 |
Interview with Jeff Keith
Vocalist of Tesla
By Deb Rao
March 2 2005
There’s is no argument about it, Tesla is one of the most success bands to come out of the 80's. Their blue jean, no glitter image and down to earth Rock and Roll attitude has inspired fans for over two decades. Tesla has always refused to follow musical trends, and instead followed their heart. They had many a hits over their twenty year career including, "Love Song," Signs" and "Modern Day Cowboy." Jeff Keith's beautiful, raspy voice along with the powerful guitar melodies from Frank Hannon and Tommy Scheoch help make Tesla a fan favorite for many years and take them to the top of the charts. Three years ago, Tesla re-united and performed four shows on the West Coast. The responses was so overwhelming that the band decided to get back together full time.
In 2004, Tesla released their first album in ten years entitled,” Into the Now." In order to compete in this new music market, Tesla reinvented themselves, and at the same time stayed true to the Tesla signature trademark. “Into the Now,” in my opinion is simply brilliant. Jeff Keith is singing better than ever, and Frank and Tommy guitar work is outstanding. Their first single,” Caught in a Dream," was well received and played in heavy rotation on WAAF, WBCN, in Boston, WHJY in Providence, RI. The band is currently on tour and playing all acoustic, fan interactive shows.
I recently had the honor of interviewing Jeff Keith. In this interview, Jeff takes his fans INTO THE NOW with some insight on the latest Tesla Tour, the new album, MTV, and life as a musician from the 80's.
Hi Jeff, how the Tesla acoustic tour is going? 
It's going great. It's the Five Man Acoustical Jam Revisited. I think we only played two or three shows, but is are going awesome. The people are digging it. It’s is a different vibe from the electric set. We’re really enjoying it and so are the people.
Great! Now tell me how long the set run? What songs are you performing?
It runs for just a little bit over two hours. We're trying to play everything, we can off five albums.
Are you playing any new songs off the new album” Into the Now?"
Absolutely! We're probably doing six or seven from that. We're trying to change the set every night. Its fun because some songs you play the way they are on the album except acoustically. And then there are some songs we reinvent and so a whole different vibe. It's fun. It’s challenging and exciting.
Are you playing any cover tunes?
No. We are going to start throwing in some covers the next few days. Now we just have our own songs worked out.
Now let's talk about your big show Friday February 25 in RI at the Providence Performing Arts Center. It's a benefit for the Station Fire Victims. We are so honored that Tesla will be playing this benefit sponsored by WHJY. Now you lost your roadie in The Station Fire right?
Yeah, my personal assistant Jeff Raider was there. He had just met somebody on the road with us and he went up to visit and they went to the Station and they perished in the fire. He actually made it out. He realized his girlfriend was still inside in the fire and he went back inside to get her and he perished also.
Thank you doing the benefit.
Yeah, we are going to dinner in a few hours with some of the survivors. WE are really looking forward to meeting them and giving them a warm hug. We're really looking forward to playing the show tomorrow. There is no better feeling than helping people in need of help, ya know.
Now you wrote the song,” Miles Away" for Jeff right?
Yeah. Everyone thinks when you are in a band and stuff, people perception is everything is great and you don't have no ups or downs. It’s not true. WE hurt. WE feel. Have tears and cry like everyone else.
Let's talk about your new album, "Into the Now." In my opinion, it is the one of the best albums to come out in 2004. It is simply brilliant. Your voice is so great. What is the latest single?
The latest single is,” What a Shame." We're glad you like the album. The majority of our fans if not everyone just about enjoys the album. That is what's special. WE know we are in a whole new era these days. WE didn’t want to follow a trend. We’re not good at following trends. WE never have. WE just followed our hearts. WE wrote the album for ourselves and for our fans. Our fans are just like us. WE are pleased with the outcome of the album. WE tried a few new things, cuzed we are inspired by a few new bands of today. For the most part, we had to stay true to the Tesla feel. We didn’t expect any radio airplay or anything like that. So we just wrote and played songs from the heart. In fact, we are getting radio airplay.
I'm from New England and WAAF, WHJY, WBCN are all playing your new album in heavy rotation. I was so overwhelmed. How do you feel about radio in general today? Do you feel they are being fair to 80's bands, and they are just playing the newer bands today?
Ya know, even for the newer bands today, it is not as fair as it use to be. Usually in the old days, you would have your first song, and then the second one was the one that was your first hit. These days, they want the first song to be a hit. If it doesn't hit you are out the door.
Yeah, that is what happened to my friends in Beautiful Creatures. Warner Brothers did not give them a fair chance. They are a great band.
See, they don’t give you a fair chance like that anymore. It is hit or miss. Nobody gets a fair chance these days. WE were very fortunate to get some airplay, being from the 80's. WE are like outcast. WE wear blue jeans, and tee-shirts, and we didn’t do that Glam-thing. WE didn't really jump on the wagon there. Now today, we are from the 80's and we are proud to be from the 80's to get some airplay today is awesome. WE are grateful anytime they are playing our songs on the radio.
Now did MTV play a big part in Tesla's success back in the 80's?
