Post by eighteeneyes on Oct 21, 2009 17:21:00 GMT -5
How Rude! - Covering The Ohio State University Community (OSU) -- Newspaper -- Uweekly.com
uweekly.com/newsmag/10-21-2009/12709
How Rude!
An interview with Dave Rude of Tesla
[Comment Below]
By Steven Patrick
The hard rock band Tesla (formed in 1984) has avoided the trappings of other groups from their era. They owe this mainly to the fact that the music was always the number one priority as opposed to the image. While other contemporaneous bands were prancing around in women's clothing and makeup, Tesla was simply wearing t-shirts, jeans, and guitars. Besides, of course they're unique. After all, they are named after Nicola Tesla, a Croatian inventor and electrical engineer whose heyday was around the turn of the 20th century. Sonically, lead singer Jeff Keith's vocals are instantly recognizable and have helped to define the blueprint of the "power ballad," thanks to hits like "What You Give" and "Love Song."
Currently touring on their 2008 release "Forever More," Tesla will be stopping in town on Wednesday to once again amp up local rock fans with their distinctive brand of hard rock. Guitarist Dave Rude, despite just being in Tesla since 2006, has proven to be a crucial element of Tesla's current sound. "Forever More" is the first to feature Rude as a writer and is a bold statement that this band has no intention of going soft. Rude's solos interweave with long-time guitarist Frank Gannon's as if he had been in the band for decades, as well. UWeekly had an opportunity to chat with Rude about whiskey ice cream, the new album, and how he came to join Tesla in the first place.
UW: So let's talk about the "new" album, "Forever More" (2008). This was your first full album of original material since joining the band in 2006.
Dave Rude: Yeah, the first original record. We made a cover album in '06 together called "Real to Reel" together. That was the first album I did with Tesla...being in the band. This one is my first original record since I've been in the band where we wrote it...and it was really cool, man. We wrote the whole record together. They were very encouraging and open to me contributing, you know, so I wrote lots of stuff on the record along with everyone else. It was kind of a unique situation because we really did write the entire record all together in the same room with our producer. Usually, someone will just come in with the songs or one or two guys kind of write everything, but that's not how it works with us, at all. It was very collaborative, creative...kind of thinking on your feet, fast...get the best thing for the song done. And we were under a pretty tough deadline, because we had to get it done by a certain date, you know, and we had tours to do in between...so it was a weird way to make a record, but you know, it was fun and it ended up coming out with a good album for sure.
UW: I know you've been in the band a few years now, but how did the guys come to find you originally?
They found me through the Dave Rude Band MySpace profile which was pretty crazy. We had our MySpace page up there and I had only just recently started the band when they checked it out, but we had a real quick live demo up there and Frank (Hannon, Tesla guitarist) was searching the internet and came across our profile and, you know, he sent me a message on MySpace asking if I wanted to come jam with his solo band. But it turned out he was really just looking for somebody in Tesla. About two months after that, I was in the band, so it was pretty trippy.
UW: Yeah, that is crazy. Do you think that the internet has replaced the classifieds section when it comes to finding new band-members? *laughs*
*laughs* It's definitely becoming a trend, man. I mean, after me there was Arnel Pineda from Journey on YouTube and now Joe Perry got his new singer from YouTube as well. It's definitely opened up a whole new world of possibilities for independent musicians, that's for sure.
UW: Tesla has a reputation for having a great live show. Would you agree that the live performances are the band's real bread and butter?
Yeah man, we take a lot of pride in that. We try and always give everyone a bang for their buck, you know.
UW: Tesla's sound has been described as "blues metal" by some, acknowledging the heavy influence that the blues has on the music. Is that something that you draw on as inspiration as well?
Oh yeah! Absolutely. I mean I love all the older rock stuff. You know, I've got my Muddy Waters and my Robert Johnson. Slash is probably the biggest influence, but Stevie Ray Vaughan is my favorite guitar player so I'm way into blues. I even do a little blues trio thing on the side when I'm at home.
UW: You've touched on this already, but was it nerve-racking for you to write with the band for the first time since Tommy (Skeoch, ex-Tesla guitarist) had been with them for so long?
No, they made it real comfortable. Plus, by the time we started working on original material I'd already been in the band for a year, so I was already real good friends with everyone and since day one they were always very cool and open...you know, down to earth. So there was never any sort of weird pressure or anything and, like I said, they were very encouraging for me to write songs with them so that was cool, too.
UW: I know Tesla rolls through Columbus fairly regularly. Any stand-out memories from playing shows in town?
You know, I really like Ohio. I like Columbus a lot. It's probably my favorite city in the state. We've played there a few times and done the Lifestyle (Communities) Pavilion and that's a 'killer' venue. We did the inside version and the outside version. I think both times that we've come through we've had the chance to have days off in Columbus and just sort of trip around. I love the downtown area. There's all these restaurants and stuff to do down there. That area [is] really cool and that one market square (North Market)...like sort of a public market kinda thing. There's this ice cream place in there and they have whiskey ice cream. It was crazy...it had real Jameson, no, no...it was Maker's Mark whiskey in the ice cream. It was delicious. *laughs* So yeah, I love Columbus...ready to come back.
Tesla will be playing at the Lifestyles Community Pavilion on October 21st at 7:00 p.m. For more information and to purchase tickets, visit www.promowestlive.com.
