BRIAN WHEAT: 'TESLA Is A Brotherhood, And Sometimes Brothers Fight'

December 27, 2020

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".

Find more on Tesla

Prev More News Next

Comments Disclaimer And Information

BLABBERMOUTH.NET uses the Facebook Comments plugin to let people comment on content on the site using their Facebook account. The comments reside on Facebook servers and are not stored on BLABBERMOUTH.NET. To comment on a BLABBERMOUTH.NET story or review, you must be logged in to an active personal account on Facebook. Once you're logged in, you will be able to comment. User comments or postings do not reflect the viewpoint of BLABBERMOUTH.NET and BLABBERMOUTH.NET does not endorse, or guarantee the accuracy of, any user comment. To report spam or any abusive, obscene, defamatory, racist, homophobic or threatening comments, or anything that may violate any applicable laws, use the "Report to Facebook" and "Mark as spam" links that appear next to the comments themselves. To do so, click the downward arrow on the top-right corner of the Facebook comment (the arrow is invisible until you roll over it) and select the appropriate action. You can also send an e-mail to blabbermouthinbox(@)gmail.com with pertinent details. BLABBERMOUTH.NET reserves the right to "hide" comments that may be considered offensive, illegal or inappropriate and to "ban" users that violate the site's Terms Of Service. Hidden comments will still appear to the user and to the user's Facebook friends. If a new comment is published from a "banned" user or contains a blacklisted word, this comment will automatically have limited visibility (the "banned" user's comments will only be visible to the user and the user's Facebook friends).