Believe it or not, this is the first time Brian Wheat has ever done an interview for a bass guitar publication. Despite playing bass for Tesla, one of the most successful rock acts to survive the ’80s—thanks in large part to their hit, “Love Song,” which reached number 10 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1989—Wheat cites the band’s lack of image as part of the reason for such oversights. “We were like this imageless band,” he says, noting that they are often lumped into the “hair metal” category, even though they were basically just a jeans and t-shirt band, more akin to Aerosmith and AC/DC than Poison or Mötley Crüe. “It’s like if you saw us on the street, you wouldn’t know it was us,” he confides. “But if you heard us on the radio, you’d go, ‘Oh, I know that song.’ And that’s how I think we survive. On one hand, in the ’80s, we were bitching that we weren’t getting press and magazine coverage. On the other hand, I think it allowed us to have the