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

Redd Kross Redd Kross is an American 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 Steve McDonald while Steve was still in middle school. With the additio ...

and It's OK!. Hecker was born in

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

. 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 2006 to the present, 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. As of 2013, he no longer actively tours with

, but continues to perform live with It's OK!.

Music

Equipment

With Redd Kross during the '' Teen Babes from Monsanto'' era, 1984–1985, Hecker's main guitar was a 1979

Gibson Gibson may refer to: People * Gibson (surname) Businesses * Gibson Brands, Inc., an American manufacturer of guitars, other musical instruments, and audio equipment * Gibson Technology, and English automotive and motorsport company based * Gi ...

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. H ...

Sunn Sunn (stylized in all lowercase) amplifiers was 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 ...

Hiwatt Hiwatt 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 "British sound". History O ...

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

Carvin Carvin () is a commune in the Pas-de-Calais department in the Hauts-de-France region of France. Geography An ex-coalmining commune, now a light industrial and farming town, situated some northeast of Lens, completely encircled by the N17 and D ...

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

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

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 Canada * Marshall, Saskatchewan * The Marshall, a mountain in British Columbia Liberia * Marshall, Liberia Marshall Islands * Marshall Islands, an i ...

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 a mystical invisible eye, usually depicted as located on the forehead, which provides perception beyond ordinary sight. In Hinduism, the third eye refers to the ajna (or brow) chakra. In ...

'' 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, Japan, Hoshino Gakki were one of the first Japanese musical instrument companies to gain a significant foothold in import guitar sales in the United States and Europe, as ...

, '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 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 5 to 20 minutes, althou ...

'' and Redd Kross ''

Researching the Blues ''Researching the Blues'' is the sixth album by American rock band Redd Kross, released in 2012 on Merge Records. Reception ''Researching the Blues'' received positive reviews from critics. On Metacritic, the album holds a score of 81/100 based ...

'' 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 ...

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)'' *

– ''

'' * 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 began operating in 1950. It is the only high school in the Manhattan Beach Unified School District. The school's athletic t ...

( Manhattan Beach) school record for 23 years, until Drew Johnston (whom Hecker taught to hurdle) clocked 14.39 seconds at

CIF Cif is a French brand of household cleaning products owned by the Anglo-Dutch company Unilever, known as Jif in Australia, New Zealand, Japan, Middle East and the Nordic countries. Cif was launched in France in 1965 and was marketed in competit ...

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 two-year public community college located in the unincorporated area of Los Angeles County known as 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 the 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 ...

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

science Science is a systematic endeavor that builds and organizes knowledge in the form of testable explanations and predictions about the universe. Science may be as old as the human species, and some of the earliest archeological evidence for ...

physical education Physical education, often abbreviated to Phys Ed. or P.E., is a subject taught in schools around the world. It is usually taught during primary and secondary education, and encourages psychomotor learning by using a play and movement explorati ...

health Health, according to the World Health Organization, is "a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease and infirmity".World Health Organization. (2006)''Constitution of the World Health Organiza ...

, and

music Music is generally defined as the art of arranging sound to create some combination of form, harmony, melody, rhythm or otherwise expressive content. Exact definitions of music vary considerably around the world, though it is an aspect ...

, and coaches

track & field Track and field is a sport that includes athletic contests based on running, jumping, and throwing skills. The name is derived from where the sport takes place, a running track and a grass field for the throwing and some of the jumping events ...

(the ''

Daily Breeze The ''Daily Breeze'' is a 57,000-circulation daily newspaper published in Hermosa Beach, California Hermosa Beach (''Hermosa'', Spanish language, Spanish for "Beautiful") is a beachfront city in Los Angeles County in the U.S. state of Calif ...

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

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

References

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