Fresh from their acoustic extravaganzas, TESLA once again get electrified with the release of their latest album, Psychotic Supper. Joe "Hassled" Mackett gets into some verbal nosh with bassist Brian Wheat.
PSYCHOTIC REACTION
You know the feeling, another cold August day, you're still trying to get rid of last winter's cold, an appointment to make and the bus is late - Great! I eventually make it home with 20 minutes to spare, time for a quick coffee (or so I thought). With the kettle just coming to the boil, there goes the phone.
"Hi, this is Brian. Is Joe there?"
Panic. Hold on, I'll just get my shit together. Right, ready at last.
The Brian hanging on the other end of the phone is Brian Wheat, bass player with Tesla, and he's waiting to discuss the band's latest offering, Psychotic Supper, an album you may recall (if you're a regular reader) that I lavished a full B grade on in the last issue. You could say I was mightily impressed. Further delving into the grooves since that review, has made me re-evaluate the record and made me realise I may have underestimated its content. Still, I'd only had two listens before writing the review. Such is life.
Hell, I'd nearly forgot. Hi, Brian! Luckily, he's been patient enough to hold on. Psychotic Supper then, strange title?
"Yeah, after fourteen months touring and then trying to write the thing, we were all really fried. Me, Tommy (Skesch) and Frank (Hannan) were in a restaurant, we were so burnt out, I think it was Tommy who made the observation that it was like a psychiatric supper that eventually changed to psychotic supper for the record's purposes."
Being so worn out by the whole process, was it difficult to come up with new ideas?
Well, Frank, Tommy, and myself came up with the musical ideas. Jeff (Keith, vocals) then adds the lyrics and we take it from there."
So, did you afford yourselves some time to get back on track?
"Yeah, we took about a year. We had a lot of ideas, but no songs in any shape when we came off the road. People often ask us why the record took so long and the answer is that it's because we don't want to make shitty records, we don't want to just throw them out."
On to the music then, what's still apparent is the predominant British influence throughout the record. Brian agrees, citing the bands that Tesla grew up listening to. But we move on to the songs. To their credit, Tesla have more to offer than odes to dumbass bimbos. "Change in the Weather," for instance...
"It's kinda one of those situations where in that we are meant to be the future so let's change it, let's do something to better the future for mankind."
Does this mean the whole band are into the ecology trip then?
Brian's answer is short and sharp.
"Yeah," affirms Brian. "Who can't be? We keep taking and it's time to give back.""Freedom Slaves" seems, I offer, a very political message and you're not beating the chest of America shouting about your strengths, are you?
"It's about bringing to note in this time of patriotism that we (the USA) have done some pretty bad shit," Wheat has an air of the apologetic. "Slavery wasn't the coolest thing in the world. Neither was stealing the land from the Indian. We think that it's time we should take care of our own people for a change."It seems that life is the same wherever you are, rainy London or sunny Sacramento, but we're here to discuss a record and not some idiot government's policies. Having taken their name from Nikolai Tesla, the disputed inventor of radio, this is the first electrical outing not to have a sound wave connotation in its title itself. The break in the chain is, however, fused by the track "Edison's Medicine."
Brian's answer is short and sharp.
"That song's about how Edison fucked Tesla over, did him in and discredited him."There was certainly some form of skullduggery in the patent of the radio. Judging by the crap we are offered on certain stations here, it hardly seems worth it. I'll leave it to you to nip to the library for details of the scam. I'll just shut up and get on with the interview.
Following the success of "Love Song" from The Great Radio Controversy in the States, is there any danger of Tesla falling into the trap that ensnared the likes of NIGHTRANGER, falling prey to the ballad market?
"No, not at all," Brian sounds slightly miffed at the suggestion. 'Signs' was a big hit. That wasn't a ballad. Neither is 'Call It What You Want,' and that shows great potential. In fact, it's not until our fourth single from this album that we're planning a ballad, and that will be 'What You Give'."
Okay, one last query on the song content. The meaning behind the pulsing, "Don't De-Rock Me"?
"That's about, don't do bad shit to me, y'know. Don't slit my tires, if you're a fan. Don't stand in the hallway and knock on my hotel door at 3 o'clock in the morning. Don't pull my hair. Just don't mess with me. I'm not trying to be unreachable, but just be cool about it and be cool to one another, is what it's saying."
Moving on then, with the record now on the shelves of your local emporium, it's time for Tesla to hit the road again to promote their music. Live work is the side to Tesla's character, which initially ensnared me, having witnessed them at the Marquee. I made sure I got to see them on their support to DEF LEPPARD. I bet the Leps were cursing their decision to take on Tesla, as the Californians upstaged them on both occasions. I caught them.
I, as well as many of your fans, was left disappointed at the lack of live engagements in the UK during the Controversy tour.
"I wish we could have played there back then," rues the bassist. "But, like I said, we were too fried. We'd supported MOTLEY CRUE, then gone straight out on a co-headline with GREAT WHITE. It took its toll on us, man. We felt we just wouldn't have been any good. That's why we're coming there first. We'll be supporting THE SCORPIONS in Europe and then headlining the UK in November."
Good news indeed, but more was to follow.
"We're also going to be doing an acoustic show at the Astoria in London, as we didn't do one there either. We got a lot of shit for not coming."
By now, of course, that acoustic show has already taken place. If you were there, you'd have witnessed a great performance. A packed house, the atmosphere relaxed, Tesla treated us to a set as loose as a band gets without becoming sloppy, while retaining their professionalism. The effect was to bring both crowd and band together in unison, each enjoying each other's company to the utmost. My last question, obviously, on the subject of the acoustical jam, how did it come about?
"We won an award and were asked to play, but after all that touring, we asked if we could just do an acoustic song. It went so well, a promoter who'd seen the show wanted to book a gig. So we agreed."
Brian breaks off to let rip a monstrous yawn. Am I really that boring?
"Sorry, I just got up."Ah, I was forgetting the time difference between us. Anyway, on with the plot.
"We played the shows on our days off from the Motley Crue tour, y'know. They take two or three days off at a time. We wanted to record the shows for ourselves in case we wanted to do a video compilation in the future. The record company saw it and wanted to put the whole album out."And there you have it. Strange how small ideas become so successful. All I can say in conclusion is that if you're a fan of hard, honest rock music, then look no further than Tesla. Roll on November!
Joe Mackett
Riff Raff
November 1991
Photo: Dave Clark
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