DAVE RUDE On Possible New TESLA Studio Album: 'It's Nothing That We're Planning To Do'

In a new interview with The Logan Show, TESLA guitarist Dave Rude was asked about the possibility of a follow-up to the band's 2019 album "Shock". He responded (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "It's nothing that we're planning to do. This sort of single-release thing has worked well for us lately, 'cause we wanna spend our time focused on touring. 'Cause there's zero money in records for most rock bands, definitely at our level. And even the big ones, it's still very little for a rock record. So it takes a lot of time, takes a lot of money to make a whole album, and then the thing is that's time that you're not touring. So for the finite amount of time we've got left as a band and we can still be out there doing it and everyone's firing on all cylinders, 'cause you don't wanna think about it, but it's a limited time now. Eventually we won't be able to do it anymore. So we want to have all our energy and the time that we have left to sort of maximize it as much as possible, which really is touring, 'cause we do have the great diehard fans who do appreciate these songs, but at the same time, the majority of the crowd, including the diehards, are there for the older ones. And that's cool. We're down with that. We know that, and we love to play them. So we're happy to play the older songs for everybody and hopefully have everyone enjoy a night out at a rock show."

He continued: "When you put on a new record, you maybe throw one or two [of the new songs] in [the set], maybe three, but then you're taking away the other songs that people probably wanted to hear. And so there's a balance. All this effort for a record that you don't make any money from, and you're maybe only putting in one or two songs in the set. Why not just make the one or two songs? We just did the one single, which we've done, and we play that and we didn't have to do this whole big expenditure and spend six months and stress and fighting and all this shit that goes into making a record. Just make a record, make a song at Frank's [Hannon, guitar] garage or Brian's [Wheat, bass] studio and put it out two months later. And, like, 'Oh, that was easy.' And now we'll play it and put the song on the shirt and we've got a new tour."

TESLA singer Jeff Keith discussed a possible follow-up to "Shock" last month in an interview with The Bladtcast. At the time, he said: "Well, we've released a couple of singles — 'Cold Blue Steel', 'Time To Rock!' — and we're gonna work on one that we're gonna release sometime next spring. But I guess once we get enough songs or the time… I think the hardest thing is having the time, because when you put a record together, it takes, like, a year and a half to put an entire record together. So I guess it would just be having the time to take the time off to make a record. So right now we're just content with putting out a single here and a single there and having fun going out there. The fans are still there — we just appreciate 'em so much — and we're still having fun with it. So once we get up enough songs and enough time to put together another record, that's when we'll do it."

In September, Wheat told Raul Amador of Bass Musician Magazine that he and his bandmates would "go in the studio in February and record a couple of new TESLA songs and maybe a couple covers."

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, 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 this past May. 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, 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.

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.