut in a very nice tribute to it.
The band is still kicking ass and there was never going to be any question of how good these songs were going to sound. They rock of course!
The only fear I had was going to be the quality of Jeff Keith’s voice. 30 years of rockin and rollin will do a lot of damage to a vocalist and its clear to hear that he has aged and the pitch is a little rougher and raspier, but hell, he still sounds good to me and the energy portrayed by him and the whole band on these performances means that Mechanical Resonance is given the fitting tribute it deserves.
A 13th track is a preview from the band's upcoming new studio album co-written and co-produced with Def Leppard's Phil Collen. A great taste of what's to come too. A mid-tempo melodic rocker that's old-school Tesla.
A nice raw, rough and raspy rock n roll retro rollercoaster.
TESLA Announce Album 'Mechanical Resonance, Live!' to be Released August 26
2016 Summer Tour With Def Leppard set to Kick off on June 22 in Boston
It's been said that lightning never strikes the same place twice. However, it does in the case of Tesla. The band isthrilled to announce the release of a live recording of their classic album, 'Mechanical Resonance LIVE!', celebrating the original multi-Platinum record's 30th birthday in style. With a few surprises up their sleeve, including the single 'Save That Goodness' written and produced by Phil Collen of Def Leppard, he album will be released in Europe on August 26th on Tesla's longtime label partner Frontiers Music Srl. The record is being released in conjunction with Tesla's USA summer tour opening up for Def Leppard, where they will perform in front of over half a million fans.
Said Frank Hannon, '30 years later and the songs on our first album still rock! Making this new live album of Mechanical Resonance was a reminder of the innocence and creative beginnings of Tesla.'
Added Brian Wheat, "It was a lot of fun to re-visit some of the songs we hadn't played in decades and had a great time recording it. "
Over the course of their thirty-year career, which started in 1986, the iconic Sacramento melodic hard rock quintet'Frank Hannon [guitar], Brian Wheat [bass], Jeff Keith [lead vocals], Troy Luccketta [drums], and Dave Rude [guitar]'has sold more than 25 million albums worldwide and played to sold out crowds across the globe, their three albums that followed 'Mechanical Resonance' all went multi-Platinum in the USA. To say Tesla live is absolutely bombastic is an understatement, they are a hard rock band to beat all hard rock bands.
The 21st century has become something of a renaissance for Tesla. Most recently, 2014's Simplicity bowed at #14 on the Billboard Top 200. The group ignited ABC's Jimmy Kimmel LIVE! in addition to scorching stages at festivals such as Rocklahoma, Graspop Metal Meeting, and Sweden Rock Festival as well as the cruise Monsters of Rock! As they prepare to cut their ninth full-length album with Phil Collen in the producer's chair, Tesla takes another monumental leap forward as they glance back on Mechanical Resonance Live!
Mechanical Resonance Live tracklisting:
1. Rock Me To The Top
2. Ez Come Ez Go
3. Gettin' Better
4. Comin' Atcha Live
5. Changes
6. Before My Eyes
7. 2 Late 4 Love
8. We're No Good Together
9. Love Me
10. Cover Queen
11. Lil Suzie
12. Modern Day Cowboy
13. Save That Goodness (Studio Track)
UMe MARKS 25TH ANNIVERSARY OF TESLA’S 1991 PSYCHOTIC SUPPER ALBUM WITH TWO-LP VINYL RELEASE, ON JULY 22
Classic Geffen release includes five Mainstream Rock hits in “Edison’s Medicine,” “Call It What You Want,” “What You Give,” “Song & Emotion” and “Stir It Up”
TESLA's third album, Psychotic Supper, the band’s third studio album, released on August 30, 1991, was the follow-up to the live Five Man Acoustical Jam, peaking at #13 on the Billboard 200, featuring an aggressive change in direction from the previous disc, landing an impressive five songs on the Mainstream Rock Tracks chart, including “What You Give,” which went to #7 and even cracked the Billboard Hot 100 at #86. Other memorable songs include “Edison’s Medicine,” which spotlights how its subject received credit for harnessing electricity over the band’s own namesake, Nikola Tesla, which climbed to #20 on the Mainstream Rock Tracks, along with “Call It What You Want” (#19), “Song & Emotion” (#13) and “Stir It Up” (#35). Produced by Michael Barbiero (Metallica, Guns N’ Roses, Anthrax) - who also helmed the band’s first two studio efforts -- the album was eventually certified platinum in 1993 by the RIAA, and was included in German magazine Rock Hard’s book of “The 500 Greatest Rock & Metal Albums of All Time.” The band themselves have been quoted as considering Psychotic Supper their best record.
