We caught up with Frank Hannon of Tesla before Download Festival kicks off.
So why Download?
Because it’s the biggest festival in England with so many great bands, and it is the original location for Donington. I had the Scorpions live from Donington when I was a teenager and dreamed of playing there.
Who are you most looking forward to seeing at Download?
I’m most looking foraward to seeing The Offspring and Avenge Sevenfold.
Is there anybody you’d like to call up on stage to perform with you?
Joe Perry and Brad Whitford from Aerosmith.
Do you have any surprises in store for Download?
Playing some songs from our new album Simplicity in front of a huge crowd.
What’s your best festival memory either personally attending as a fan or in the band? And what’s your advice to all the festival goers?
Hanging out with Eddie Trunk and VH-1 That Metal Show. My advice would be to go use the rest rooms early in the day before they become too messy.
Your new album is called Simplicity and you’ve stripped back a lot of the dynamics, was this actually a harder record to write because you had to think about how to make it simpler in nature?
It was much easier to write this record because we as a group flew to a remote location in the hills of Virginia to focus on writing only, thus resulting in what you have in front you.
You seem to release new material quite often, have you found since re-forming over a decade ago that the creative juices have just been flowing and the band is working well together?
Well for your information we formed over THREE decades ago and it is a pain in the ass to write new material unless we go away to a secluded spot without distractions and the every day responsibilities that come with old age! Hahaha.
We recently reviewed the new Tesla album that can be read here.
