Tesla is currently on the road, playing shows all across America. Bassist Brian Wheat was recently interviewed by Amy Harris of The Travel Addict. An excerpt follows:
When you work with younger bands, what advice do you give them in the studio or just about the business in general?
Brain Wheat: "I try to keep everybody grounded in reality about what the music business has evolved into. I mean, today I’m in the t-shirt and ticket business. There’s not a lot of young artists making money off selling music because with these streaming platforms, they’re not getting paid like I did. When I started out, we were selling a million and a half records at a time, and we did that five records in a row. That’s kind of unheard of today.
Now, no one sells like that unless it’s Taylor Swift or maybe Harry Styles or something. But in the rock genre like us, I mean, if you sell 200,000 records, you’ve done extremely well. My advice is that you create a brand, that your band or solo project is a brand and you’ve got to go out and you’ve got to play to the people. If you connect and you’re true to what you do, because people have very good bullshit detectors, those fans will stick with you. I’m living proof; they’re here 38 years later.
And like I said, it brings us full circle. That’s why we’re doing five nights in Vegas. That’s a testament to our fan base, the quality of the work that we did and always try to do. That’s the advice I give them.
And, you know, don’t get married. If you’ve got a million dollars in the bank while you’re a young kid and you get married and your wife gets pregnant, 99.9% chance you ain’t going to make it. Life’s going to kick in and you’re going to have to support that kid and that wife or you’re going to have to make so much money to pay a mortgage or whatever the case is.
When a lot of older guys starting out come to me and say, well, what do I do? I tell them the truth. They don’t like to hear it. It’s not that their music isn’t good, but financially it’s not going to be feasible. They’re not going to be able to get in a van, tour the country for six months, sleep on the floor and eat McDonald’s if they have a wife, a kid and a mortgage. You gotta pay your dues if you want to sing the blues and you know it don’t come easy."
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Due to overwhelming demand, legendary rockers, Tesla, have added five additional shows to their Tesla: The Las Vegas Residency at House of Blues Las Vegas at Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino.
• Friday, Sept. 29, 2023
• Saturday, Sept. 30, 2023
• Monday, Oct. 4, 2023
• Wednesday, Oct. 6, 2023
• Thursday, Oct. 7, 2023
During their exclusive residency, Tesla will touch all sides of their unique discography including the heavier edge of electric songs like “Modern Day Cowboy,” “Hang Tough,” and “Edison’s Medicine,” as well as their acoustic driven songs such as “Signs” and “Love Song” (two Top 10 Billboard charting hits).
“We are very excited to be able to perform consecutive nights residing at the same venue because we plan to dig into our catalog and change up our set lists for each show,” said Frank Hannon, Tesla lead guitarist. “This will make it interesting for our loyal fans who will attend in the spectacular city of Las Vegas!”
“We, in Tesla, are very excited to be doing our very first ever residency in Las Vegas, of all places, where Elvis did his residency,” said Brian Wheat, Tesla bassist. “We look forward to bringing the legacy of Tesla’S music to you all!”
Tickets for Tesla: The Las Vegas Residency at House of Blues Las Vegas are on sale now at houseofblues.com/lasvegas, MandalayBay.com, Ticketmaster.com or by calling 702-632-7600.
The band will be releasing a live album this summer that will include "Time To Rock", plus others, all recorded at Full Throttle Saloon in Sturgis. Watch the official lyric video for "Time to Rock!" (Live) below:
