TNT


Biographie TNT

TNT
TNT
The year is 1982. Music history is about to be created. Dag Ingebrigtsen is forming a new band. Diesel Dahl joined in and after a while, Steinar Eikum and his bass is a part of it.

Ingebrigtsen conducts several auditions with several different guitarists before he finds Ronni Le Tekrø. Now it is summer, more precisely 2nd of June 1982, and TNT has now it’s official birthday. The album was released in 1983 probably in the end of February when the album hit the VG-lista (VG, National newspaper with the official music chart list every week) in the beginning of March, and got lot of attention because it was in Norwegian. The album is a classic among fans and critics in the music- and culture-media. The album has treasures like “USA”, “Eddie” and “Harley-Davidson”.

TNT decided to sing in English for the sequel: “Knights Of the New Thunder”. Steinar Eikum chose to quit the band, and Morten Skaget, under the artist name Morty Black, became the new bass player. Dag Ingebrigtsen had of course the original vocal, but he decided to leave the band for the sake of his family and to pursue other projects.

The history says that Gary Barden, an English singer and songwriter (mostly known for his work with the Michael Schenker Group) was on his way out the door with his flight-ticket in one hand and the suitcase in the other, when Diesel Dahl and TNT cancelled the trip.

Ronni Le Tekrø has said that “We heard an original sounding voice from the heavens and invited him to Norway to join the band”. It was the American singer Tony Harnell who took over the microphone in TNT in May 1984. Harnell himself claims that he until this day, does not know how the demo reached TNT.

Tony Harnell listened to TNT and expressed that this was exactly the kind of music he wanted to be a part of and work with at this moment. It was Mike Varney (an American musician, producer and impresario) who gave the TNT tape to Tony Harnell. The record “Knight of the New Thunder” was released in 1984. The first album hit the music stores in September and was received with resistance and controversy because of the cover. It was withdrawn, got a new cover and the date of release was officially put to 2nd of November 1984.

TNT got a hit with the video of “Seven Seas”. The song is a classic and is considered to be close to a “national anthem” among rock fans.

“Tell No Tales”, TNT’s third release, came in 1987. It contained the hit singles “Everyone’s A Star” and “10.000 Lovers (In One)”. “Tell No Tales” was the huge breakthrough, especially in USA where it was well received and among other achievements reached the official Top 100-list (Billboard).

Tuesday June 23rd TNT played at the iconic Marquee Club in London. A scene who throughout many decades was one of the most important place for the development of popular music from Europe. This was also the place to gather for several of the most important musicians, artists and personalities in the music history, they are still going strong today, making music.

1987 was the year when TNT won the price Spellemannsprisen in the genre Rock with this album. The video of “10.000 Lovers (In One)” was a huge success. TNT toured extensively, both in USA and in Europe.

Diesel Dahl chose to leave TNT early in 1988 to compose his own music and create a new band. Morten Skogstad, under the artist name Kenneth Odiin, became the new drummer of TNT, but left after a short time, after the release of “Intuition” was released in 1989. This album was more of a pop- characterized album, but at the same time is this the favorite among many fans!

In this period there was some discontent about the development of the band – and TNT got an involuntary break.

New releases came in 1992 – “Realized Fantasies” and “Three Nights in Tokyo”. Now the American musician John Macaluso was the new drummer. Macaluso was only part of one studio album with TNT before he decided to leave. After yet another long break for TNT, the collection album “Til Next Time – The Best of TNT” was released in 1996.

“Firefly” – with Frode Lamøy by the drums and Dag Stokke now permanent by the keyboard – from 1997 was no huge success for TNT, but there are many fans all over the world who mean that this TNT album is highly underestimated and undeservedly overlooked. There are many strong songs like «Angels Ride», «Month of Sundays» and «Soldier of The Light». And we shall not forget the excellent ballad “Daisy Jane”. “Firefly was in USA actually shortened down when it was settled that songs like “Angels Ride” and “Heaven’s Gone” was labeled as sacrilege (!)

Reaching 1999, TNT was ready with the album “Transistor”. In a way the song material came as a surprise for the fans with its more experimental sound. There was not much happening around TNT at this moment, the band was no longer doing concerts. The members of TNT chose to work on other projects and co-ops in the musicscene.

Early 2000 the time was right for the fans to finally get their “diesel-locomotive” back! Diesel Dahl was again behind the drums at the collection album “The Big Bang – The Essential Collection” in 2003. An EP with the title “Taste” was released the same year, but only in Japan. “Taste” is a popular collector’s item for many fans outside of Japan. This also goes for other releases since TNT is notorious (!) when it comes to bonus-tracks at their releases in Japan.

“My Religion” was released in 2004. The review could tell that this record has a nice balance between vintage TNT (“Tell No Tales”) and a clear modernization, a contemporary influence, which the audience appreciated. Ronni Le Tekrø’s riff at “She Needs Me” is without a doubt very popular among instrumentalists. Again, TNT had a ballade becoming a classic, of course “Perfectly.” The title song “My Religion” is always a crowd-pleaser!

Morten “Morty Black” Skaget left TNT after a long tour in 2004. Sid Ringsby became the stand-in until Victor Borge took over in 2005. The same year TNT released the record “All The Way To The Sun”, where Sid Ringsby contributed on bass.

In 2006, Tony Harnell leftTNT, both caused by personal and professional reasons. He made it clear in his statements that this time the decision was final. A CD/DVD-release with the title “Live in Madrid” was released in the autumn of 2006. Harnell did one last concert at Polar Rock Festival, before he withdrew. Until then TNT had been touring with a new singer: Tony Mills. The two Tony’s sang “Harley-Davidson” together, a way of saying goodbye to the fans, and at the same time “passing on the microphone”.

The release of “My Religion” (2004) gave an experience of TNT returning to some of the “glam-style” from previous days. “All The Way To The Sun” (2005) was close to the same sound. Later came “The New Territory” (2007) and “Atlantis” (2008) with Tony Mills on vocal. The release had a mixed reception and created controversy among the fans. The album is influenced by The Beatles and Queen. Diesel Dahl has said that the record “Engine” (2010) was an attempt to recapture the old TNT-sound. ...



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