UTG PREMIERE: Tesla Rossa – “Wishes”

October 21st, 2014

Matthew Leimkuehler

Nashville’s indie rock trio Tesla Rossa is a brilliant and bombastic example of everything that’s right about rock and roll music. The new self-titled record contains songs with utter sex appeal, songs with drive, songs with blistering distortion, and songs with the softest and most humble melodies. It’s an effort worthy of modern rock ‘n’ roll’s best — swaying and sensitive enough for this decade’s version of Arctic Monkeys and loud enough to be a product of Jack White.

Today, Under The Gun is premiering the band’s new song off the record, “Wishes.” A lo-fi and entrancing number, “Wishes” embodies everything the new record is about. Singer and guitarist Jason Denton said this about the new song:

“This song was actually the original demo I recorded in our basement. I had just gotten an octave pedal and was screwing around with playing my electric like a bass to some loops I’d been making on the computer. I liked the uniqueness of the track compared to everything we were writing at the time—it made the cut.”

Click the “Read More” button to check out an exclusive stream of the new song and an interview with Denton. Be on the lookout for the band’s new self-titled record, due out November 11.

Tell me about the new self-titled record.

It’s been a very long time coming. We demoed over 50 songs and toured on them for a couple of years deciding which to cut for an LP. Most of the record was tracked live to 2-inch tape in Nashville at Vance Powell’s studio. A handful of tracks were done specifically with different producers trying to achieve certain sounds. “Wishes” in fact started as a demo that we recorded in our basement. A lot of those sounds ended up making the final version.

What was it like working with Ken Coomer and Vance Powell on this release?

Brilliant. Both of them. Vance is really good at capturing the way an artist actually sounds live. His records are real. Our songs come through exactly the way we sound live with minimal tweaking. It was killer hanging late night with Vance, drinking bourbon and listening to his records. Ken is another kind of animal. He’s really into developing the sounds of an instrument. Finding one particular unique thing in a track and pushing it straight to the foreground. I think on this record both of their strengths as engineers are prominent. It was Ken’s idea to throw the bass on “Kinetic” through a giant 10-foot plate reverb, which really made that track.

Tell me more about the overall essence of the new album — what kind of sound are you bringing to the table with this effort?

Well, this record is Tesla Rossa. We have been developing this band for the last five years. Sometimes with direction, sometimes meandering but it definitely sounds like we do live. Minimal frills and packed with emotion. The album to us feels like we rolled our debut, the follow up, and our weird third record into one. It chronicles our different musical influences and the changes we’ve been through over the years. We’re really excited it’s finally seeing its moment.

We’re premiering “Wishes” today. What’s the story behind this track?

Like I mentioned before, this song was actually the original demo I recorded in our basement. I had just gotten an octave pedal and was screwing around with playing my electric like a bass to some loops I’d been making on the computer. I liked the uniqueness of the track compared to everything we were writing at the time—it made the cut because it was radically different. If you don’t like Tesla Rossa, skip to the next track. We try to keep our audience guessing.

Lastly, what are the future plans for the band? What does 2015 look like for you guys?

We’ll be writing a ton this winter. It’s been a minute since I’ve actually sat down to write a song. Most of my time has been spent with other creative outlets recently. The band is really looking forward to saying some new things. Also, we’ll be doing SXSW followed by a West Coast run in the summer. Really looking forward to it. People keep telling us we’re gonna do well out there. It’s in our sights for sure.

Written by Matthew Leimkuehler (@callinghomematt)