Ronni Le Tekrø

Ronni Le Tekrø (born Rolf Ågrim Tekrø, 5 October 1963)[2] is a Norwegian guitarist best known for playing with the Norwegian hard rock band TNT and as a solo guitarist cooperating with guitarists Terje Rypdal and Mads Eriksen as "N3".[3] LeTekrø was born in Oslo but moved to Raufoss at a young age, and has lived there all his life except for the period between 1982 and 1985, when he lived in Trondheim.

Ronni Le Tekrø
Le Tekrø performing in 2012
Background information
Birth name	Rolf Ågrim Tekrø
Born	(1963-10-05) 5 October 1963 Oslo
Origin	Norway
Genres	Hard rock,[1] Heavy metal,[1] Glam metal,[1] Pop rock[1]
Occupation(s)	Musician, songwriter
Instruments	Guitar, Vocals, Sitar, Keyboards, Synthesizer, Guitar Synthesizer
Years active	1982–present
Associated acts	TNT, Vagabond, Terje Rypdal
Website	www.ronniletekro.com/

Le Tekrø sound

Le Tekrø plays with an extremely accomplished technique. One of the big differences in his playing is that his guitar solos are usually a separate melody which can actually be hummed, similar to Neil Schon's solos in Journey songs. He has also the technical ability to play fast with his "machine gun technique, but he does so sparingly. Zakk Wylde is one of the more outspoken fans of Ronni.[4][5]

Le Tekrø has collaborated with the Norwegian guitarist and composer Terje Rypdal and has released three albums and one live album (on ECM records) 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.. He also claims to have invented the "Machine Gun Style." *George Lynch of Dokken states Le Tekrø's solo for "Caught between the Tigers" is "a real face-melter. It's spine-tingling."

• He owns his own high end recording studio located in the woods of Toten, Norway called Studio Studio Nyhagen where bands like Mayhem, 1349 (band), Darkthrone, Enslaved, Chrome Division as well as TNT along with several others has recorded albums.[6]

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 formerly from Thin Lizzy and Motörhead. Le Tekrø uses his black early seventies Fender Stratocaster as a back-up for live performances. On the "Atlantis" tour Tekrø uses an Epiphone 1959 or a Morgan strat on the opening song "Hello, Hello".

Also known for pioneering the use of the Quarterstepper Guitar. This guitar has twice as many frets as normal guitar, spread throughout the neck with quarter-tone intervals. 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.

His trademark Fender Stratocaster is notably unusually set up, with a Rockinger tremolo bridge and a Seymour Duncan pickup at the bridge position, no middle pickup, and an active custom made Magnetics™ pickup in the tail position.

Ronni is currently endorsed by ESP guitars and Marshall amplification.

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
• 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.[7] He even has a master's degree in Wicca witchcraft.. He claims to know 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 Wicca 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".[7][8]

partial discography

TNT

Tekrø performing at Norway Rock Festival 2008

Main article: TNT discography

Solo 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 (Jørn 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)
• Gods Of Thunder – A Norwegian Tribute To KISS ( Covered Detroit Rock City by Kiss along with former band-colleague Tony Harnell. )
• Unlocking the Past(Jørn Lande)(2007)(guest on "The Day the Earth Caught Fire" rerecording)
• Kingdom of Norway (2007)
• Demonoir' (1349 (band)) (2010)
• Mein Ampf (2014)
• Mein Ampf II (2015)

References

1. "Allmusic". Allmusic. Retrieved 2008-06-24.
2. "Ronni Le Tekrø Official Website". Ronniletekro.com. Retrieved 2014-07-15.
3. "Norwegian 3- Supergitaristar til Øvre Årdal". Porten.no. Archived from the original on 2013-10-20. Retrieved 2014-07-15.
4. http://collider.com/keepin-it-sexy-30-minutes-in-bed-with-zakk-wylde/
5. http://www.musicradar.com/news/guitars/the-beatles-or-the-stones-with-zakk-wylde-225527
6. "Studio Studio". Studiostudio.no. Retrieved 2014-07-15.
7. Lund, Joacim (September 25, 2007). "Spiller på mange strenger" (in Norwegian). Oslo: Aftenposten. Archived from the original on 2008-10-10. Retrieved 2008-07-26.
8. Gravem, Dag F. (September 21, 2007). "Metall-avhengighet" (in Norwegian). Oslo: Ny Tid. Archived from the original on 2009-09-01. Retrieved 2008-07-26.

Literature

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