Before the upcoming release of the remastered vinyl version of ‘Real To Reel’ for Record Store Day 2024, Tesla’s Frank Hannon joined My Weekly Mixtape to talk about the band’s history and past records. He compared Tesla’s hiatus in the ’90s to Led Zeppelin and Soundgarden’s ‘self-destruction.’
Speaking of the ‘Bust A Nut’ album and the period that followed it, the guitarist said:
“We had gone through a period at that point at the end of that first chapter. You know, Soundgarden, Led Zeppelin, Van Halen with David Lee Roth; every great band goes through their heyday of about the first ten years, and then they self-destruct, and then they get back together and try to resurrect it again, which is what we’ve done. We’re looking at 40 years now.”
After a six-year break, mainly due to Tommy Skeoch’s issues with addiction, Tesla reunited with a tour in the early 2000s. The band released seven studio albums and remained together in the decades following the event but faced another problem during the pandemic.
Tesla During And After The Lockdown
The lockdown in 2020 forced the band members to take a break from their musical works, as they fell sick and canceled their tour dates in 2021. Still, Tesla had no plans to end their run together in the near future.
According to Hannon’s chat with Eddie Trunk earlier in the year, the band members will go on making music as long as vocalist Jeff Keith can sing:
“Well, I’ve heard numbers of years being tossed around in conversations with Brian Wheat — like, five years. Who knows? As long as Jeff Keith can sing these songs, we’re gonna continue to do it. And as long as we can find ways to play these songs to help him sing them, we’re gonna keep on going.”
Tesla will embark on a new tour in 2024. They will hit the road in January with one member absent, as Troy Luccketta stepped away from the band to ‘take a little time from the road’ to spend time with family and friends.