Why You Should Know Him
Some say that he is an alien, sent to Earth to assault our earbuds with out of this world creativity, stellar melody lines, and extraterrestrial tones. Since 1982 he has been delivering spellbinding arrays of guitar greatness that is sometimes overlooked because of his foreign homeland. To us mere humans, he is known as Ronnie Le Tekro, the guitarist of the Norwegian metal band, TNT.
The band has released twelve studio albums over their 30-year career, all of which Tekro has been a part of, despite the fluctuation of other members. In Norway, the band was and still is extremely popular. Their 1987 album, Tell No Tales, outsold superstar artists such as Michael Jackson and Def Leppard. “10,000 Lovers (In One),” the single from the album, reached number one on the Norwegian charts and 100 in the U.S. The following release, Intuition, in 1989, earned the band a U.S. headlining tour.
Tekro is widely respected and has influenced other professional musicians such as Zakk Wylde, George Lynch, and Ozzy Osbourne, who is even said to have a picture of Tekro hanging in his home. His style is one of technical mastery. The blend of uncanny, ruthless shredding, combined with the catchiness of his phrasing (good luck getting the main riff from “Intuition” out of your head), earns Tekro a spot in the most underrated guitarist of the ‘80s.
The Gear
Tekro’s main guitar, which is called the “Holocaster,” is a 1983 ESP modded Strat with a Seymour Duncton pickup in the bridge. The guitar is also autographed by Brain Robertson of Motorhead. His main backup axe is a ‘72 Fender Strat. He also uses various other Kramer Strats and a semi-hollow Hamburger 12, String. Tekro plays a very unique guitar known as the “Quarter Stepper,” which has added frets to deliver a quarter step tone, rather than having to bend a string to achieve such. He was involved in the concept of the guitar as well.
Tekro’s go-to amps are late 70’s Marshall 2203’s, which been modded to have less gain. To make up for the lost gain, Tekro uses a Roland Space Echo and Boss OD-1 to boost his signal. He also uses other Boss pedals such as, the BF-2 Flanger and CE Chorus. A Dunlop CryBaby wah pedal and Digitech Whammy II are also a part of his pedalboard. His rack contains, a BOSS DD-3 Digital Delay, PMP BUF V, BOSS SD-2 2 Dual Over Drive, and KORG tuner.
As for strings that he annihilates so beautifully, he prefers Fender Superbullets 009-040 and he uses Tortex jazz picks of various thickness.
Where Is He Now?
TNT released an album, A Farewell to Arms, in late 2010. Tekro stated that it would most likely be a very long before the band would even think about doing another record, if ever. A live DVD of the band was released the next year. The band had a few shows from 2012-2014, most of which were in Norway.
Tekro released a solo album last in 2007 entitled The Kingdom of Norway, and another album in 2015 entitled Mein Ampf II. He has also started an online guitar school called The International Guitar Academy that he teaches for.
Ronnie continues to tour with TNT as well as perform solo at many gigs such as Frontiers Rock Festival IV and the Monsters of Rock Cruise.To keep up with more Tekro news, visit his website, www.ronniletekro.com.