To help mark the album’s 25th anniversary in August, UMe is reissuing the album for the first time as a two-LP standard issue vinyl set on July 22.
Tesla was formed in Sacramento in late 1981 by bassist Brian Wheat and Frank Hannon, with lead vocalist Jeff Keith, drummer Troy Luccketta and guitarist Tommy Skeoch joining them by 1984, settling on the name Tesla two years later. Their debut album, Mechanical Resonance, came out in 1986, with many of the band’s themes and song titles inspired by the electrical engineer who gave them their name. In the early days of their career, the band toured extensively, opening for David Lee Roth, Alice Cooper, Def Leppard and Poison.
And while their first two albums, Mechanical Resonance and 1989’s The Great Radio Controversy, both charted on the Billboard 200, 1990’s live Five Man Acoustical Jam, proved a breakthrough, peaking at #12, producing the Top 10 Billboard Hot 100 single “Signs,” a cover of the 1971 song by the Five Man Electrical Band.
On Psychotic Supper, the band largely eschewed the live album’s acoustic bent and let loose with a stripped-down production that enhanced the band’s bluesy take on rock and roll. “Edison’s Medicine” is highlighted by Jeff Keith’s frenetic, yet soulful vocals and some scorching guitar solos by Tommy Skeoch and Frank Hannon. Skeoch also rocks out on theremin, while Hannon straps on a bass for a memorable solo.
25 years after its release, Psychotic Supper still holds up for its impressive musicianship by the band and its mix of hard rock and anthemic ballads.
In the episode's first interview WHITESNAKE guitarist REB BEACH discusses the band's current Greatest Hits tour, making The Purple album, getting the Whitesnake gig, his time with ALICE COOPER, WINGER, DOKKEN and making the Erase The Slate album. Plus, much much more.
Quotes from the REB BEACH interview:
New solo album (time 2.03): "I've been working on my solo album that is instrumental forever and I'm like sick of it already, but it's really really good. It's done, but I just need the drummer to come play on it."
Getting into Whitesnake (time 4.31): "I wanted the gig badly and called everyone I knew and said, 'Do you know someone in the Whitesnake camp.?'"
The Whitesnake Greatest Hits tour (time 10.22): "People want to hear familiar songs. When you start playing an unfamiliar song, be it a new song or a really old song (that they don't know), a lot of people just start texting or the take a bathroom break."
Dokken's Erase The Slate (time 21.04): "They were going to release a Beatles' album basically and I'm like, 'No, you're DOKKEN. I love Dokken. It's got to be ROKKEN WITH DOKKEN."
In this episode's second interview director Christian Lamb discusses the making of the Mötley Crüe final concert film The End.
The Interview starts at the XX.XX minute mark.
Quotes from the CHRISTIAN LAMB interview:
The interviews interspersed in The End movie (39.26): "There's this finality to it and we absolutely had to get into that story. Those points all had to be made. We had to hear the guys. We had to hear their perspectives and what was going on in their heads approaching this. In the end, it was always going to be more of a narrative."
In the show's only interview, drummer Troy Lucketta discusses the band's current tour with Def Leppard & REO Speedwagon, the upcoming 30th anniversary Mechanical Resonance LIVE album, working with Def Leppard's Phil Collen on new music, Whitford/St.Holmes, Keith Emerson and so much more.
Quotes from the interview:
Joining Tesla (time 2.30): "Back in 1985, when I hooked up with the band and I heard Jeff's voice. I always knew there was something really special about the band."
The upcoming MECHANICAL RESONANCE Live album (time 6.02): "We knew our anniversary was coming up. Phil Collen of Def Leppard really spearheaded this thing. So, what we did... We would open the show with a couple Mechanical Resonance songs, change it every night and we did that over a couple of weeks and we managed to get the record. Phil Collen wrote a song called 'Goodness' (it's a beautiful awesome song). It's a bonus track for the record."
Are you locked in to the 'Tesla sound' (time 13.13)...
Def Leppard (22.11): "The band all of us (speaking for all of us not just myself) we all love that band and respect that band so much. We've been blessed over thirty years to do different things and dates... We spent fifteen months on Hysteria. Every time we've crossed paths, it's always felt like family."
On The Double Stop Podcast this week, Dave Rude (Tesla, Dave Rude Band) discusses how he got started as a guitarist and singer, and we learn how he got his big break with Tesla (it's really rather remarkable luck!). He discusses the making of Tesla's Real to Reel, Forever More and Simplicity. As well as the Dave Rude Band self-titled release, plus "Carry Me Home" and "The Key". He also gives his thoughts on Spotify, discusses a possible guitar instrumental album, an upcoming Tesla box set and his work as a writer for other artists, as well as TV and film.
TESLA's Troy Lucketta and H.E.A.T's Erik Grönwall join Mitch for Episode 73 of One On On With Mitch Lafon. Troy discusses his new project, Saville Row, and their new album The Way Around It. He also talks about Jeff Keith's recent medical procedure that has kept Tesla off the road and the band's upcoming return to touring, making new music and much more. In the episode's second interview H.E.A.T's Erik Grönwall discusses the band's most recent album Tearing Down The Walls, replacing the band's original singer, the pros and cons of being on 'Swedish Idol', the band's upcoming LIVE IN LONDON album, touring and much more.
The Killer Dwarfs, RUSS DWARF, co-hosts this episode.
Listen and subscribe to the One On One With Mitch Lafon Podcast on iHeartRadio, iTunes, Spreaker, TuneIn and Stitcher.
We had 6,000 listeners in the first month.
Then 5600 listeners in week #5!
Hit #6 in iTunes new and noteworthy
#57 in overall comedy (out of about 100,000 podcasts)
Russell Allen of Symphony X/Trans Siberian Orchestra
Dave Z of Zrock/Rubix Cube/Trans Siberian Orchestra
Bobby Blitz of Overkill & John Garcia of Kyuss.
Upcoming guests include
Porn stars, rock stars, actors, celeb chefs and more!
Touring in support of their seventh studio release, Tesla performed to a sold out crowd at the Canyon Club in Agoura Hills, CA on August 2nd, 2014. The new album, titled Simplicity, features 14 original songs with two bonus tracks on the Japanese released version of the CD. Gaining immediate traction upon release, the straight forward hard rockers landed on the Billboard Top 200 at number 24 with first week sales boasting over 14,000 copies; a more than admiral feat for a band that got it's legs during the MTV Headbanger's Ball generation.
Simplicity was released to the general public on June 10th through all music retail outlets. The bands easily identifiable logo graces the jacket in black and white and the songs feature founding guitarist Frank Hannon's unique and straight from the gut blues laden rhythms and melodious solos. Throughout the CD, songs offer hook laden acoustic guitar rhythms that delicately blend with clean distortion to create an evolution of sound for the band that holds true to their history in creating hard rock classics.
Front man and vocalist Jeff Keith shares, 'We always make a record we love and you guys say, we don't like it, but we like it and that's good enough for us.'
When asked about the recording sessions, where rumors have circulated about the band having recorded 28 tracks for CD, Keithshares, 'We decided on the bus the other day that all these demos songs that didn't make the record, for our 30th anniversary we can put out a box set. The problem is, we have to find all those old recordings.'
On June 7th, the band released a video for the song So Devine, a chilling homage to a close friend of the band that had recently passed away. Response to the video has earned more than 86,000 views on YouTube and Vevo in the first two months and has gained a new following for the band in both listenership and concert turnout.
