NASHVILLE (TNA) – It hasn’t been a good minute for Tesla bassist Brian Wheat.

“Can I call you back? I just got a call from the alarm company,” Wheat says. “Someone is breaking into my house back in Sacramento, and I’m here in Nashville right now.”

A few minutes later, Wheat calls back slightly relieved.

“My neighbor scared them away. They were trying to break into my studio, where I keep all my gold records and music equipment.”

Tesla in a rare non-rocking moment.

That’s not good, considering that studio is where much of the recording of the ‘80s metal band’s latest album, Real To Real, was recorded and mixed.

However, since great art often comes from great struggles, Wheat figures the incident might show up on the band’s next album of original material.

“I’m going to start writing a song in just a few minutes,” he jokes. “I’ll be writing about how I was doing an interview and got a call that my home studio was being burglarized.”

It might be a while before that proposed tune gets released. Wheat and the other members of Tesla are busy promoting their latest release, Reel To Real, a two-disc set of the band’s favorite songs from the 1970s.

The first disc – which features covers of “I’ve Got A Feeling” by the Beatles, “Ball Of Confusion” by the Temptations, and Led Zeppelin’s “Thank You (as well as covers of tunes by Deep Purple, James Gang and Thin Lizzy – is available through the normal channels, but the second disc is only available to people who purchase a Tesla concert ticket.

“You buy a ticket and get the album at the venue either on the way in or the way home,” Wheat said.

Although Tesla was most popular in the mid to late 1980s – an era known as the “hair band heyday” – the band’s music has always looked back more to the 1970s than contemporaries like Motley Crue and Def Leppard, especially hits like “Love Song” and “Signs,” a cover of an early 1970s hit for the “Five Man Electrical Band.”

But while the band rocks out on the record, Wheat feels the songs featured show that the band was interested in more than just rocking out.

“Some of us like Neil Diamond. I’m a big Beatles fan and R&B and other guys like Aerosmith,” Wheat said, adding that expecting a rock musician to only listen to hard rock is like expecting a cattleman to only eat steak.

True to the spirit of the ‘70s, Tesla recorded the album using analog tape and playing as live as possible, except for some vocals and solos. However, as the liner notes point out, “It wouldn’t be a 1970s tribute album without at least one tape edit.”

Some of the songs have long been played on stage, such as the cover of “I’ve Got A Feeling,” which Wheat likes to play during sound checks. Others, like the first single, “Thank You,” came about as a whim.

In all cases, Wheat says it was pretty easy to tell if a tune was a keeper.

“You can usually tell after the first couple of choruses,” Wheat said. “If someone frowns or giggles, that’s a bad sign.”

The band is now on tour and the Real To Real cuts make up half the show. So far, the crowd reaction has been good, and Wheat is excited that many of the fans were barely born when the group was first signed.

Once the tour ends in October, Tesla will focus attention on a 20th anniversary box set that is in the works. After that, it’s anyone’s guess what’s next and one person who isn’t guessing is Wheat.

“We never know what we’re doing until we get into the studio,” Wheat said.

For more information, check out www.teslatheband.com

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