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Tesla: (I to r) Brian Wheat. Tommy Skeoch, Jeff Keith, Frank Hannon and Troy Luccketta.
Tesla takes Texas in big way
Eccentric inventor inspires hard rock group
By Keith Spare*'
ENTERTAINMENT WRITER
If nothing else, you can be assured of getting two
things from Tesla.
One is no-nonsense rock ’n’ roll with a hard edge and
a bit of blues thrown m.
The other is a sermon on how wonderful lioth Nikola
Tesla (the eccentric inventor who is the band’s
namesake) and his ideas were.
In a phone interview earlier this week. Frank Han
non. one of Tesla's (tire hand's) two guitarists and one
of Tesla's (the man's) biggest fans, spent a whole lot of
time pondering how the world would lie a better place
if onlv folks had listened to what of Nikola had to say.
"Tliere were two wavs of going: one wav was the
money, greedy way, and another wav — Tesla's wav —
which could have been . . . unimaginable.'' said Han
non, his voice full o( awe.
And what was it that the inventor did that could have
been so wonderful? As Frank tells it:
"He developed a way of transmitting electricity, with
out any oollution or anything, through the air — Iree.
everyboav had access to the electricity through the at
mosphere
“It’s ama/uig. va' know? When I esla First found out
that they had split the atom, he was really upset because
that was against nature's harmony, and he said, ‘We're
gonna have problems in the future.' Sure enough.
tins radioactive hulls-- voinv out into tne
They also hired Michael Barbiero and Sieve Thomp
son. the same producers who worked on their First al
bum, to do The Great Ratlin f omroyero.
"Fleaven's Trail (No Way Chit)** was the album's First
video and single. It churns along as Keith belts out ly
rics that are something less than hopeful.
“It's basically about life in genetal.” said Hannon
“You think everything’s cool and then you wake up and
smell the coffee. Then you're bac k where vou started
again — stuck in the living hell.~
Tesla knows about how a seenungh pleasant exis
tence can suddenly take a nasty turn, t he band mem
bers woke up one morning near the end of work on the
second album to discover that a trut k containing tens of
thousands of dollars worth oi then equipment had been
stolen. The equipment was insured, but the distinctive
instruments, some of which were gilts from other mus
eums and had sentimental value, were irreplacable _
The video lor “Heaven’s Trail” has tne hand per-
iorming amidst the rubble of partially demolished
buildings in a scene ol industrial decay, with hursts of
fire popping up here aud there ^Hannon said the video
was shot at a (Mace called Fontana, about an hour out
side of L.A., at the site ol an old^aisei steel plant that
was being torn down).
The evil of the set. along with the hopelessness of the
lyrics, could tempt the of»server to think Tesla is com-
we ve got all this radioactive hulls--- going out into
ocean. v '
But alas, not everyone was so impressed with Tesla's
ideas to bring free power to the masses. "All the money-
hungry people in the world said. ‘Wait a minute, we
can't have this, we gotta hide this I esla guv.’ " Han
non said. “And that's exactly what they did He died
poor. Now. nobody's ever heard of him."
And this despite a whole hatch of revolutionary
ideas, some of which liecame realities.
Tesla worked on coming up with an alternating-cur
rent system.
“It was direct current back then (the first third of this
century) and thev tried to power cites with direct cur
rent. and they just couldn't do it." Hannon said. “T esla
invented an alternating current system He devised it bv
rotating magnetic Fields; he got the idea from the
earth’s north and south magnetic poles
“He also devised an electrical system of transmitting
the same alternating current through the air. without
wires."
This devotion to I esla's ideas goes bevond words.
“We're trying to get it (Tesla's technology) exposed."
said Hannon "Because Troy (Luccketta. Tesla's drum
mer) and I are reallv into Tesla, we’re doing all we can.
W’e just donated v>me monev to a I esla Foundation, to
have a statue of him put up in the Smithsonian Institu
te."
Besides the money, the.names the band chose for
both of its albums relate to Tesla. Their First. Mec hani
cal Remmance. is named after one of Nikola's theories.
