TESLA's FRANK HANNON Recalls Hearing GUNS N' ROSES For The First Time - "I'd Never Heard Rock And Roll With So Much Passion"
January 20, 2020, 4 years ago
This past weekend during NAMM in Anaheim, California, Squiggy from Loudwire stopped by the Gibson Booth to host the Loudwire: Gear Factor panel with Tesla guitarists Dave Rude and Frank Hannon.
During their interview, which can be seen below, Frank Hannon shares his first introduction to Guns N' Roses, which took place in 1987: "Tesla was signed to Geffen Records, and we kept hearing the record company people always talking about this new band, Guns N' Roses. We had never seen or heard 'em yet. 'Guns N' Roses are going to be huge!' We had already put our first album out (Mechanical Resonance), and we started hearing rumours about this new band that was going to take over the world. We're like, 'Come on, really. They can't be that good.' We didn't know."
"Well, the press lady and our A&R gal took us over to this apartment complex, and we picked up Axl Rose. We went to Taco Bell with Axl Rose. And Axl Rose is like, 'Yeah, I really like your band, I really like you guys.' We're like, 'Ok, this guy's pretty cool.' So, we go to the studio where they're recording Appetite For Destruction. Mike Clink was mixing the sound, I think it was 'Sweet Child O' Mine'. Axl goes, 'No, no, no. Take that off. I want these guys to hear 'My Michelle'. I had never heard anything like it. So, I stick my head in-between the speakers, and he cranks up 'My Michelle', and the hair just rose on my frickin' arms, I'd never heard rock and roll with so much passion! It was frickin' awesome! That's my Guns N' Roses story."
"And, at the same time, Axl was in the studio writing 'November Rain' on the piano, that same day. It freaked us out. We drove home to Sacramento, California with a demo tape of Guns N' Roses the whole way, just going 'Holy Shit!'"
Check out Guns N' Roses performing "My Michelle" live at The Ritz in New York City in 1988: