Tesla (band)
| Tesla | |
|---|---|
 Tesla during a concert in New York , April 27, 2009 |
|
| General information | |
| origin | Sacramento , United States |
| Genre (s) | Hard rock |
| founding | 1984 |
| Website | teslatheband.com |
| Current occupation | |
| Jeff Keith | |
| Frank Hannon | |
| Dave Rude (since 2006) | |
| Brian Wheat | |
| Troy Luccketta | |
| former members | |
| Tommy Skeoch (until 2006) | |
Tesla is a hard rock - band from Sacramento , California , USA . The band experienced their rise in the so-called hair metal of the 1980s, but they see their roots less in glam rock than in blues- influenced rock of the 1970s. The role models therefore include the Rolling Stones , Aerosmith and Led Zeppelin . Accordingly, Tesla always refrained from fancy stage costumes and make-up .
history
The band was founded under the name City Kidd by guitarists Frank Hannon and Tommy Skeoch and bassist Brian Wheat. Singer Jeff Keith, who, as a trained welder , said he had trained his voice for years by singing to the radio while driving a truck , and drummer Troy Luccketta completed the classic five-person line-up. The band was discovered Tom Zutaut , who already Motley Crue and Dokken for the most successful in the 1980s rock - label Geffen had been contracted. Management was taken over by Cliff Bernstein and Peter Mensch , who also looked after AC / DC , Scorpions , Metallica and Def Leppard , among others . During the recording of their first album, the band named in honor of Nikola Tesla , the inventor of alternating current technology and pioneer of the electric guitar in Tesla to.
The steep rise - the 1980s
In 1986 the debut album Mechanical Resonance, produced in New York , was released . For some members of the band, the recordings on the east coast were the first reason to leave their hometown of Sacramento . With the single Modern Day Cowboy , Tesla immediately entered the charts . The song ran on MTV in heavy rotation , which made it even more popular. With over 1 million records sold, the debut album quickly reached platinum status. On the subsequent US tour, Tesla played as the opening act for Alice Cooper , Def Leppard and David Lee Roth .
After more than a year on tour, the 1989 follow-up album The Great Radio Controversy was recorded. Tesla presented the songs from the new record to the fans on a joint tour with Mötley Crüe. With the entry of the first single Heaven's Trail (No Way Out) into the top 40 of the charts, Tesla was able to build on the success of the debut album. The second release, Love Song , provided another high point in the career of the young band. The song went into the top ten of the US single charts. The Great Radio Controversy placed in the top 20 and went double platinum for over two million copies sold.
In 1989 the band made a decision that was to become a milestone in music history: On the east coast they played several concerts exclusively with acoustic instruments and with a purist stage set consisting of just four bar stools. In addition to their own hits like Love Song and Comin 'Atcha Live , the musicians also interpreted rock classics like Signs from the Five Man Electrical Band , We Can Work It Out from the Beatles , Mother's Little Helper from the Rolling Stones , Truckin' from Grateful Dead and Lodi by Creedence Clearwater Revival . The recording of the concert at the Trocadero Club in Philadelphia was released in 1990 under the title Five Man Acoustical Jam . Since that record, Tesla has been the originator and pioneer of the unplugged idea, which the TV broadcaster MTV took up with great commercial success in the nineties, when world stars such as Eric Clapton , Aerosmith , Neil Young or the band Nirvana performed acoustic sets in front of a select audience in the studio let play.
In 1991 the third studio album Psychotic Supper was released , which was originally planned as a double CD. Geffen shied away from taking the commercial risk with two bands at the same time and decided to only release Use Your Illusion by Guns N 'Roses as a double CD. Tesla headlined the following tour for the first time. The record sold extremely well and secured the band double platinum again . One outstanding piece is Song & Emotion , which is dedicated to Def Leppard's friend and guitarist Steve Clark, who died during production . The song Edison's Medicine was dedicated to the biography of the eponym Nikola Tesla and his conflict-ridden collaboration with Thomas Edison .
Crisis, Dissolution and Solo Projects - The 1990s
The band's next sign of life after Psychotic Supper was the soundtrack to the Schwarzenegger film Last Action Hero (1993), for which they recorded the title track. The fourth studio album, Bust A Nut, was finally released in 1994 and, with over 800,000 copies sold, did not meet the expectations of the up-and-coming band. The record missed the mainstream taste that had changed from hard rock to grunge . Against albums like Nevermind by Nirvana, the album seemed more traditional and more influenced by rock music of the 1970s and 1980s. During the tour, guitarist Tommy Skeoch dropped out of the band because of drug problems. The four of Tesla released the greatest hits album Times Makin 'Changes in 1995 , the only new song containing Steppin' Over - a power ballad that addressed Tommy Skeoch's addiction and the associated disappointment of his band colleagues. Shortly afterwards the breakup of the band was announced. The most successful Tesla songs released up to this point include the cover version Signs as well as Comin 'Atcha Live , Gettin' Better , Modern Day Cowboy , Edison's Medicine , Paradise and Love Song .
