Tesla’s Frank Hannon, The TVD Interview

Over 14 million records sold and one hell of a live show have made Tesla one of the longest running and most successful bands from an era when bands were known more for their hair than their music.

The blue-collar Sacramento rockers have just released a new record entitled Simplicity and they are currently in the midst of a tour across the country. Founding member Frank Hannon called me before a sold out show in Columbus, Ohio to talk about the past, present, and future of the band.

Do you have a favorite touring moment past or present.

It’s been 30 years with a lot of highlights that included both extreme highs and extreme lows. Back in the day when we were first starting out opening for David Lee Roth was a great thing. I remember we were playing in Buffalo, NY and every day he would go out and jog no matter what. This particular day there was a blizzard and I remember him walking in completely covered in snow. Then at the end of the tour, he invited us up to his hotel room and he had a different kind of snow.

I read somewhere that when you were a kid you broke your leg one summer and that’s how you really got serious about the guitar…

When I was a kid I had a little dirt bike, actually it was too big for me since I was only eleven. I actually started listening to music before that and started playing the guitar when I was ten. 1976 was a great year for music, Frampton Comes Alive, Aerosmith was big, and I loved the Rolling Stones, but when I broke my leg on that dirt bike, I was laid up for the whole summer with nothing to do except really practice my guitar. When I got out of my cast I was a lot better.

What was the first record you owned?

In 1976 on my tenth birthday I got a little turntable. My mom knew I loved the Peter Frampton record so she got me that, but I was also introduced to Johnny Cash and Chuck Berry then as well.

Is the new record coming on vinyl?

Yes, we haven’t done it yet, but it is coming.

Has there been any confusion with the launch of the Tesla car brand?

It hasn’t affected us at all really, but someone the other day did ask me if I was with the Tesla car company.

What was your response?

I said I’m in a band.

I’ve read a few books on Nikola Tesla…he’s a fascinating individual.

That’s why we named our band—because none of us had ever heard of Nikola—and then when we started reading about the man and his inventions, it blew our minds. The name was brought to us by Cliff Bernstein and Tom Zutaut after they were reading about him.

We were trying to come up with a name for our band and they had suggested Tesla. We were blown away by the fact that no one had really heard of him. So much so that we got involved in some petitions, we got involved with the University of Michigan trying to get a statue of Nikola Tesla put in the Smithsonian. The Smithsonian rose a bit about it because they didn’t want to change the Edison exhibit. It’s a long process but because of us and other folks, I think that Nikola Tesla is finally getting the recognition he deserves.

You’ve been on That Metal Show several times. How important do you think Eddie Trunk and that show are to keeping metal in the public eye?

Eddie’s definitely a key figure in keeping metal and rock ‘n’ roll alive. Where else are you going to see Tony Iommi or other legends of metal on TV anymore? It’s iconic, it’s great. There’s no Hit Parader magazine anymore, there’s really not an MTV anymore either, so I think what Eddie Trunk, Jim Florentine, and Don Jamieson are doing with That Metal Show is a really great thing and necessary right now.

I saw you guys two years on the Monsters of Rock Cruise. What’s that experience like for the band and who do you hang out with on the boat?

Lots of people! Cinderella…..we’re friends with everyone honestly. Ron Keel is a good guy. It’s definitely a different experience being on a boat, we keep really busy when we are there. We did two shows on the last one, and next year I believe we are doing one show that is heavily geared towards the new record, a whole Simplicity show, and the other show will be sort of greatest hits. And then myself, I personally walk around and jam with other people. I’ve done my solo stuff, I jammed with John Corabi for example, we keep real busy.

Mechanical Resonance is one of my all-time favorite albums. EVERY song on it is great, not just a rocker and a ballad like every other band was releasing at the time. What was it like to be releasing something like that during the “hair band” movement?

I really think that a big part of why we are still able to do this today is because we came from a smaller town in California. Sacramento at that time was not a music mecca by any means. We are more of a hard working band from a rougher neighborhood and our music reflected that. It was more gutsy rock n roll that what was happening in LA.

Our sound was influenced by what we were listening to—Montrose, Lynyrd Skynyrd. We didn’t have to go to LA to get discovered. We were lucky enough to meet folks like Ronnie Montrose, who was one of our heroes, and he emphasized to us the importance of making a great record from start to finish. So that’s what we did and still do, we try and write the best rock ‘n’ roll songs we can, and we took his advice.

In the early days of the band you guys had two big records in a row—when did if feel like you guys had “made” it in the biz?

We worked and toured for ten years straight. We didn’t make any money until after the third album which was the Five Man Acoustical Jam. That’s when I was really able to buy a house and get comfortable after 5 years of touring.

I was so young at the time, in my early 20s, it wasn’t until the band broke up in the ’90s and I had to get a job trimming trees to feed my kids that I realized, wow—we really had a great thing. It was such a blur at the time and we were doing so many great things that I think we sort of took it for granted.

I didn’t realize what we did until recently, now we are so much older, the fact that we can still sell out gigs across the country, it makes me realize now what we had done then. I feel very fortunate and cherish it with all of my heart where we are today.

I’ve been listening to the new album Simplicity all week long and it’s brilliant. How was making this record different than your previous ones?

The core honestly is the songs. If you have the material written, it’s a much better process. When you mentioned albums like Resonance and Great Radio, what we did differently back then was that we spent time writing the songs before we went into the studio. On an album like Forever More, we went into the studio and tried to write the songs in the studio. So we went back to the earlier approach.

We went to a farm in Virginia and stayed there for two weeks with the sole purpose of just writing ideas, lyrics and riffs, and putting them together and making songs out of them without the intention of recording. Then by the time we got into the studio it was just about playing live and recording the songs.

I love the opening track “MP3″—it’s got a great slow, heavy groove, and it seems to be taking a stab at technology. Were you making a statement with this one? Sort of like “hey we’re back” kind of thing?

We’re happy to be back, it’s a killer rock groove. When you have a synergy of creative minds in a room writing stuff together, then good things happen. Brian had that main riff, Jeff had an idea around phonograph records and MP3s, and I had an idea around technology versus simplicity, and we put it all together as a group.

“Cross My Heart” sounds like it could have come from The Great Radio Controversy and “So Divine” has a Mechanical Resonance sound to it. Do you think this record sums up all the previous ones?

It sums up the sound of Tesla. It’s got all our ingredients in there, there’s nothing missing. It’s got the acoustic songs, the melodies, the heartfelt words, so yes…it sums up our band.

Do you ever run into Rich Robinson on the road? I would think that you guys have a lot in common.

I don’t run into him very often, but I do think that The Black Crowes and Tesla are very similar in the generation, the era, the styles, the feel, the integrity. I met them very early on in the beginning, then somewhere along the way there became a distance. I’d love to hang out with Rich and I agree with you, I think we are very similar in our style.

Ever had a Spinal Tap moment on tour?

Always. Today we couldn’t find any coffee filters for our coffee maker. There’s always something in rock ‘n’ roll going wrong. Spinal Tap is very accurate.

In the epic battle of The Clash vs. The Sex Pistols, who do you prefer and why?

There’s a battle between those two? That question should be between The Beatles and The Stones. I prefer the Sex Pistols because I like the attitude and the sound of Steve Jones guitar.