Tesla are coming to the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino on November 13th, 2024. We recently caught up with guitarist Frank Hannon to talk about the show and more. The band is coming up on 40 years of being out there playing live. The band is kicking around ideas for how to celebrate 40 years but “Nothing is set in stone.” One thing they are preparing to do is release a 12-inch vinyl single of a new song “It’s All About Love.” The song has been part of the band’s live shows recently. Look for that release closer to the holidays.
We took some time to dive into what the band plays on the road. Frank said they have changed around the set list “A lot on this last tour.” Frank spoke about how the band rehearses a lot and spends a couple of hours in sound check digging into their catalogue. He mentioned how they recently brought out the title track from the “Forever More” album. Frank said, “It’s one of my favorite Tesla songs.” He also mentioned a few other songs making their way into the shows.
It was about here that I pointed out to Frank that we were speaking on the 34th anniversary of Tesla recording their “Five Man Acoustical Jam” album. Once we got into that Frank told me “That show was magic. I’m so glad that we were able to get the mobile recording studio truck intime. Because it was a last-minute decision. That whole “Five Man Acoustical Jam” thing was really just one big happy accident.” The band had done four shows on off nights from their tour opening for Motley Crue.
Being Tesla had such a huge hit with their cover of “Signs” that brought us to talking about cover tunes. Frank shared that they love cover songs. He spoke about when they were young kids they started out as a cover band. Frank talked about even Jimi Hendrix did covers including his hit “Hey Joe” which was a cover.
We also talked about the band’s influences. I mentioned having heard the influence of bands like Zeppelin and Skynyrd in some Tesla tunes. I asked Frank about what influences he feels show up in their new singles “It’s All About Love.” He said it was very much a Tesla sounding track and he really wouldn’t compare it to anyone. Although he did mention what a considerable influence Peter Frampton has been for him.
From there I asked if Tesla was more concentrating on singles these days instead of the idea of doing albums. Frank seemed to agree with that being their best albums he felt they had years to develop and “At this point in our live now we feel it’s much more rewarding, not just for ourselves, but for our fans to work on a song and put it out while we’re all having fun with it and not fabricate 12 songs just for the sake of making an album.” Frank commented about the songwriting process of the band with singer Jeff Keith, who he says he’s been writing with for 40 years.
We also took some time to get a look at some gear Frank is using live these days from his Marshall to his ‘54 Les Paul reissue and a lot more. Make sure to come out and see Tesla at Hard Rock Hotel and Casino on November 13th, 2024. You can even learn how you can win tickets to the show here.