BRIAN WHEAT Jokes That He Is The President Of TESLA Car Company

In a new interview with Fox 5 Las Vegas, TESLA bassist Brian Wheat was asked what it has been like to have the same name as the car company, which delivered 1.8 million vehicles globally last year. He said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "Well, the funny thing is up until about 20 years ago, I'd call people and say, 'Hi, this is Brian Wheat from TESLA.' And they would know it's the band. And now when I call people and say, 'It's Brian Wheat from TESLA, they say, 'Oh, are you with the car company?' I say, 'Yeah, I'm the president.'"

He continued: "But, yeah, we've been here since 1986 and Elon's [Musk, Tesla CEO] been here since 2006. But they're both cool — the car, the band. The inventor [Nikola Tesla] was really cool. So that's the name thing. But I think more people that don't know the band from the music, when you say 'Tesla', they think of the car because it's so — so vast out there."

Wheat previously told Metal Edge magazine that he and his bandmates have not reaped any benefits from sharing the same name as the Tesla car company. "When people ask me, 'What group are you in?' and I say, 'TESLA,' I usually get the response of, 'Oh, the car company!' And I reply, 'Yeah, I'm the fuckin' vice president!' [Laughs] But to answer your question, no, there has been no cross-branding between us and the Tesla automobile company. We've had some roundabout communication with Elon Musk, where he sent us some t-shirts, and we sent him some, but we've never met him, and we don't have Tesla cars. I like what he is doing, but he has nothing to do with us and our music."

TESLA's debut album, 1986's "Mechanical Resonance", went platinum on the strength of the hits "Modern Day Cowboy" and "Little Suzi". The 1989 follow-up album, "The Great Radio Controversy", produced five hits, including "Heaven's Trail (No Way Out)" and "Love Song", which hit the pop Top Ten.

Earlier this month, TESLA returned to the House Of Blues inside Mandalay Bay Resort And Casino Las Vegas in 2024 with their "Tesla: The Las Vegas Takeover".

In August 2022, TESLA released a standalone single, "Time To Rock!" A year earlier, the band issued another new track called "Cold Blue Steel".

In September 2023, TESLA released the official music video for its cover of AEROSMITH's "S.O.S. (Too Bad)". The song is a bonus track on TESLA's live album, "Full Throttle Live!", which arrived in May 2023. The LP includes the band's "Time To Rock!" single, plus other songs, all recorded in August 2022 at Full Throttle Saloon in Sturgis, South Dakota.

In September 2021, original 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.