Taking time from the band's current "Five Man Acoustical Jam 2005" tour, TESLA vocalist Jeff Keith spoke with "The Hairball John Radio Show". Keith talked extensively about the current tour and how the band began in the late Eighties. Jeff gave invaluable insight regarding some of his favorite tours, songs, and memories from the TESLA years. In addressing plans for 2005, Jeff mentioned more touring and a possible covers album.

Hairball John: Jeff, you mentioned that you were planning on more tour dates for the summer and fall. Are you guys planning on plugging in and hitting the tour circuit electrically?

Jeff Keith: "Yeah, you know they're talking about us doing some summer dates, electrically. But in April and May we are going to try and head back towards the West Coast and end it (the acoustic tour) back at home or something like that. But we are definitely talking about some more dates this summer and fall, electrically, and then maybe putting together a covers album and that would possibly tide some of the fans over until we can put together another studio record. For TESLA it takes at least a year and a half, from the start of writing ‘til the end to finish recording a studio record, so we are going to buy ourselves a little time with that and have some fun with it. too."

Je fais remonter le topic. Le groupe a quelques projets sur le feu :

- Un album de reprises pour avril 2007 ;
- Un album solo pour Jeff Keith orienté country ;
- Un triple DVD ;
- Un nouvel album studio pour un peu plus tard.

En attendant je me réécoute avec grand plaisir leur petit dernier Into The Now.

Debby Rao of KNAC.COM recently conducted an interview with TESLA frontman Jeff Keith. A couple of excerpts from the chat follow:

KNAC.COM: TESLA has a huge following in New England. The band has given so much to their fans. I can remember how supportive TESLA was, when the Station fire tragedy occurred, the band met with survivors of the fire. Now you actually wrote, "Miles Away", song on "Into The Now", for a friend of yours. Is that correct?

Keith: Yes, he died in that fire. He was like my personal assistant, and helped with the merchandise. He had met this girl, when we were out on the road. He went back to visit her, and they went to see GREAT WHITE. He got out of the fire, and realized the girl didn't go out, so he went back in. He was helping direct people out. He realized she was still inside. He went back in and he perished right next to her. We were in the process of writing a song and talking about how fans just think it is all fun and glory. We didn't want to complain in the song, we just wanted to let people know there is a whole another side to it. We were right in the middle of the song, and when our friend perished in the fire, we started incorporating that into the song. We kind of dedicated the song to him. His name was Jeff Rader.

KNAC.COM: What are TESLA's future recording plans?

Keith: We are doing this covers record that we plan on releasing next April. We are planning on putting a box set together with some DVD things. We have a ton of DVDs that we have in the archives. So we plan on going through that. It will be a three-disc that will include DVD footage, TESLA's songs that revisited acoustically and maybe some covers.

KNAC.COM: Any Jeff Keith solo projects in the works?

Keith: Myself, I am working on a country music record. But that is a whole different thing. So when people think about Jeff Keith solo record, it is not rock and roll, it is country. So some people that might think Jeff Keith has a solo record are going to be very disappointed. It is not like me, doing my version of rock and roll. It is pure country.

KNAC.COM: What do you attribute to TESLA's longevity?

Keith: I think the fan base has a lot to do with it. They just loved us. I think when the grunge movement came along, I think because of the fact we were out of the box. Back in the day, we were not a glam band; we use to catch a little flack from the guys in MÖTLEY CRÜE. They use to tease us and say we were a bunch of tomato farmers from Sacramento. POISON used to say when we were in tour with them, "You guys need to doll it up. Everyone else is doing it, you need to do it." We said, "It is alright man; it is all about the music." So when the grunge movement came along, I think they say, "Hey, TESLA can stick around because they never were about image."

KNAC.COM: Do you see a resurgence of '80s music more than ever this summer?

Keith: Yes, I think so more and more it is coming back. We have been playing a couple of shows with SKID ROW and it is great playing with those guys. Music with melody is coming back.

KNAC.COM: What does the future hold for TESLA?

Keith: I wish I could look in that crystal ball and tell you. I think the way I see it, we are going to do this covers record. We are going to put out this box set. In November, we are going go hole up somewhere in the studio, with no distractions and write music like we do, back in the day.

TESLA ? non.

Moi qui m'attendais à une intervention digne de ce nom...

ah ! Des news de tesla !
Pas vraiment ma tasse de thé leur style de musique... Sauf qu'avec une telle qualité on est obligé d'accrocher ! Je réécoute souvent avce plaisir leurs 2 premiers albums. Je dois reconnaitre que j'ai un peu décroché ensuite... Dans le meme genre je me suis aussi réecouté récemment le Once Bitten de Great White, tres chouette également.
En tout cas je vais garder un oeil sur la sortie de leur DVD !

Psychotic supper et Bust a nut sont d'excellents skeuds (avec une préférence pour Psychotic....)!

J'ai une préférence pour les deux premiers. Deux chrosici

TESLA is scheduled to enter the studio in November to begin recording an all-covers album, tentatively due next April. Among the cuts that are expected to appear on the CD are TESLA's versions of "Rock Bottom" (UFO), "Street Fightin' Man" (THE ROLLING STONES), and "War Pigs" (BLACK SABBATH).