Absolutely! Back in 94-95, we made a video for "Need Your Lovin." MTV says, we're gonna wait and see what it does on radio and radio says, we're gonna wait and see what it does on MTV. So we were a Catch 22. WE still got a bitter taste in our mouth from that. It is so expensive to make a video these days. We’re on a smaller record label. WE gotta put in a lot of our loan money. WE really couldn't afford to make a video for this album. They are like $200,000 for a fair minimum. WE are pleased just getting played on the radio, and going out on the road. WE are very grateful to be back together period and playing music together.
Now let's talk about being back together. This album is your first new album of new material in ten years. What was it like working with the guys again? Was it awesome?
It was awesome, and at the same time we didn’t know how we were gonna work out together. Cuz we always loved and respected one another. WE had to produce this album ourselves. At first there was the feeling, My God are we going to be able to pull this off together? WE did it. It made us a much stronger band, and we stepped up to the plate, and it made us feel that much stronger today.
Now Tommy’s back right? How is he doing?
He's back, he is doing great. Last year, he kinda had another bout falling off the wagon. In order for him to come back for the Scorpion tour, we all made a pact to go clean and sober. We're all clean and sober now. We’re loving it. It’s awesome, we're playing better than ever. WE didn’t want Tommy to come back and us being able to have a few beers. WE said we gotta do what we are asking him to do. WE can’t ask him to do something, we can't do ourselves. It made the bond that much stronger.
Now I got to see you perform at the Boston Hard Rock Cafe last March. That show was mind-blowing. Whose idea was it to play acoustic?
That was a promotional thing, to let people know the album was out. We did a commercial thing, playing a few acoustic shows at the Hard Rock. The latest single came out a few weeks ago> WE needed to put together a campaign to promote the single, and we have already been out since, "Into the Now", came out. So we said we did this acoustic album back in 1990. WE only toured 5 cities, and then we re-united three years ago, and we did four West Coast shows. So we thought how cool, would it be, a lot of people have asked us to come around and play acoustic in their cities. It is a challenge, and everyone is really enjoying it.
Now I noticed on your last tour, you have a lot of new fans, plus a lot of the older fans as well at your show. What do you attribute to Tesla's longevity? I just think we always have been real. I think, even the new fans today pick up on that, and they say man this band is real. Ya know last night, a bunch of people were going man this is real. They love even when you make a mistake. They say at least you know they're not rolling tape. Then you get some of them, their parents had the Tesla cd in their cd players. So their kids grow up being Tesla fans. It is really an honor for me when young kids come up to me and say, I'm a big Tesla fan. When a 13 year old comes up to me and loves our record, and wants our autograph that is an honor for us.
Now I can seeing Tesla play at the Channel in Boston back in the 90's Do you remember playing there? Sure that was one of our first acoustic shows. AS a matter of fact, The Boston show was the first show, and then we played New York, Wow I can't believe it is not there anymore. It was a really cool place on the water, and it was jammed pack. It was magical. Then we played New York, so we said we gotta at least get some recording of this, so that’s when Philadelphia was the next night. WE decided to get a mobile truck out there and a few cameras out here just to have it in our archives. Not thinking we are gonna put an album out and then we went to WAAF in Boston and played "Signs" over the air and the phones started going off the hook and we go if this is the case then we got an whole entire night of this stuff. So then they wanted us to re-record some things and we said well this is not right. They said if you don’t re-record some things then we are not going to release it. WE said fine we are still having fun with it. It was a blast and they said we want to release it. WE said you have to release the real thing. They weren't happy about it. But that is the beauty if that album it is raw energy, that was the best thing about it. That has always been one of Tesla's strong points. A live raw energy band. Jeff,
I love your voice, it is so beautiful and emotional. Did you always want to be a musician?
No, that is the strange thing about it. The rest of the guys did. When Frankie was 12, he always wanted to be Jimi Hendrix or Peter Frampton. Tommy wanted to be in a rock band. I graduated from Oklahoma, lived in a small town up in Northern, California and ended up driving a septic trunk for six or seven years in a little town in Sacramento. Not even one time did I want to be in a rock band. I never thought twice about it. But me and my brother and a couple of guys in Georgetown, where I lived would play some Ozzy tunes. These two girls who knew Frankie and Brian said they said there is this band called City Kid and their singer quit tonight and the guys don't even know it. Jeff you would fit right in, you look like a kid, and we think you got a great voice. Would you like to sit in with them? A couple of my friends in the town where I lived , the gas stations would close early, and my truck was on empty, so I got couple of buddies to take me down. The next thing I know I sat in with the band, and they asked me audition and the rest is history.
What a great story!
It can happen to anyone.
Well you and Tesla deserve all the success, you guys are so talented. Jeff, are there any tour plans for the summer?
We are talking about doing some things electrically this summer. We got a few plans or we already got a second leg of the acoustic tour in the works, they are talking about a third leg if the tour is successful. We are talking about doing a cover record , or just get back in there and start writing cuz it usually us at least a year to put a record together. That is why we are gonna start putting covers tunes in the set in a few days. It will give the fans something to listen to while we put together a studio record.
Jeff, Thank you so much for doing this interview with me for Glam-metal. I will see ya Sunday in Boston and also will be reviewing your show.
Thank you Deb, I will make sure you get some great pics. www.teslatheband.com
|
|
|
