Slank Biography

Slank is an Indonesian rock band. It was founded in 1983 by some teenagers in a small street in Jakarta called Gang Potlot. They had played rock music everywhere until they got an opportunity to make an album.

Early years

Formed in Jakarta in 1983, Slank -- the group's initial lineup was Kaka (vocals), Pay (guitars), Bongky Marcel (bass), Indra Qadarish (keyboards), and Bimbim (drums) -- would play their trade for a number of years before finally landing a deal and releasing their first album, Suit suit...hehehe, in 1990. From there, more albums, most of them commercially successful, followed, but Slank was plagued by a number of defections, some involving personal issues, others having to do with internal tensions based around creative decisions. The negativity was overcome, and over the next 20 years, Slank was able to increase their profile, touring the world and maintaining a high commercial value. In 2007, Slank released album number 20, Slow But Sure.

Suit suit...hehehe (1991) was an enormous hit. Their subsequent success inspired the formation of other bands, such as Dewa.

Their first three albums, awarded by BASF Indonesia as The Best Selling Albums on BASF tapes and the fourth album Generasi Biru went multi-platinum, with several songs making in into Indonesia's top charts.

Slank became the first MTV Indonesia icon in 2005.

Various Changes

Since its inception, Slank's band members have changed frequently. Reasons have ranged from drugs uses, woman, money and differences in musical styles. The most popular line up of the band has been Kaka (vocals), Bimbim (Drum), Abdee (Guitars), Ivanka (Basses), Ridho (Guitars). In 2007, Slank released the new album, "Slow But Sure"; the album's first single "Slalu Begitu" is currently receiving heavy rotation on Indonesian radio stations.

In 2008 Slank has been touring the U.S. and Europe. They have also played in various Asian countries, such as Thailand, the Philippines, Japan and South Korea.

Having more than fifteen albums sold and occasionally causing political controversy in Indonesia, Slank decided to travel to the USA to record their first English-speaking album, Anthem for the Broken-Hearted. Blues Saraceno is chosen to be their producer of this album. They record and mixed the album in only twenty-two days.

?If you want the world to see what you want to say, you better go to the highest mountain. And for music, the highest mountain now is in the U.S.A.?, says Abdee Negara

Java Jazz Festival 2009

This is one of the big headlines. For the first time, the Indonesian phenomenon with millions of fans, Slank, rocked this year?s Java Jazz Festival 2009! Who could predicted that Slank would have their moment at the biggest jazz event in the world.

Their performance was meant to be a task from Peter F.Gontha to see how they deserved being in a jazz festival, the whole show that attends by thousands successfully transformed their songs into jazz. In the spirit of reaching greater jazz audience by combining genres, this show which featured Michael Paulo, Ron King and Tony Monaco was really a feels like a lifetime experience.

Slankers

For more than two decades, Slank has managed a healthy attitude towards their music career, which in turn has helped them throughout the years. Slank has also gained somewhat of a cult status in Indonesia, Slank fans are known as 'Slankers', and they have a reputation for devotion. They waved their Slank flags, which consist of the word 'Slank' shaped into a graffiti-style butterfly. They sang along with several punk-rock songs and performed a stadium-worthy call-and-response routine. According to one of the guitarists Ridho, "Slankers" span all ages from children to adult.

Trivia

In "Pisah Saja Dulu", vocals were taken at night outside at the house's terrace. The sound of passing cars and zippo clang incidentally recorded to the song and left as is to become an atmospheric ambient.

"Juwita Malam", from the P.L.U.R album, featured in the 2005 film Banyu Biru starring Tora Sudiro. Cast members from the film are seen performing in the song's music video.

Act in The Film

On 2009 Slank was joined in a film that tell about Slank's journey in their music carrer called "Generasi Biru". This film was directed by a famous Indonesian director, Garin Nugroho. For this film Slank have make a single, that is "Slank Dance". This song is contain a unique dance style which created by Slankers.