In a recent interview with KNAC.COM, TESLA frontman Jeff Keith stated about the group's future plans, "We are doing this covers record that we plan on releasing next April. We are planning on putting a box set together with some DVD things. We have a ton of DVDs that we have in the archives. So we plan on going through that. It will be a three-disc that will include DVD footage, TESLA's songs that revisited acoustically and maybe some covers. . . Myself, I am working on a country music record. But that is a whole different thing. So when people think about Jeff Keith solo record, it is not rock and roll, it is country. So some people that might think Jeff Keith has a solo record are going to be very disappointed. It is not like me, doing my version of rock and roll. It is pure country."

Earlier in the year, TESLA hired its former Geffen Records A&R guy Tom Zutaut as its new manager. The band's first collection of new material since 1994's "Bust a Nut", "Into the Now", sold 30,000 copies in the U.S. during its first week of release back in March 2004 to enter The Billboard 200 chart at position No. 31.

Je n'ai toujours pas écouté l'album de reprises, il faut que je m'y mette.

Au rayon news, le groupe prévoit une sortie d'un nouvel album pour la fin 2008 au plus tard. Si c'est pas organisé tout ça...

Blasting-Zone.com recently conducted an in-depth interview with TESLA guitarist Frank Hannon. Several excerpts follow:

Blasting-Zone.com: What prompted the group to record an entire album of cover material?

Frank: "Well, honestly, the truth is that we've been planning and talking about doing this type of thing for probably fifteen years…going back to our 'Five Man Acoustical Jam', which came out right after our second studio album. 'Five Man Acoustical Jam' has a lot of covers on it, but done acoustically, so even back then, we were like, 'Man, we gotta do something for the electric numbers.' We've always done covers as B-sides and we did covers in the bars, so we've been planning it for a long time. It just kinda developed over many years. Then, when so many bands started putting out covers albums recently, we decided that if we were gonna do one, it needed to be kick ass…it needs to be great. We've been doing some of these songs for years and some of them we've just learned."

Blasting-Zone.com: In hindsight, did you find it difficult to decide upon a final track listing?

Frank: "It wasn't hard in a sense that we came up with songs that are actually easy for us to perform. In the end, we would pick an artist and try a few different songs by that artist…like the DEEP PURPLE thing, ya know? I've played 'Highway Star' in other bands, but we ended up playin' 'Space Truckin'' with TESLA. It just seemed to work the best for the team. Some of the songs we've played live at our concerts for years like (the BLACK SABBATH classic) 'War Pigs'. We've been playing that for years. And 'Rock Bottom' by UFO. Brian and I have been playin' that for years…since our first cover band back in high school. We tried the songs out live during our Electric Summer tour last year and the ones that worked great are the ones that survived. Some of them just fell by the wayside."

Blasting-Zone.com: What are your current touring plans? How important is it that the public at large become re-familiarized with the TESLA "brand name?"

Frank: "We are planning on going overseas in July to do a festival with AEROSMITH. We're currently headlining our own shows. We're playing anything from two thousand seat House Of Blues-type venues to twenty thousand seat outdoor festivals. We're gonna play selectively. The Midwest is a big area for us. I'm not really part of the management stuff, but yeah, our goal is to try and get out as much as we can. But we wanna try and keep it in places where our fans can enjoy the shows."

Blasting-Zone.com: What type of set list have you been working with?

Frank: "That's another cool thing. Now that there's so many songs to choose from and we've listened to our fans on the website complain about how we used to always play the same set, this year we're changing it up. We're digging into the archives and playing songs that are like relics and we're changing the order of our set. We're totally going for it. In the past, it was more comfortable for us to play the same set every night because you know what to expect and you get really rehearsed at it. But now we've rehearsed multiple tunes and we have a different set every night. Over the past six shows that we've done, the set list has been different every night, varying with different song. And it's gonna get even more varied as time goes on. We're gonna pull off deep tracks like 'Freedom Slave' and some different songs off the albums that people haven't heard before."

Blasting-Zone.com: At this point, have you found yourself growing tired of playing (the "Five Man Electric Band" classic) "Signs" every night?

Frank: "Absolutely not. And I'll tell you why: it's because that song is a great freakin' song. The lyrics are fuckin' killer and it's just a really good song. Now if it had been some cheesy pop song, some song that we were embarrassed about, then yes, we would be like, 'oh my God, why do we have to play this shit?' But because it's such a great song, I never get tired of that one."

Blasting-Zone.com: Can your fans expect a new TESLA studio album in 2008?

Frank: "You can definitely expect one by summertime or the end of 2008. I've got about twenty five new riffs, ideas and arrangements that I'm working on. I know we all have a bunch…it's just a matter of finding the time when we're not out of tour to get together and spend two weeks recording demos. Then we'll take time away from that, let Jeff chew on 'em and write lyrics, then, two weeks after that, we'll take another two weeks and put everything together, ya know? We work in like two week increments."