TESLA – AN INTERVIEW WITH GUITARIST FRANK HANNON

By Kat Gullage

Tesla rose to fame during the 80’s glam metal era, but unapologetically stayed true to their own bluesy rock sound and no-frills style. They have sold over fourteen million albums, created a loyal fan base,and continue to find the “Time To Rock!’ by releasing new music and performing crowd pleasing live shows. Tesla’s quintet retained original members for decades and AMP was lucky enough to chat with one of them recently, guitarist and self-proclaimed Heavy Metal Hippie, Frank Hannon.

This was an interview via Zoom. I prepared the best I could but I can’t express the feeling of giddiness and excitement I experienced when “Frank Hannon Cell Has Entered The Meeting”, showed up on my screen.

AMP/KAT: Frank, thank you so much for taking the time to chat with me! I’m a huge fan of you and Tesla and I can’t believe you are virtually in my home! I’m Kat with MyAMPMusic, we were recently voted #74 out of 100 best music websites in the USA.

FRANK: Congratulations! What’s your name again?

AMP/KAT: KAT. Like rawrrrrr! (makes cat noise and claw scratching motion)

FRANK: laughs Got it and won’t forget it.

AMP/KAT: I have been to thousands of concerts and have seen Tesla multiple times. Usually in clubs but recently I reviewed your show at Foxwoods. You guys are so great live, I’ve never seen a bad Tesla gig.

FRANK: Thanks so much! That means a lot.

AMP/KAT: I read in your bio on TeslaTheBand.com, which answers any question anyone would ever have about you, that you are into Cutting horses. Do you have your own horses?

FRANK: Yes, I love horses. My wife is actually the master of all things horses. We do have our own and we actually have a foal right now. I believe that no matter what you’re doing, you should have passion for it and find joy in it. I get that out of making music and interacting with horses.

AMP/KAT: I’m not as well versed in horses as you, but my sister and I had one all through elementary school. Her name was Osceola. We didn’t have enough land to keep her at home so we boarded her at a stable up the road. We loved it. My coworker currently has two pure quarter horses, one is a paint.

FRANK: Cool. Yes, we have quarter horses as well.

AMP/KAT: Enough horsing around Frank, let’s get to the interview.

FRANK: laughs

AMP/KAT: Your bio states that you broke your leg at age 10 and that began your journey into playing guitar. How did you break your leg?

FRANK: I was actually already playing guitar prior to that. I was doing crazy things back then and my cousin and I were on a dirt bike getting chased by dogs. So, I was so focused on the dogs that I lost sight of what was in front of me and drove the bike into a ditch. I destroyed my knee in that wreck and had a cast from ankle to thigh for the whole summer. Where I was perched on the couch I could reach the turntable without moving so I listened to music and played my guitar.

AMP/KAT: I read that your Mom taught you how to play piano?

FRANK: My grandmother had a Wurlitzer organ and as a kid I used to sit on her lap and play it. I’ve tried all sorts of instruments, guitars, drums, organs, etc.

AMP/KAT: How did you meet Brian Wheat (bassist) to form Tesla? I read that you found Jeff Keith (vocalist) through a radio contest? You retained original members for years, what’s the secret?

FRANK: Brian and I grew up in the same area and found each other in the local scene. Jeff did do a radio station contest or something but he sat in with us during a jam session at a club. Brian and I are very close (crosses fingers tightly). I’m close with Jeff and all the guys, I mean we have butted heads over the years, but we know what we’ve got and we appreciate it.

AMP/KAT: I reviewed a recent show of yours and you guys are so great live.

FRANK: Which show was it?

AMP/KAT: It was at Foxwoods. (Frank’s facial expression shows he’s trying to recall it.) The casino. (He’s still searching the archives in his brain.) During “Hang Tough” Jeff tripped over the stage monitor. I yelled “Oh Shit!” and ran over ready to give first aid and CPR but he didn’t miss a beat, he literally hung tough. Jeff said “I forgot that was there!”

FRANK: Oh yeah! I do remember that! We got so lucky. I saw Aerosmith once and Steven Tyler fell off the stage and messed up his shoulder. It could’ve been a lot worse.

AMP/KAT: You mentioned Aerosmith and you recently released an Aerosmith cover. Are they your favorite live band, besides Tesla? The best live show I’ve ever seen was The Firm.

FRANK: The Firm? With Paul Rodgers and Jimmy Page? The best live show I saw was when Robert Plant and Jimmy Page formed that reunion.

AMP/KAT: Wow, seeing Jimmy Page live left quite an impression on both of us. Speaking of guitars, I wrote in my review that you played a Barbie pink axe while fist bumping multiple fans.

FRANK: Did you say Barbie pink? It’s actually called Pink Paisley. Made famous when James Burton played the Pink Paisley Fender Telecaster in Elvis’s band. I love playing it. Barbie pink. (chuckles) I guess I’ll take that.

