AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF BRIAN WHEAT- ‘SON OF A MILKMAN’ MY CRAZY LIFE WITH TESLA..

AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF BRIAN WHEAT- ‘SON OF A MILKMAN’ MY CRAZY LIFE WITH TESLA..

 

 

As Brian Wheat admits himself he can sometimes come across as stand offish and distant, but he is ‘the asshole’ that kept the band together, that band being Tesla, multi platinum selling artists known as blue collar heroes for their down to earth hardworking approach.

 

Not that success didn’t sometimes go to their heads. Wheat tells you the whole story. He is not interested in gilding the lily or making this book a vanity project. As such you can be sure you are getting the story warts and all, not only the stories of success, but also mistakes, band fights, personal health issues, narcotics, groupies and the pressures of keeping a rock band together while dealing with what tragedies life throws at you and he’s had a few. Perhaps most candidly he admits he was illegitimate, literally the son of a milkman with a colourful family background over which many would have sought to draw a veil.

 

Of course fans of Tesla will be interested because they love the music and there is detailed discussion of the background of the band’s much loved records, insights into the characters and band dynamics. The book is also a helpful insight into the Wizard of Oz behind the curtain view of the music industry. The ins and outs of working with management, labels and making it in a post grunge/social media world. Completely unromanticised Wheat does nothing if not keep it real.  However, magical moments like meetings with Paul McCartney and encounters with Jimmy Page also touch the glittering side of the privilege of band life.

 

Wheat admits that he has been in the depths of despair where taking his own life was considered. However, his inclusion of a suicide prevention hotline and words of encouragement for those in a bad place seem genuine and heartfelt. At the end of a day a man that can get Joe Elliot to provide a foreword and Ross Halfin to provide an afterword saying you are a true friend who turned up when needed most speaks volumes. It’s hard not to respect a man who does not suffer fools gladly, is prepared to admit when he has been wrong and has resisted the temptation to try to cast a golden light on his life. Easily read in a few hours, written plainly and to the point, rest assured that if you pick up this book to read Wheat is not a man to waste anyone’s time.

 

Dawn Osborne