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In a brand new interview with Daybreak Osborne of TotalRock, TESLA guitarist Frank Hannon mirrored on his COVID-19 battle, saying (as transcribed by Phoosi.com): “COVID hit us final August, of final yr, 2021. All of us received sick with it. I’ve to be trustworthy, myself, I denied its existence for the primary yr of it, although it was on the information and we have been listening to about it. We have been very fortunate for a very long time and did not catch it. However then all of us did catch it in August, and it set us again for the entire remainder of the yr final yr, and we have been all very sick from it.”
Hannon went on to say that he and his bandmates are “feeling higher” now, however he admitted that it “hit me laborious. It felt prefer it aged me a bit bit,” he mentioned. “I nonetheless really feel it a bit bit in my lungs; my mind is a bit cloudy, which is okay — I am used to that anyway. [Laughs]”
Final August, TESLA introduced it was suspending a number of reveals after Frank examined optimistic for COVID-19. On the time, Hannon wrote in a social media submit that he had “not been in a position to transfer all week” and revealed that he awoke with a 102-degree fever and will “hardly breathe” on the day that TESLA was scheduled to depart for tour.
Hannon later opened up about his COVID-19 battle in an interview with Marci Wiser of the 95.5 KLOS radio station, saying: “We went via COVID hell, and by chance none of us died from it. I simply misplaced one other buddy who died from COVID. It is a actual factor, man. Folks which are anti-vaxxers and all that — I used to be on the mistaken facet of that fence, listening to all of the baloney. However we went via it and we survived it.
“Our mates in STYX and our mates in these bands which have been efficiently touring, they’ve given us some recommendation that we observe [while we are on the road now],” he continued.
“As a lot as you hate carrying a masks, you’ve got simply gotta do it if you’re near individuals. And so we’re doing that. We’re all vaccinated now. And we’re being cautious however we’re attempting to reside our lives too.”
Hannon additionally elaborated on his battle with COVID-19, saying: “I wanna describe it, ‘trigger I received some flak from some clown on the Web, saying, ‘All you had was the flu. All it’s is the flu. Stop making an enormous deal about it.’ And that is the most important crock. I am telling you, man — it was a month of hell. It was a tough one.
“It impacts everyone in a different way,” he continued. “Like I mentioned, sadly, sadly lots of people are dying from it. However for me, it was like a month-long hangover. Think about consuming all of the tequila and whiskey and smoking a pack of Pall Mall non-filters for 3 days — think about that — after which waking up hung over from that for a month. That is what it felt like.”
Final September, Hannon instructed Meltdown of Detroit’s WRIF radio station that he “received vaccinated” earlier than occurring the highway with TESLA, however admitted “it was a bit too late. I used to be not eager to get vaccinated, and I put it off too lengthy. I received vaccinated and a couple of week later I performed a gig and caught COVID and took it to the band by chance. And everyone received sick. It knocked me down for a month, man. It was a month of hell, not having the ability to breathe and in plenty of ache.”
He continued: “Folks dismiss it as being, ‘Oh, it is solely a flu,’ or, ‘It is a chilly,’ or no matter, however I simply misplaced three extra mates — individuals within the trade which have died from it. So it is a very critical factor. And I do not take it frivolously anymore, that is for rattling positive.”
TESLA performed the primary two reveals of its summer time 2021 tour with out Frank. Filling in for him was Howie Simon (JEFF SCOTT SOTO, GRAHAM BONNET, STRYPER), who beforehand stood in for Hannon in September 2018.
“Myself, I did not even do one present [of the summer run],” Frank instructed WRIF. “The morning that we have been leaving to go on tour, I got here down with a 102 fever. So I known as one in every of my mates that performs guitar, and he stuffed in for me. They did one other present up in Oregon, and so they received sick. So we received the kibosh placed on TESLA instantly.”
In August, TESLA launched the official music video for its model new single, “Chilly Blue Metal”. The clip was directed by Brandon Gullion and produced by Hannon.
TESLA‘s newest album, “Shock”, was launched in March 2019 through UMe. The follow-up to 2014’s “Simplicity” was produced by DEF LEPPARD guitarist Phil Collen.
