Robert Hecker (born March 7, 1965), is a guitarist, singer, and songwriter with the bands

Redd Kross Redd Kross is an American Rock music, rock band from Hawthorne, California, who had their roots in 1978 in a punk rock band called the Tourists, which was started by brothers Jeff and Steven Shane McDonald, Steve McDonald while Steve was still i ...

and It's OK! Hecker was born in

Hermosa Beach, California Hermosa Beach (, Spanish for "Beautiful") is a beachfront city in Los Angeles County, California, United States. Its population was 19,728 at the 2020 U.S. Census. The city is located in the South Bay region of the Greater Los Angeles area; ...

. He played

lead guitar Lead guitar (also known as solo guitar) is a musical part for a guitar in which the guitarist plays melody lines, instrumental fill passages, guitar solos, and occasionally, some riffs and chords within a song structure. The lead is the featur ...

and sang with

from 1984 to 1991, and again from 2005 to 2012, in addition to occasional on-stage reunions throughout the 1990s. He has also played guitar and sang with the band It's OK! since 1992.

Music

Equipment

With Redd Kross during the '' Teen Babes from Monsanto'' era, 1984–1985, Hecker's main guitar was a 1979 Gibson The "SG", played through any number of different amplifiers ( Peavey,

Acoustic Control Corporation Acoustic Control Corporation was a manufacturer of instrument amplifiers, founded by Steve Marks (with the help of his father) and based in Van Nuys, California. Its original location was a shack on Sunset Boulevard in Los Angeles, California. ...

Sunn Sunn (stylized in all lowercase as sunn) is a brand of musical instrument amplifiers based in Tualatin, Oregon, United States. History In early 1963, the Kingsmen, a band based in Portland, Oregon, became known for their hit version of th ...

Hiwatt Hiwatt (stylized in all caps) is a British company that manufactures amplifiers for electric guitars and electric basses. Starting in the late 1960s, together with Marshall and Vox, Hiwatt contributed to the sonic image popularly termed "B ...

, Traynor, Randall). In the mid-to-late 1980s, he played a pair of

Carvin Carvin () is a Communes of France, commune in the Pas-de-Calais Departments of France, department in the Hauts-de-France region of France about northeast of Lens, Pas-de-Calais, Lens. History During World War I, from October 1914 to October 1 ...

guitars: first, a red DC125, which would be enshrined at the

Hard Rock Cafe Hard Rock Cafe, Inc. is a chain of theme restaurant, theme bar-restaurants, memorabilia shops, casinos, hotels and museums founded in 1971 by Isaac Tigrett and Peter Morton in London. In 1979, the cafe began covering its walls with rock and roll ...

in 1987; and after, a green DC200, 'Cal', which had the lower horn removed. By 1986, and throughout the '' Neurotica'' era, he was playing through a

Marshall Marshall may refer to: Places Australia *Marshall, Victoria, a suburb of Geelong, Victoria ** Marshall railway station Canada * Marshall, Saskatchewan * The Marshall, a mountain in British Columbia Liberia * Marshall, Liberia Marshall Is ...

JCM 800 driving a Carvin 4x12 cabinet. In 1988, he switched to a

Mesa/Boogie Mesa/Boogie (also known as Mesa Engineering) is an American company in Petaluma, California, that manufactures amplifiers and other accessories for guitars and basses. It has been in operation since 1969. Mesa was started by Randall Smith as a sm ...

Quad preamp running through a Mesa/Boogie 295 Simul-Class power amp driving a pair of Mesa/Boogie 4x12 cabinets. He would use this set up throughout the ''

Third Eye The third eye (also called the mind's eye or inner eye) is an invisible eye, usually depicted as located on the forehead, supposed to provide perception beyond ordinary sight. In Hinduism, the third eye refers to the ajna (or brow) chakra. In bot ...

'' era. Since 1990, Hecker's main live guitar has been a custom built

Ibanez is a Japanese guitar brand owned by Hoshino Gakki. Based in Nagoya, Aichi Prefecture, Aichi, Japan, Hoshino Gakki was one of the first Japanese musical instrument companies to gain a significant foothold in import guitar sales in the United Stat ...