Singer Jeff Keith founded Tommy Skeoch's successor band, Sofa King , together with him in 1998 after a successful drug withdrawal , which renamed itself to Bar 7 for their release The World is a Freak in 2000 . It contains songs like 4 Leaf Clover , Cellophane and Lady Bug , which are reminiscent of Tesla in the combination of bluesy hard rock and lyrical lyrics. Brian Wheat, meanwhile, founded the band Soul Motor . Frank Hannon played with Moon Dog Mane . When Tommy Skeoch left the band rashly again during a tour with Bar 7 , Frank Hannon joined him. This brought the former Tesla members closer together. Finally, all five agreed to take the stage together again.
Tesla in the 21st century
On October 25, 2001, Tesla played again in the hometown of Sacramento. There were also numerous rock stars in the audience, such as Joe Elliot from Def Leppard, Jack Russell from Great White and Tom Keifer from Cinderella , who wanted to witness the reunification of the band with the original line-up. The thrilling game on stage, the completely sold out hall, the encouragement from the fans and the regained joy of playing prompted the band members to expand their project, which was designed as a one-off concert. The band went on tour for seven months and recorded every single gig. The album RePlugged Live was released as a compilation of the concerts . Among other things, the CD contains a new, electric version of the hit Sign , which until then had only been released in the acoustic version.
After the positive experience of the tour and good sales of the album, Tesla decided to record a new album. In 2004 the fifth studio album Into The Now was released . This was also devoted to time-critical topics. Among other things, it contains the song Heaven 9/11 , which deals with the events of September 11th . The semi-acoustic song Caught In A Dream was released as the first single .
In 2006 Tommy Skeoch left the band again on the grounds that his duties as father and husband were no longer compatible with the rock n 'roll way of life . Guitarist Dave Rude took his place.
On June 5, 2007 Tesla released the new CD Real to Reel with cover versions , which was released on its own label Tesla Electric Company Recordings . The band is now being supported again by their discoverer Tom Zutaut . The release contains a total of 25 songs as a double CD. Among other things, new versions of the following songs were recorded: Space Truckin ' ( Deep Purple ), Bad Reputation ( Thin Lizzy ), I've Got A Feeling ( Beatles ), Rock Bottom ( UFO ), Stealin ( Uriah Heep ), Bell Bottom Blues ( Eric Clapton ) and Honky Tonk Women ( Rolling Stones ). The first single was Thank You by Led Zeppelin . Tesla went on a world tour in 2007, performing in Europe for the first time since the early 1990s.
On October 7, 2008, the album Forever More was released, which was produced by Terry Thomas. The album reached number 33 on the Billboard Top 200 chart when it was released.
In 2010 the band announced they were working on material for the new album, however, on September 30, 2010, the band's studio burned to the ground.
In 2011 the acoustic album Twisted Wires and the Acoustic Sessions was released.
In 2014 the album Simplicity was released .
Discography
Studio albums
| year | title |
Top ranking, total weeks, awardChart placementsChart placements (Year, title, rankings, weeks, awards, notes) |
Remarks | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 DE
|
 AT
|
 CH
|
 UK
|
 US
|
|||
| 1986 | Mechanical resonance | - | - | - | - |
US32  (61 weeks)US |
|
| 1989 | The Great Radio Controversy | - | - | - |
UK34 (2 weeks) UK |
US18th × 2
(67 weeks)US |
|
| 1991 | Psychotic super | - | - |
CH39 (1 week) CH |
UK44 (2 weeks) UK |
US13 (56 weeks)US |
|
| 1994 | Bust a nut | - |
AT37 (1 week) AT |
CH43 (3 weeks) CH |
UK51 (1 week) UK |
US20th  (10 weeks)US |
|
| 2004 | Into the now | - | - | - | - |
US31 (4 weeks) US |
|
| 2008 | Forever More | - | - | - | - |
US33 (3 weeks) US |
|
| 2011 | Twisted Wired & the Acoustic Sessions ... | - | - | - | - |
US97 (1 week) US |
|
| 2014 | Simplicity |
DE93 (1 week) DE |
- |
CH42 (1 week) CH |
- |
US24 (3 weeks) US |
|
| 2019 | Shock |
DE69 (1 week) DE |
- |
CH34 (1 week) CH |
- |
US21 (1 week) US |
|
Web links
- Official website
- Real to Reel website
- Tesla at laut.de
- Tesla at Discogs (English)
Individual evidence
- ↑ Archived copy ( memento of the original from March 8, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WcdK9fMSyEw
- ↑ Chart sources: DE AT CH UK US
