Weekend

Frank Hannon Band comes to Town Pump on Friday

By Josh Kendrix/Appeal-Democrat

Photo courtesy of Frank Hannon Tesla guitarist Frank Hannon comes to the Town Pump on Friday for a show with the Frank Hannon Band.

April 27, 2006 - While Frank Hannon enjoyed being a member of the Sacramento-based rock band Tesla, he found the band was slow to produce new music.

In response, he began a solo project aptly called the Frank Hannon Band, which is set to appear Friday at Town Pump in Yuba City.

“I'm still with Tesla - the band is still going - but I can't sit around,” Hannon said. “I have so much creative energy that I have to keep going and continually play and write music.”

His solo efforts produced the concept album “Guitarz From Marz,” an idea that took shape when NASA began the Mars exploration program in 2003.

“(The album) started as a parody about the millions of dollars the government was spending looking at rocks on Mars,” Hannon said. “We thought it was ludicrous that with so many problems here on Earth, the government would be spending its money on something like that.”

Hannon, along with drummer Robbie Furiosi, crafted a storyline where astronauts search for oil on Mars. They discover guitars instead.

This story is discussed in songs such as “Eye on the Mind.” The rest of the album covers a wide range of topics, even current issues such as war. But all tracks return to the “Guitarz on Marz” theme.

Hannon gets ideas for songs “from all over,” he said.

“Sometimes, I'll be mowing the lawn and I'll hear a melody or lyrics in my head. Or I'll just be strumming a guitar and will hit a chord accidently and it will sound good,” Hannon said. “The way you come up with an original sound is by making mistakes.”

Hannon produced the album in his garage. “It's a completely independent album,” he said.

Reaction to his solo project has largely been positive from fans of Tesla. “Some think I'm crazy (for doing this), but most of them have liked it and have been really supportive,” he said.

“They realize it's going to be a long time before they see a new Tesla album, so they like getting new music from one of the band's members.” The last Tesla album was “Replugged Live,” released in September 2001.

For his show on Saturday, he said he plans to begin at “about 10 p.m. and have a three-hour marathon of (playing). There's going to be a lot of jamming.”

Hannon said he would play songs off “Guitarz From Marz” and would cover songs by Led Zeppelin and Jimi Hendrix. He also said he may perform Lynyrd Skynyrd's “Free Bird”; Tesla is scheduled to perform with Lynyrd Skynyrd May 19 in San Francisco.

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