In a recent interview with Jeff Gaudiosi of MisplacedStraws.com, TESLA bassist Brian Wheat, who is promoting his recently released autobiography, “Son Of A Milkman: My Crazy Life With Tesla”, spoke about the band’s enduring popularty. He said: “I think it’s why we’ve had such a long career — because there’s not been a trend or a fashion we were ever in. But having said that about some of the bands from the eighties that, you wanna call them hair bands or whatever, it’s in fashion again. Look at what DEF LEPPARD and MÖTLEY CRÜE are doing in the stadiums,” referring to the upcoming “The Stadium Tour”, also featuring POISON and JOAN JETT & THE BLACKHEARTS. “That’s great. And I would have loved to have been on that bill, by the way. I would’ve liked to have been in Joan‘s place. I don’t know why they didn’t put us in there. But maybe we’ve done too many tours with DEF LEPPARD recently.
“Look, man, it is what it is,” he continued. “My proudest accomplishment is that we’re still together 36 years later, and we’re still standing. We’re survivors, man. We survived a breakup. We survived grunge. We survived the 2000s, and we survived the 2010s. And now we’re gonna survive this COVID shit, and we’ll be back as soon as that’s done. We’ll still be there singing and playing and trying to put a smile on someone’s face.”
“The Stadium Tour” was originally scheduled to kick off last June and run through early September. The trek has since been pushed back to the summer of 2021 due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.
“Son Of A Milkman: My Crazy Life With Tesla” arrived on December 15 via Post Hill Press. The 304-page hardcover book 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.
TESLA spent most of 2019 touring in support of its latest album, “Shock”, which was released in March of that year via UMe. The follow-up to 2014’s “Simplicity” was produced by DEF LEPPARD guitarist Phil Collen.