Guitarist Extraordinaire Ronni Le Tekrø Interview
10th March 2022Ronni Le Tekrø is considered one of the world’s most influential metal guitarists, first and foremost with his band TNT but also around his solo material and work as a session musician. Ronni’s new solo album, Bigfoot TV is released March 18th via TBC Record / Cargo Records…
Your new album Bigfoot TV is quite diverse, can you tell us some of your influences?
I am very influenced by how bands like Queen, City Boy and The Beatles had varied songs on their albums and open a new door for the listener with each track. I do that with most of my songwriting…always looking for new landscapes and colours.
You are known for being an amazing guitarist and as such are often a ‘hired gun’ session musician, do you think this further diversifies your own musical taste and your own sound? Working with varied skilled musicians has definitely inspired me and kept me curious about music. That said, I always try to just play ‘me’ in everything I’m involved in. Lately, I’ve put guitars on the new album with Cadaver (with members from Megadeth and Satyricon) and I’m currently collaborating on a new album with US artist Ledfoot (Ledfoot & Le Tekro) coming out this fall/next winter.
Bigfoot TV tackles subjects including the time we waste – on TV documentaries that don’t really offer answers to questions, on social media etc – what are the other themes on the album?
The songs revolve around personal experiences. ’The Eyes of the Woods’ is about my communication with the forest and the trees. ’Demons’ is about good friends and how support can hold back Demons. ’The Black Rose’ is about the current state of society and an ecologic warning .’Not Today’ is simply….. ‘I hate this fucking world…but not today’ .’A Handful of Time’ is a tribute to close friends I’ve lost the last couple of years and a reminder that we all just have a handful of time on this earth. The topics on the album are pretty private yet psychedelic.
You have mentioned UFO’s on the album – can you tell us about your own UFO experience?
‘UFO ‘ is about a close encounter me and my friends had on 11th of November 1994. The lyrics describe what happened . I have no additional information to share publically.
How has the Pandemic impacted you (apart from not being able to tour), I understand you live in quite an isolated location anyway?
Corona impacted me in the way that I could keep focus on composing, recording and producing new material. So in that respect, it’s been a productive period. You can see where I work here: www.studiostudio.no.
Can you recommend a band that you have listened to lately?
