Tesla Guitarist Says He Regrets Doubting Covid-19 Vaccine After Sickness: “I Was on the Wrong Side”
Tesla guitarist Frank Hannon, who has watched four friends die from Covid-19 and recently spent an entire “month of hell” sick with the virus himself, has admitted he was previously “on the wrong side” with regards to his skepticism of the severity of Covid-19 and his hesitancy to get vaccinated against it.
Before we go any further: we’ve long argued at MetalSucks that it’s how one owns up to past mistakes that determines how they should be judged, not those mistakes themselves (we all fuck up). We’re glad Hannon has come around on this issue, and we hope to see more like him within the metal world.
In a new interview with Southern California rock radio station 95.5 KLOS, Hannon admitted he had been wrong to doubt the science, explaining:
“We went through COVID hell, and luckily none of us died from it. I just lost another friend who died from COVID. This is a real thing, man. People that are anti-vaxxers and all that — I was on the wrong side of that fence, listening to all the baloney. But we went through it and we survived it.
“Our friends in Styx and our friends in these bands that have been successfully touring, they’ve given us some advice that we follow [while we are on the road now]. As much as you hate wearing a mask, you’ve just gotta do it when you’re close to people. And so we’re doing that. We’re all vaccinated now. And we’re being careful but we’re trying to live our lives too.”
Hannon also elaborated on his battle with Covid-19 in August, which resulted in several show cancelations and also afflicted other band members. He previously said he’d had a 102-degree fever, could “hardy breathe” and hadn’t been able to move for a week, adding in the KLOS interview:
“I wanna describe it, ’cause I got some flak from some clown on the Internet, saying, ‘All you had was the flu. All it is is the flu. Quit making a big deal about it.’ And that’s the biggest crock. I’m telling you, man — it was a month of hell. It was a hard one.
“It affects everybody differently. Like I said, unfortunately, sadly a lot of people are dying from it. But for me, it was like a month-long hangover. Imagine drinking all the tequila and whiskey and smoking a pack of Pall Mall non-filters for three days — imagine that — and then waking up hung over from that for a month. That’s what it felt like.”
You can listen to the chat below as well as check out “Shock,” from Tesla’s most recent album.
[via Blabbermouth]