, 'Ike', built by Mace Baily at the Ibanez Custom Shop in North Hollywood. It is an S body outfitted with a 24 fret Wizard neck, with the lower horn removed to facilitate full access to the 24th fret. This guitar was painted orange in 2006. During the It's OK! ''

Dream A dream is a succession of images, ideas, emotions, and sensation (psychology), sensations that usually occur involuntarily in the mind during certain stages of sleep. Humans spend about two hours dreaming per night, and each dream lasts around ...

'' and Redd Kross '' Researching the Blues'' eras, his amplifier rig consisted of a Mesa/Boogie Triaxis preamp run through a Mesa/Boogie 20/20 power amp driving a pair of Mesa/Boogie 1x12 EV Thiel cabinets, and a Marshall JMP1 preamp sounding out through a pair of Marshall 1912 1x12

Celestion Celestion is a British designer and exporter of professional loudspeakers. History Origins What became Celestion was started in Hampton Wick (suburban London) in 1924. Cyril French and his three brothers had taken over a plating works and ...

cabinets. For tours he would often just rent a pair of Marshall JCM 900s driving two Marshall 4x12 cabinets. Hecker is now an official ZT Amplifiers artist; he plays through a stereo rig consisting of two ZT Lunchbox amps running through two ZT Lunchbox cabs.

Albums

– '' Neurotica'' *

– ''

'' * It's OK! – ''It's OK!'' * It's OK! – ''Dream'' *

– ''Got Live if You Must! (DVD)'' *

– '' Researching the Blues'' * It's OK! – ''Cubed'' * It's OK! – ''4''

Athletics

In 1983, Robert Hecker ran the 110 meter high hurdles in 14.56 seconds, a

Mira Costa High School Mira Costa High School (MCHS, "Costa") is a four-year public high school located in Manhattan Beach, California that first opened 1950. It is the only high school in the Manhattan Beach Unified School District. The school's athletic teams are k ...

( Manhattan Beach) school record for 23 years, until Drew Johnston (whom Hecker taught to hurdle) clocked 14.39 seconds at CIF prelims in 2006. Hecker ran the 60 meter hurdles in 8.1 seconds as a member of the

El Camino College El Camino College (Elco or ECC) is a public community college in Los Angeles County, California. Most of it is in Alondra Park,California State University, Dominguez Hills California State University, Dominguez Hills (CSUDH, CSU Dominguez Hills, or Cal State Dominguez Hills) is a public university in Carson, California. It was founded in 1960 and is part of the California State University (CSU) system. In 2020, ...

. He was runner-up in the 110 meter high hurdles at the

USA Track & Field USA Track & Field (USATF) is a United States national governing body for the sports of track and field, cross country running, road running, and racewalking (known as the sport of athletics outside the US). The USATF was known between 1979 and 1 ...

Masters Western Regionals in 2004. In addition to his career in music, he teaches

science Science is a systematic discipline that builds and organises knowledge in the form of testable hypotheses and predictions about the universe. Modern science is typically divided into twoor threemajor branches: the natural sciences, which stu ...

physical education Physical education is an academic subject taught in schools worldwide, encompassing Primary education, primary, Secondary education, secondary, and sometimes tertiary education. It is often referred to as Phys. Ed. or PE, and in the United Stat ...

health Health has a variety of definitions, which have been used for different purposes over time. In general, it refers to physical and emotional well-being, especially that associated with normal functioning of the human body, absent of disease, p ...

, and

music Music is the arrangement of sound to create some combination of Musical form, form, harmony, melody, rhythm, or otherwise Musical expression, expressive content. Music is generally agreed to be a cultural universal that is present in all hum ...

, and coaches

track & field Track and field (or athletics in British English) is a sport that includes athletic contests based on running, jumping, and throwing skills. The name used in North America is derived from where the sport takes place, a running track and ...

(the ''

Daily Breeze The ''Daily Breeze'' is a 57,000-circulation daily newspaper published in Hermosa Beach, California, United States. It serves the South Bay cities of Los Angeles County. Its slogan is "LAX to LA Harbor". Early history The paper was found ...

'' called him the 'hurdles guru coach') in the South Bay area of

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hecker, Robert 1965 births American punk rock guitarists Living people Redd Kross members 20th-century American guitarists