Ronni Le Tekrø

Infobox musical artist
Name = Ronni Le Tekrø


Img_capt = Ronni Le Tekrø at Rockefeller Music Hall, Oslo
Photo:Steinar Knudsen
Img_size = 250
Landscape = Yes
Background = non_vocal_instrumentalist
Birth_name = Rolf Ågrim Tekrø
Born = Birth date and age|1963|10|5|df=y
Oslo, Norway
Genre = Hard rockcite web
url=http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=11:kifpxqe5ldje~T1 |title=Allmusic |publisher=Allmusic |accessdate=2008-06-24] , Heavy metal, Glam metal, Pop rock
Instrument = Guitar, vocals
Occupation = Musician, songwriter
Associated_acts = TNT, Vagabond, Terje Rypdal
Years_active = 1982–present
URL = [http://www.ronniletekro.com/ www.ronniletekro.com/]
Notable_instruments =

Ronni Le Tekrø (born Rolf Ågrim Tekrø on October 5, 1963) [ [http://www.ronniletekro.com Official website] ] is a Norwegian guitarist best known for playing with the Norwegian hard rock band TNT and as a solo guitarist.

Born in Oslo Tekrø moved to Raufoss at a young age, and he has lived there all his life except between 1982 and 1985 when he lived in Trondheim.

The Le Tekrø sound

Le Tekrø plays with more emphasis on volum and hard attack on the strings than distortion. He often uses arpeggios, like in the solo in "Intuition". Le Tekrø is known for his ability to improvise in his own unique style in both fast and slow paces.

He covered Alice Cooper's "Welcome To my Nightmare" in his solo album "Extra Strong String". He is known for pioneering the "machine gun" guitar playing style (without the use of a pedal). Le Tekrø has collaborated with the Norwegian guitarist and composer Terje Rypdal and has released three albums featuring the fruits of that collaboration. Le Tekrø's vocals tend to be deep, with emphasis on vibrato and falsetto. His inspirations as a guitarist include Steve Hillage, Brian May, Jimmy Page, Brian Robertson, Jimi Hendrix, and Ted Nugent.Fact|date=June 2007. He is also credited as the inventor of the "Machine Gun Style"

In the '80s he was rated one of the best guitarists in the world,Fact|date=June 2007 and several webpages state he is also on of the most influential ones.

Equipment

Le Tekrø's main guitar live is the so called "Holocaster".Originally a light pink ESP guitar from the early eighties. The head is signed by close friend Brian Robertson from Thin Lizzy and formerly Motörhead. Le Tekrø uses his black early seventies Fender Stratocaster as a back-up for live performances.

He is also known for pioneering the use of the Quarterstepper Guitar. This guitar has twice as many frets as normal guitar. Normal guitars have frets like 1, 2, 3, 4, 5..., but the Quarterstepper has frets of 0.5, 1, 1.5, 2, 2.5, 3, 3.5, 4, 4.5, 5... This guitar was invented by Bernie Hamburger of Hamburgerguitar and Le Tekrø himself. He used the guitar for the solo in Wisdom from the Intuition album, and several others recordings. Hamburger also built a 12 string hollow body that Le Tekrø has used on various tours and recordings. In the studio Le Tekrø uses a wide range of effects and amps.

For live performances Le Tekrø uses:
* OD-1 Overdrive
* BF-2 Flanger
* CE-2 Chorus
* Roland RE-150 Space Echo Tape Delay,
* Dunlop CryBaby
* Digitech Whammy II [4]
* Marshall 2204 heads
* Marshall 1960 A cabinets

Wiccan witch

Le Tekrø has been practicing the nature religion Wicca since the 1980s, and he labels himself a witch.cite news |first= |last= |authorlink= |author= Lund, Joacim |coauthors= |title= Spiller på mange strenger |url= http://www.aftenposten.no/kul_und/musikk/article2013297.ece |format= |work= |publisher= Aftenposten |location= Oslo |id= |pages= |page= |date= September 25, 2007 |accessdate=2008-07-26 |language= Norwegian |quote= |archiveurl= |archivedate= ] He even has a masters degree in Wicca witchcraft.Fact|date=July 2008. He knows how to store energies in stones out in the forest and go out and charge up his batteries from them when he needs to. He says in a Norwegian newspaper interview in 2007 that Wiccanism helps him deal with such matters as death and guilt and that he prefers this to "fairytales from the Middle East which have thrown an entire world into war". Ronni Le Tekrø has been open about his use of hashish to assist in catalyzing his creative powers.cite news |first= |last= |authorlink= |author= Gravem, Dag F. |coauthors= |title= Metall-avhengighet |url= http://www.nytid.no/arkiv/artikler/20070920/metall_avhengighet/ |format= |work= |publisher= Ny Tid |location= Oslo |id= |pages= |page= |date= September 21, 2007 |accessdate=2008-07-26 |language= Norwegian |quote= |archiveurl= |archivedate= ]

Trivia

*George Lynch of Dokken states Le Tekrø's solo for "Caught between the Tigers" is "a real face-melter. It's spine-tingling."Fact|date=June 2007
*He owns his own studio located in the woods of Toten, Norway called Studio Studio. [www.studiostudio.no]

Discography

TNT

* "TNT" (1982)
* "Knights of the New Thunder" (1984)
* "Tell No Tales" (1987)
* "Intuition" (1989)
* "Realized Fantasies" (1992)
* "Three Nights in Tokyo (Live)" (1992)
* "Firefly" (1997)
* "Transistor" (1999)
* "Give me a Sign" EP (2003)
* "My Religion" (2004)
* "All the Way to the Sun" (2005)
* "Live in Madrid" - CD + DVD package (2006)
* "The New Territory" (2007)

olo and collaborated records

* "Wonderland" (Embee Normann) (1993)
* "Dedicated to Thin Lizzy" (Bad Habitz) (1993)
* "Vagabond" (Vagabond) (1994)
* "A Huge Fan Of Life (Vagabond) (1995)
* "Rypdal & Tekrø" (Terje Rypdal) (RCA 74321 242962) (1997)
* "Rypdal/Tekrø II" (Terje Rypdal) (1997)
* "Starfire" (Jorn Lande) 2000- Guest on "The Day the Earth Caught Fire"
* "Extra Strong String" (2000)
* "Magica Lanterna" (2002)
* "Under the Misteltoe" (Evil Elf Band) (2002)
* "The Radiosong" (Terje Rypdal) (2002)
* "Camouflage" (Wild Willy's Gang) (2005)
* "Unlocking the Past"(Jorn Lande)(2007)(guest on "The Day the Earth Caught Fire" rerecording)
* "Kingdom of Norway" (2007)

References

Literature

* Østbø, Stein "Hekta : Ronni Le Tekrø : et liv i rock", N.W. Damm & Søn AS, Oslo (September 2007), 211 pages, ISBN 978-82-04-13130-0 (includes CD)