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Tesla started as City Kid in Sacramento in 1984. The group featured a sound that was not heavy metal, but instead hard rock with a touch of the blues. The lyrics avoided the typical subjects of heavy metal acts and the group wore T-shirts and jeans instead of makeup and tight leather pants.
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About Tesla
While recording their debut album, Mechanical Resonance, in 1986, the band changed their name. Many of the songs dealt with the events surrounding Nikola Tesla, an electrical engineer, inventor, physicist, and mechanical engineer whose eccentric personality caused some to label him a “mad scientist” at times, so the group renamed themselves Tesla.
The group found a place touring alongside David Lee Roth, Def Leppard, and Poison in the early days. The touring contemporaries led to them being mislabeled as a glam metal act, but Tesla bound proudly refused to use the synthesizers that of those groups and based their sound on only the instruments they had- guitars and drums, with an occasional piano.
Tesla had a solid lineup with lead singer Jeff Keith, guitarist Frank Hannon, bassist Brian Wheat, drummer Troy Luccketta, and guitarist Tommy Skeoch. The quintet waited three years to release their second album, The Great Radio Controversy. The album solidified the fan base and gave the group its first hit single, “Love Song”.
Fans would not have to wait long, as Tesla returned with its third album the next year. Five Man Acoustical Jam. The acoustic album featured unplugged versions of their signature hits, “Comin’ Atcha Live”, “Getting’ Better”, Modern Day Cowboy”, and “Love Song”. The third studio album followed the next year, in 1991.
Psychotic Supper was perhaps Tesla’s greatest album. The group rates it as their best and fans largely remember it the same way. The original release did not include three tracks, but a Japanese reissue of the album in 1998 included the three tracks- “Rock the Nation”, “I Ain’t Superstitious”, and “Run Run Run”.
The fourth studio album in 1994 would be the last before the group took a break to allow Tommy Skeoch to deal with his drug addiction. After Bust a Nut, the group went on to their own projects. Skeoch made a solo run of his own, only to include lead singer Keith and become Bar 7, Bassist Wheat started “Soul Motor”, guitarist formed “Moon Dog Mane”, and drummer Luccketta worked with several groups.
Eventually, Tesla reunited and the group released a live double album, Replugged Live, in 2000. The group was included in the Rock Never Stops Tour in 2002 along with other notable hard rock and heavy metal acts from the ‘80s. The first studio album in a decade, Into the Now, was released in 2004 and debuted at number 30 on the Billboard charts.
Drugs and then family took Skeoch away from the band. He left the Tesla in 2006 following the birth of his son. He was replaced by Dave Rude. In 2007 they released Real to Reel, an album in which they cover classic rock songs.
Tesla is back this summer continuing their world tour from they started in 2007. The group will promote the DVD “Comin’Atcha Live! 2008” with a European leg starting on June 6 and a North American leg beginning on July 12 in Boerne, Texas. The classic hard rock group of the ‘80s has had fans waiting for a long time, but they are back on the road and Tesla tickets will be harder than ever to obtain. The Ticket Specialists will have plenty of seats at great prices to all their shows and to many others this summer.
