BW&BK; recently caught up with TESLA frontman Jeff Keith. The complete interview appears below:

By Mitch Lafon

As the summer touring season approaches and TESLA gears up to hit the road, the band won’t be touring on their glorious back catalogue, but instead, on the back catalogue of Black Sabbath, Alice Cooper and others. On June 5th the band will release Real To Reel, their eagerly anticipated covers album. ‘Till then, fans can enjoy their set list staple -‘Signs’ on the recently released VH1 Classic ‘Metal Mania Stripped III’ CD. I recently sat down with lead singer, Jeff Keith, to discuss all that is TESLA.

Mitch Lafon: Let’s talk Metal Mania III first. The song ‘Signs’ is actually a cover song, but it’s become a Tesla signature song. Can you tell me what it means to you and the band?

Jeff Keith: “Well, we were touring Motley Crue and we had two nights off in five cities (Boston, Philadelphia...) so we got these clubs to agree to let us come down and jam these covers songs. ‘Signs’ happens to be one I remember having heard growing up in Oklahoma and half the guys had never heard of it. So, we start doing these acoustic shows and people really start enjoying the song and then we went to WAAF (a radio station) up in Boston and we played it acoustically on the air and the phone started ringing off the hook. Next thing you know, it just blew out of the water and was this big hit for us. For a lot of people, that’s how they were introduced to the band.”

ML: Speaking of covers, what can you tell me about the covers album you’re working on?

JK: “Well, it’s mixed and mastered and the artwork is all done. It’s called Real To Reel (because we did it on two inch tape and not pro tools) and the release date is June 5th. It’s all based on our favorite songs from the ‘70s. We did ‘Space Truckin’’ by Deep Purple, ‘Bad Reputation’ by Thin Lizzy, ‘Bell Bottom Blues’ by Eric Clapton, ‘War Pigs’ by Black Sabbath... We came up with twenty-five songs. We picked thirteen songs for the number one disc. We’re going to sell the disc in a package with a blank space for holding disc number two and the way you get the other twelve songs is by coming to our live show and it’s included in the price of the show – rather than doing a double disc (because a lot of people can’t afford a double disc) you get a freebie at the door. If this goes well for us and after we do our next studio album – we might do a ‘60s covers album.”

ML: Have you started thinking about the next original studio album?

JK: “Into The Now was edgier and heavier than the ones before and because we’re influenced by today’s music – I think it’ll have a hard edge to it, but you’ll find the ones that are still the softer Tesla.”

ML: Any time frame for the new album? Out by Christmas...

JK: “We have some songs written for it, but we still have some writing to do and you never put nothing out at Christmas time. So, we’ll shoot for the spring of ’08.”

ML: What’s Tommy Skeoch’s status?

JK: “He’s decided to stay home with his family. He just had a new baby boy about eight months ago. He misses doing the music thing and we miss having him, but he just decided that it was the best thing to spend time with his family. It was hard for us to accept that, but we have to respect it. It could be a hiatus, but it’s looking like he’s chosen to do the family thing.”

ML: Tell me about your touring plans...

JK: “We’re starting off on our own because we can spend more time doing our thing. Then we were talking about some bands that want to go out with us and we might do that on the second leg. The first leg will be six weeks then we’ll come home for two and go back out for another four. In between the second and third leg we’re going to try and make it over to England (for four or five days) and we’ll do the same thing with Japan.”

ML: What can fans expect?

JK: “This next tour will be a lot of the covers. It’s going to support the Real To Reel thing and, of course, we’ll throw in some Tesla staple songs (like ‘Love Song’, ‘What You Give’), but we’re really going to push the covers record.”

ML: What else does the future hold for Tesla?

JK: “We’re going to be putting out a box set. It’ll be out around Christmas time, and it’ll be for the really hard core fans. We’ve got a ton of DVD footage that we’ve never used – so we’ll have a DVD disc and Tesla acoustic...”

ML: Will you gather up all the B-sides like ‘Run, Run, Run’ and ‘Cotton Fields’?

JK: “We might throw some of those things in, but we’re talking about songs that didn’t make it on (for example) Into The Now or other outtakes that we think people would really like to hear.”

ML: How are people going to be able to get it? Website only?

JK: “We’ve started our own record company called ‘Tesla Electric Company Recordings’ and I think it’ll be distributed thru Ryko. We’ll have things more in our control and do things that might get shot down when you’re tied in to someone else.”

ML: In the mid-90’s Tesla didn’t seem to be your priority or anyone’s priority for that matter – and now you’re talking about a box set, a DVD, a tour, a covers album, another covers album... Where is the renewed enthusiasm coming from and it sounds to me that Tesla is not going away anytime soon...

JK: “Absolutely! Tom Zutaut is playing a big part of that. He was our A&R; guy at Geffen (he signed us). He’s managing us now and he really makes it fun. He brings a lot of things to the table and we’re just so grateful to have the chance to be back together playing ‘cause had you asked me in 1997 – I would have said ‘it’s never going to happen’. We’re really excited about things and that excitement is really driving us. So, we’re definitely NOT going anywhere for a very very long time.”

ML: So, you’ll retire as an active member of Tesla rather than the guy who sang for them fifteen years ago...

JK: “Right!”

ML: Anything else?

JK: “Just let everybody know to come on down to the shows so they can get that second disc.” For more info please visit www.teslatheband.com.