Veteran California rockers TESLA kicked off their five-night Las Vegas residency last night (March 17) at the House Of Blues. Fan-filmed video of the concert can be seen below (courtesy of Tom deBlonk and RocknForever1 YouTube channels).
Remaining TESLA Las Vegas residency dates:
March 18 – Las Vegas, NV @ House Of Blues
March 22 – Las Vegas, NV @ House Of Blues
March 24 – Las Vegas, NV @ House Of Blues
March 25 – Las Vegas, NV @ House Of Blues
Earlier this month, TESLA guitarist Frank Hannon spoke to Christian Bladt of “The Bladtcast” about the band’s upcoming live album, “Full Throttle Live!”. Due this summer, the LP will include the band’s latest single, “Time To Rock!”, plus other songs, all recorded last August at Full Throttle Saloon in Sturgis, South Dakota. He said: “The live album is just about 99 percent done. The artwork, all of it, is created. We’re just putting the finishing touches on it now, and then we’ll put it out as soon as the computer distribution, all of that stuff, can be lined up.
“It’s gonna be mostly rocking tracks. And it’s gonna have our new songs ‘Cold Blue Steel’ on it, and ‘Time To Rock!’, our latest rocking song. And all the other songs on it are the more deeper tracks. There’s no ‘Signs’ or ‘Love Song’ on it. It’s got heavy songs on it, like ‘Miles Away’ and ‘Breakin’ Free’, and stuff that we’ve never released live versions of until now.”
Last month, Hannon told Ernest Skinner of Border City Rock Talk that “Full Throttle Live!” will also include a cover of AEROSMITH‘s “S.O.S. (Too Bad)” as a “bonus track.”
Back in July 2022, TESLA vocalist Jeff Keith told “The Chuck Shute Podcast” about “Time To Rock!”: “Like with all TESLA songs, we like to have that raw, live feel, and this song has totally just got that raw and live feel.”
Regarding the lyrical inspiration for “Time To Rock!”, Jeff said: “It’s that kind of song that just, you know, everything you might have going on when you go to a concert, you wanna just kind of let your hair down and this song is exactly about that. Just not let things go, but just drop ’em down and still hold ’em in your hands tight, but just let things go and let your hair down for four and a half minutes. Time to rock!”
Keith previously discussed “Time To Rock!” that same month in an interview with the “Metal From The Inside” podcast. Regarding the band’s decision to debut the track during a live performance in early June 2022 — weeks before the song’s official release — he said: “We wanted to play it live for our hometown crowd. We played Thunder Valley [Casino], which is right down the street from our houses in Sacramento; it’s actually in Lincoln, California. But we wanted to play it for our hometown crowd first. So we thought we’d play it for our hometown crowd, and we’re having so much fun with it, we’re playing it for every crowd — some new material — and we’re excited about that.”
As for whether TESLA fans can eventually expect to see a new full-length album from the group, Jeff said: “Right now, the way things work — the guys were explaining to me — ’cause usually that’s all you did was made a record, since I’ve been in the band. And they go, now, with social media or whatever you call it — Spotify, whatever the names are; I don’t go on the Internet, but it’s a wonderful tool to have these iPhones and you can release a single without making a [full] record. So so far we’ve just put out some singles. But probably in the next year — no more than two years — we’re gonna go and say, ‘Let’s make a whole record again.’ But right now, it’s very convenient because you can just download a single. And the guys were explaining to me, they go, ‘Jeff, it’s just like back when THE BEATLES, and before that when people would put out a single on a 45 record. Like Hank Williams, he’d do something live and just put it out as a single. Back in the day, they used to just put out singles, and then, of course, they would records too. So we’re kind of in that mode. And now, instead of it being on a 45 record, it’s on a digital form that you can have people download. I don’t know — it’s the best I can understand it.”
In September 2021, TESLA drummer Troy Luccketta announced that he would “take a little time from the road” to spend with family and friends. He has since been replaced at TESLA‘s gigs by Steve Brown, the younger brother of former DOKKEN drummer Mick Brown.
