By Aaron Small

“I’m looking forward to it ‘cause I’ve never done an acoustic tour; I think it’ll be a blast,” says an excited Dave Rude in regard to TESLA’s upcoming US trek which runs November 1st to December 3rd. “I’m sure we’ll pull out some rarities as that’s what we’ve been doing on all the electric shows for the last couple years, album tracks that are rarely or never played live. The reaction from the crowd is always great so it’s something we’ve got used to doing. We’re going to do more of that, just acoustic style. Maybe we’ll re-interpret some songs acoustically that you wouldn’t expect.”

Tesla’s latest album, Twisted Wires & The Acoustic Sessions… was released this past July and features unplugged re-workings of such classics as ‘Hang Tough’, ‘What You Give’, and ‘Song And Emotion’. A brand new track, ‘2nd Street’, is also included. Bridging both eras of Tesla together, Twisted Wires is comprised of five songs recorded in 2005 with Tommy Skeoch on rhythm guitar, and seven songs recorded in 2010/11 with Dave Rude on the six-string. Pairing these two very different, yet altogether similar sounding sessions together is a tad unorthodox. According to Dave, “we had the other ones and wanted to release them. We’d been planning on releasing them for a while, but we also didn’t want it to be all old stuff. So we put some new tracks on there, not to confuse people to think that I’m not in the band any more. That way it’s clear that I’m still the guitar player. It’s always fun to hear different versions of songs you’ve heard before.” ‘Better Off Without You’ is also included on Twisted Wires. “That’s an old demo the band did in the ‘80s before their first record even came out. It’s a song they always liked and wanted to put out a new version of. It’s been re-recorded recently for this album; it’s not the original demo version. We’ve never done that live, that might be one we’ll pull out on this acoustic tour, who knows?”

Twisted Wires was issued by Tesla Recordings. Is releasing music on your own label the way to go in 2011? “You know, I think it is. Tesla’s in a unique and good position because of the legacy. Tesla came out when the major label model was still the norm, and we’re lucky enough to benefit from all that. So now there’s a big worldwide following. People want to see Tesla and they want to buy the records. For us now in this current industry, to have that demand for the band no matter what, is like gold. It’s really, really hard for new bands because there’s so many bands trying to break that it’s very difficult for any one band to stand out and have some big impact. Whereas in the ‘80s and ‘90s, if you were good and had the right things behind you, you could make an impact and since Tesla did, now we can put out stuff on our own label and there’s already a market for it because people already know the band. Then you don’t have to deal with all the major label stuff – and the major labels are falling apart anyway. It’s barely an advantage anymore to be on a major label. For a band like Tesla, there’s no advantage to it. For a newer band, maybe? But for an established act, there’s really no reason to be on a major label. It’s just going to be headaches and you’re going to make a lot less money.”

Tesla’s last studio album of all-new material, Forever More, was released in 2008. Thoughts within the band are definitely leaning towards a proper follow-up. “Twisted Wires isn’t a full new record for sure. We’re actually going to be starting writing this month. The plan is to have one out next year so we can be touring for it in the summertime.”

Switching gears, Dave discusses his own DAVE RUDE BAND. “We’ve been working on a new album of our own stuff. We’ve released a few of those songs on iTunes and a few as free downloads when people join our email list on our website DaveRudeBand.com. We’ll probably record another couple tracks and then put out a full album. But we are looking for a label. All the stuff I was saying earlier is true, but for a newer band, I think it’s still smart to have a label. Not necessarily a major label, we’d rather be on a good independent rock label where you’re not signing away your life. There’s a couple of labels we’ve been talking to.”

Carry Me Home was a seven-song EP released two years ago, so it’s time. “Yes, exactly; and about a year before that it was an EP. We’ve always had enough songs; we just haven’t had enough money to make a whole album. So this time we’ve done it a little slower. We didn’t release the first five or six songs, we waited. We’ve done it in several sessions, we’re saving them up. But I’m really happy with the new material, we’re excited.” How does the new Dave Rude Band material compare to the stuff you’ve already released? “A little heavier maybe, but it still sounds like the same band. It’s more full-blown rock.”

Donning yet another hat, Rude reveals, “I’ve been doing a lot of songwriting for other people, as well as writing songs in the hopes of getting it to other people. I’ve been going out to Nashville and doing writing sessions with country artists, not for myself but hopefully for an established country artist to record. It’s something I’ve really enjoyed doing and I’ve been doing it a lot. I’ve also been doing dance and pop, like KATY PERRY kind of songs, shit no one would ever expect. It’s not something I’m going to release, I’m just writing the song, then publishers and producers try to get it to bigger artists to record; that’s about the only place left to make money in this business besides touring. It’s also really fun. It’s not some cold and calculated ‘I need to make money’. I had been writing all these fucking pop songs for years and it never even crossed my mind. It was like that’s cool, but my band can’t play it and Tesla can’t play it; it sounds like it should be a PINK song or a KEITH URBAN song. I kind of got my mind opened to it this year – that’s exactly what people do. There’s people who that’s their whole career, they never play a gig ever, they just write songs for other people. So I thought that could be something I’d do on the side. I really love the pop songs that I write. Honestly, I don’t listen to that much rock ‘cause I listened to it so much growing up. I’ve heard about as much AC/DC and LED ZEPPELIN as you can possibly fucking hear. I’ve been pumping the last TRAIN record, I love RIHANNA, I can’t wait for the new COLDPLAY record to come out. That said; I did just go buy the new CHICKENFOOT ‘cause Chickenfoot fucking rules!”

Dave has also written the score for a movie called Running With Demons. “That was really fun too. Again, another thing I’d always wanted to do, but didn’t really know how to get into doing it. Fortunately, it just fell in my lap. A guy I know named Todd Crandell, it’s his story; he’s been profiled on ESPN. He started a sobriety organization called Racing For Recovery that’s an alternative to 12 steps, for people who wanted to try something different. They teach getting sober through physical fitness. So Todd runs, he does Iron Mans and Ultra Mans, he goes all over the world competing. He’s a Tesla fan and reached out to our lawyer to licence a couple of Tesla songs from Forever More for the movie. Through that, he heard about Dave Rude Band and ended up licencing one of our songs for the movie as well. Then he came out to a show, I met him and we got to talking. He wasn’t happy with the soundtrack, background music and asked if I’d be interested in writing something a little more rocking. So I got an advance copy of the movie, pressed mute and watched the scenes they wanted me to write for. It was really fun. The movie will be out on DVD eventually, but right now it’s in film festivals.” Visit RunningWithDemons.com for further details.

Catch Tesla live:

November

1 - Salt Lake City, UT - The Depot
2 - Denver, CO - Ogden Theatre
4 - Kansas City, MO - The Midland
5 - Wichita, KS - The Cotillion
6 - Tulsa, OK - Cain's Ballroom
8 - Oklahoma City, OK - Diamond Ballroom
9 - Sauget, IL - Pop's Nightclub
11 - Dallas, TX - Palladium Ballroom
12 - San Antonio, TX - Backstage Live
13 - Houston, TX - House Of Blues
16 - West Hollywood, CA - House Of Blues
17 - Las Vegas, NV - House Of Blues
18 - Phoenix, AZ - The Foundry
20 - Anaheim, CA - House Of Blues

December

1 - San Francisco, CA - The Fillmore
2 - Sacramento, CA - Ace Of Spades
3 - Sacramento, CA - Ace Of Spades