On stage, four of the founding five members of the band performed with guitarist Dave Rude who has been the consistent rhythm guitarist in the band since replacing Tommy Skeoch, who took time off for personal reasons in 2006. The set list offered tracks from the new album and a friendly reminder of the music that broke the band in the 80's, ending with three tracks from the bands first CD,Mechanical Resonance.
The set was performed as follows:
01. MP3
02. Edison's Medicine
03. I Wanna Live
04. Hang Tough
05. So Devine
06. Heaven's Trail
07. Mama's Fool
08. Life Is A River
09. The Way It Is
10. Burnout To Fade
11. What You Give
12. Signs
13. Love Song
14. Getting' Better
15. Modern Day Cowboy
16. Little Suzi
The show at the Canyon Club marks the end of the western leg of the tour and offers the band an eight day reprieve before continuing at the Hampton Beach Club Casino in New Hampshire and crossing the Midwest to bring the band back to California, and as scheduled, a finishing performance in Las Vegas at the East Side Cannery Casino.
Tesla is also scheduled to perform as part of the line-up on the Monster's Of Rock Cruise Miami on April 22nd, 2015.
Follow the band online by visiting their official website at www.TeslaTheBand.com. Social media links are available on the website.
A few classic Tesla tracks, and a few great ballads also, but too few rockers that deliver and way too many tracks overall – and slow ones at that.
Coupled with the stripped back production, Simplicity isn’t good enough to match what is otherwise a very consistent and impressive catalogue of albums over the years.
I remain a huge Tesla fan, but won’t be coming back to this album too often. Just a few individual tracks.
As a longtime fan of this band – since the very beginning actually – I feel that I’m more than qualified to call this new album the band’s weakest to date.
The essential quadrilogy of Mechanical Resonance (one of the best debut albums in history), The Great Radio Controversy, Psychotic Supper (again, utterly essential) and Bust a Nut are four of the best American hard rock albums I own.
I’ve not rushed into this review hoping the album would grow on me more than it has. But I’m still stuck in a middle ground of appreciating some of the tracks on here as classic Tesla brilliance, but overall, there are several tracks that fall flat and simply drag.
Simplicity is a case of what could and should have been rather than what is.
Style wise the band has stripped the sound right back. This is a pretty raw affair, with a live in the studio feel.
That in itself is ok, but the album is way too bloated at 15 tracks. An 11 track album would have flowed better and maintained a better tempo. As it is, the album drags through too many slower tracks and a couple of true fillers.
I don’t think they do themselves any favors leading off with the plodding MP3 as an opening track. It’s an ok song, but it is a mid-album track I think. The faster and more classic sounding Ricochet would have made a much better opening track.
Rise And Fall is another pretty decent track and is reminiscent of the classic Tesla sound, but I’m not sure about the sequencing at all as this track also has that mid-tempo pace.
So Divine is a uptempo rocker. Better for rocking, but let down by not being one of the band’s better tracks.
The slow bar room boogie of the acoustic driven Cross My Heart again affects the flow of the album.
The heartfelt rock ballad Honestly is a great track, but this album really has no flow.
Flip Side is another bar room boogie track that highlights the back and forth nature of the style and tempo within the album.
Other Than Me is another ballad and a pretty decent track in many ways, but as a die-hard Tesla fan, I’m hanging out for a classic rocker at this stage.
Break Of Dawn delivers the tempo, but perhaps not the song quality. It’s pretty raw and does grow on you and might have fared better in a revised shuffle of the running order.
Burnout To Fade is yet another slower track – another acoustic ballad which is one of my preferred slower tracks on the album, but I’m really suffering from lack of tempo.
And what do we get now, yes, another slow ballad. Life Is A River is once again, a decent enough track, but to many slow tracks are killing this album.
Sympathy picks up the pace with a heavy, but it’s a modern rocker with little redeeming value.
Time Bomb is almost there – the twin guitar attack and frantic pace is great and long overdue on the album.
Closing out the 14 new studio tracks is yet another acoustic driven ballad. Fortunately for the band it is the album’s best ballad. Classic Tesla all the way.