The second album's title. The Great Radio Contro
versy, refers to a Supreme Court case in the 1940s that
resulted in Nikola I esla being deemed the “father of
radio." instead of Cuglielmo Marconi.
The biggest tribute, of course is the hand's name It
was during a skull session to name the band that the
musicians were First exposed to Tesla; thev got a name
for the hand and a cause to promote all in one package.
“When we were recording the First album, we didn’t
have a name." said Hannon. “We were trying to think
of a good name, but we kept on thinking of stuff that
was reallv medicx re.
“The name Tesla was actually Cliff Bernstein's idea
(Bernstein is one of Tesla's managers, who. along with
his partrfer Peter Mensch, manages Def Leppard. Me-
tallica, Queensrvche and several other bands). He had a
book on Nikola I esla: he turned us on to the book, and
we decided 'Wow, that would be a cool name for a
band.* “
Of course, the theories of a man who has been dead
for several decades are not all that needed to be talked
about during this phone session. There is always the
regular rock n' roll chatter about records and tours and
such.
Hannon and his handmates — vocalist and lyricist
Jeff Keith, guitarist Tonyny Skeoch. bassist Brian
Wheat and drummer Troy Luccketta — are touring in
support of The Great Radio Controversy, a record that
has already gone gold (over 500.000 units sold) since its
February release.
The album has even garnered praise from the likes
of the Rolling Stone editors, who are not known for
their love of hard rock.
Hannon said the three-and-a-half stars (out of five)
that the album got from Rolling Stone was a pleasant
surprise.
“Yeah, thev slammed our First record, so it's kind of
funny,” said Hannon.
K>n the new record, Tesla stayed in the same vein as
the first album, using Keith's raspy, powerful vocals to
compliment the twin guitar of Hannon and Skeoch.
menting on the old storv of the rock band that makes
the deal with the devil and now has “no wav out." What
does Hannon think ol this interpretation - ^
"I don't know," he said. “I don't think there was any L
intention of that bring implied, but I'd never thought
of it that way I guess it.could be. couldn't it?" (laQghs)
All references to the darker side of life aside. Han-
non said the band members are enjoying themselves on
tour. Tesla decided to make the gutsy move ol headlin
ing after onlv their second album (and after opening-
act stints for David Lee Roth. Alxe Cooper and Def
Leppard), while many other bands that have sold com
parable numbers of records have opted to remain in the
safer, opening-band slot (you've only got to hold the
crowd's attention for 45 minutes, and if tickets don't
sell, it’s the headliner's fault).
Hannon explained the rationale behind this move.
“We knew we couldn't sell out the big arenas or any
thing. but we've alwavs had great response opening for
people.” he said. “There are no tours, really, to go out
on opening right now. so we just der ided to give it a'
shot (as a headliner)."
Tesla also brought along some insurance for this tour
(which comes to Austin this Saturday, Houston on Sun
day and San Antonio on Monday); Great While, whose
catchy, piano-driven rocker “Once Bitten, Twice Shy" is
a favorite on MTV. and Kix. another hard-rock hand
with a couple of popular videos under its belt, are on
the bill with Tesla.
Tesla is the mam attraction, though. Radio ads for
the show call them 'The last American blue jean and T-
shirt band." which is a fairly accurate description of
Tesla's image, or lack thereof. Thev don't come from
flashy L.A. — their home is a bit farther north, up in
Sacramento.
And according to Hannon, Geffen Records put no
pressure on the band to put on the make-up ana span-
dex in order to conform more closely with the “hard-
rock look.”
Instead, thev were able to concentrate on wrung
songs. And this. Hannon agrees, is the key to real suc
cess, in the form of music that will endure. Has Tesla
reached that point in their songwriting where they have
made music mat will still be plaved years from now?
“1 really can’t tell you. man." said Hannon. "1 hope it
hangs in there. I know it's got all our hearts and souls in
it — it’s not formulated to try to tell records-tvpe-crap
music that's sold to people. It's music from our hearts
and souls — that's where longevity comes from."
And so 20 years from now, you may Find yourself lis
tening to The Great Radio Controversy on a musk ma
chine powered by free electricity from the skies.
If you do. you'll know that both Tesla the man and
Tesla the band have succeeded.