TESLA bassist Brian Wheat, who is promoting his just-released autobiography, “Son Of A Milkman: My Crazy Life With Tesla”, spoke to “The Ron Keel Podcast” about how he and his bandmates managed to stay together for most of the last four decades with only one major lineup change. He said (hear audio below): “TESLA is a brotherhood, and sometimes brothers fight; sometimes brothers say fucked up shit to each other. We’ve done it all; we’ve been through it all together. But the main thing is that we’re still okay and we’re still together today. And we’re stronger than we’ve ever been in terms of that.
“I talk about some of the things [we went through in my book], but you’ve gotta remember too, I’m telling things that happened at that time, which was many years ago. The band, since Dave Rude [guitar] got into it, has been pretty solid. Me and Troy [Luccketta, drums], we had some disagreements along the way and a lot of verbal altercations, but today, me and him are fine, because we’ve learned how to appreciate each other and respect each other, and we have a really good level of understanding each other today. And we don’t have the problems we had.
“Like I said, it’s just brothers,” Brian added. “Brothers go at it. And when there’s four of five of ’em, it’s bound to happen.”
“Son Of A Milkman: My Crazy Life With Tesla” arrived on December 15 via Post Hill Press. In this 304-page hardcover book, Wheat lifts the lid on living the rock ‘n’ roll life while struggling with anxiety, depression and other issues seldom discussed by musicians.
“Son Of A Milkman” features a foreword by DEF LEPPARD vocalist Joe Elliott, and was co-written with award-winning journalist and author Chris Epting, whose titles include “Adrenalized” (co-written with DEF LEPPARD‘s Phil Collen) and “Change Of Seasons” (co-written with John Oates).
Wheat co-founded TESLA, which became one of the biggest bands of the late 1980s and early 1990s. Brian owns a recording studio by the name of J Street Recorders in Sacramento, California. PAPA ROACH, TESLA, PAT TRAVERS, DEFTONES, KODIAK JACK, FLASHFIRES and many others have recorded there.
In June, the members of TESLA got together — virtually — to jam out a quarantined version of “Breakin’ Free” as part of their online series “Home To Home”.
The original recording of “Breakin’ Free” appeared on TESLA‘s 2008 album “Forever More”.