Originally Published: Issue 849 - October 21, 2009
uweekly.com/newsmag/10-21-2009/12709
How Rude!
An interview with Dave Rude of Tesla
[Comment Below]
By Steven Patrick
The hard rock band Tesla (formed in 1984) has avoided the trappings of other groups from their era. They owe this mainly to the fact that the music was always the number one priority as opposed to the image. While other contemporaneous bands were prancing around in women's clothing and makeup, Tesla was simply wearing t-shirts, jeans, and guitars. Besides, of course they're unique. After all, they are named after Nicola Tesla, a Croatian inventor and electrical engineer whose heyday was around the turn of the 20th century. Sonically, lead singer Jeff Keith's vocals are instantly recognizable and have helped to define the blueprint of the "power ballad," thanks to hits like "What You Give" and "Love Song."
Currently touring on their 2008 release "Forever More," Tesla will be stopping in town on Wednesday to once again amp up local rock fans with their distinctive brand of hard rock. Guitarist Dave Rude, despite just being in Tesla since 2006, has proven to be a crucial element of Tesla's current sound. "Forever More" is the first to feature Rude as a writer and is a bold statement that this band has no intention of going soft. Rude's solos interweave with long-time guitarist Frank Gannon's as if he had been in the band for decades, as well. UWeekly had an opportunity to chat with Rude about whiskey ice cream, the new album, and how he came to join Tesla in the first place.
UW: So let's talk about the "new" album, "Forever More" (2008). This was your first full album of original material since joining the band in 2006.
Dave Rude: Yeah, the first original record. We made a cover album in '06 together called "Real to Reel" together. That was the first album I did with Tesla...being in the band. This one is my first original record since I've been in the band where we wrote it...and it was really cool, man. We wrote the whole record together. They were very encouraging and open to me contributing, you know, so I wrote lots of stuff on the record along with everyone else. It was kind of a unique situation because we really did write the entire record all together in the same room with our producer. Usually, someone will just come in with the songs or one or two guys kind of write everything, but that's not how it works with us, at all. It was very collaborative, creative...kind of thinking on your feet, fast...get the best thing for the song done. And we were under a pretty tough deadline, because we had to get it done by a certain date, you know, and we had tours to do in between...so it was a weird way to make a record, but you know, it was fun and it ended up coming out with a good album for sure.
UW: I know you've been in the band a few years now, but how did the guys come to find you originally?
They found me through the Dave Rude Band MySpace profile which was pretty crazy. We had our MySpace page up there and I had only just recently started the band when they checked it out, but we had a real quick live demo up there and Frank (Hannon, Tesla guitarist) was searching the internet and came across our profile and, you know, he sent me a message on MySpace asking if I wanted to come jam with his solo band. But it turned out he was really just looking for somebody in Tesla. About two months after that, I was in the band, so it was pretty trippy.
UW: Yeah, that is crazy. Do you think that the internet has replaced the classifieds section when it comes to finding new band-members? *laughs*
*laughs* It's definitely becoming a trend, man. I mean, after me there was Arnel Pineda from Journey on YouTube and now Joe Perry got his new singer from YouTube as well. It's definitely opened up a whole new world of possibilities for independent musicians, that's for sure.
UW: Tesla has a reputation for having a great live show. Would you agree that the live performances are the band's real bread and butter?
Yeah man, we take a lot of pride in that. We try and always give everyone a bang for their buck, you know.
UW: Tesla's sound has been described as "blues metal" by some, acknowledging the heavy influence that the blues has on the music. Is that something that you draw on as inspiration as well?
Oh yeah! Absolutely. I mean I love all the older rock stuff. You know, I've got my Muddy Waters and my Robert Johnson. Slash is probably the biggest influence, but Stevie Ray Vaughan is my favorite guitar player so I'm way into blues. I even do a little blues trio thing on the side when I'm at home.
UW: You've touched on this already, but was it nerve-racking for you to write with the band for the first time since Tommy (Skeoch, ex-Tesla guitarist) had been with them for so long?
No, they made it real comfortable. Plus, by the time we started working on original material I'd already been in the band for a year, so I was already real good friends with everyone and since day one they were always very cool and open...you know, down to earth. So there was never any sort of weird pressure or anything and, like I said, they were very encouraging for me to write songs with them so that was cool, too.
UW: I know Tesla rolls through Columbus fairly regularly. Any stand-out memories from playing shows in town?
You know, I really like Ohio. I like Columbus a lot. It's probably my favorite city in the state. We've played there a few times and done the Lifestyle (Communities) Pavilion and that's a 'killer' venue. We did the inside version and the outside version. I think both times that we've come through we've had the chance to have days off in Columbus and just sort of trip around. I love the downtown area. There's all these restaurants and stuff to do down there. That area [is] really cool and that one market square (North Market)...like sort of a public market kinda thing. There's this ice cream place in there and they have whiskey ice cream. It was crazy...it had real Jameson, no, no...it was Maker's Mark whiskey in the ice cream. It was delicious. *laughs* So yeah, I love Columbus...ready to come back.
Tesla will be playing at the Lifestyles Community Pavilion on October 21st at 7:00 p.m. For more information and to purchase tickets, visit www.promowestlive.com.
Originally Published: Issue 849 - October 21, 2009