AMP/KAT: Barbie pink, it’s what’s trending now Frank. Speaking of trends, did you see that Katy Perry recently sold her catalog for $225 million? What are your thoughts on that?

FRANK: Good for her. Sounds like a lot of money.

AMP/KAT: On the flip side of that, dUg Pinnick of King’s X recently posted how many streams it takes to make one dollar. 752 on Pandora, 500 on YouTube, 314 on Spotify – to make one freaking dollar. Yesterday I saw a local story that stated some venues take up to a 40% share of swag (t-shirts, etc.) money. How is a Heavy Metal Hippie supposed to make money? This concerns me as a fan, I want to support bands and I don’t want anything to jeopardize what I love doing – attending live shows.

FRANK: Well, I appreciate your concern. Yeah, that’s just how it goes with streaming. Taking a share of the t-shirt money? Gotta have good management. Listen, we’re lucky enough to have sold millions of records back in the day so we’ll be fine. Me and Brian and even Jeff all grew up poor, we’re aware of what we’ve got. We make money off of touring and selling tickets and we’re blessed to have loyal fans that consistently sell out our shows.

We take pride in our performances, we want to provide a show that we would want to go to. Nobody wants to go to a concert and just see the musicians staring at the floor. Gotta entertain em and we love doing it.

AMP/KAT: You were fist bumping fans while playing the pink axe and then you played foot pedal tag with the crowd at the Foxwoods show.

FRANK: Foot pedal tag?

AMP/KAT: Yeah, you made a sound – the crowd responded, back and forth.

FRANK: Like I said before, we love our fans and take pride in our live performances and crowd participation is a big part of that.

AMP/KAT: I caught a pick from Brian at that show. (holds pick up to camera for a close up)

FRANK: Cool! They’re more rare than one from me cuz he kinda hangs back a bit.

AMP/KAT: You guys continue to make new music and have been releasing singles, which is interesting. “Cold Blue Steel” in 2021 and “Time To Rock!” In 2022. Will you offer a collection of them?

FRANK: I dunno, maybe. Yeah we want to release the songs while they’re fresh, not wait a year or whatever to put em out. And we just put out a live album, Full Throttle Live, recorded at a show we did in Sturgis.

AMP/KAT: I saw in your bio that you have a thing for live albums. We grew up in the same era and I remember my brothers wearing them out, playing them until they started to skip.

FRANK: Definitely. Hendrix, Frampton, Cash, Kiss, Lynyrd Skynyrd, all so great.

AMP/KAT: I just saw Skynyrd a coupla months ago in the Poconos. Such a fun show, I mean you know all the songs. And the lyrics still stand true today.

FRANK: Absolutely, love those guys. Even though all the original members are gone. His brother Johnny does a good job.

AMP/KAT: Rickey Medlocke is still in the band, wasn’t he on some of their original albums?

FRANK: Yeah, he actually drummed for them. You gotta get this Lynyrd Skynyrd box set, it’s in a green box, it has all sorts of rare stuff and you can hear him as the drummer.

AMP/KAT: I’ll check it out, sounds like a great gift for a Skynyrd lover.

FRANK: OK, let’s talk about Tesla.

AMP/KAT: Of course! Lay it on me.

FRANK: Well, we just released the video of our cover of Aerosmith’s “S.O.S. Too Bad”. We recorded that song in my garage and I’m really happy with it, Jeff kills it. It’s the bonus track off our new live album Full Throttle Live, available everywhere. If you like covers, you should check out our LPs Real to Reel 1 & 2. We’re preparing for a Vegas residency (House of Blues, Las Vegas, NV – 9/29/23 – 10/7/23). We’ll be digging deep into our catalog and changing up the setlists, gonna be a great time.

AMP/KAT: On it! I’ll share it all on my socials. Lastly, any new music you’re into? Have you ever heard of Ayron Jones? So good, like if Hendrix, Lenny Kravitz and Kurt Cobain had a baby.

FRANK: You know what, I think I have heard of him. I’ll tell ya what Kat, I’ll check out Ayron Jones and I want you to check out a band called Novakain. Look for their single “I Don’t Care”, album is called “The Oh No Unknown”.

AMP/KAT: New music recommended by Frank Hannon, finding it as soon as we’re done. Thanks so much for your time Frank, you’ve been awesome and we’ll get the word out on Tesla’s happenings.

FRANK: Thanks for having me on your show KAT! (waves goodbye) (thinks I have a show)

Have you been following the bluesy blue collar sound of Tesla since the 80s? Then you already know they put on a great live show and are still releasing new music with that sound we love. Haven’t listened to them in a while? Time to get reacquainted. Never heard of em? What are you waiting for? It’s Time To Rock!

Thank you faithful readers and rockers! We love sharing live music experiences and interviews in our homes with rock stars (Frank Hannon was virtually in my house!!!) with you. Stay tuned for more!

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