Biografi Slank

Slank history started when junior high schools boys Bimbim, Uti, Boy, Kiki, Abi, and Well Welly formed CSC (Cikini Stone Complex) and played the music of their idol, The Rolling Stones. The band was short-lived and changed its name to Red Evil, with Bimbim and Kiki still playing.

With this band, Bimbim, Kiki, Erwan, Denny and Bongky not only played Rolling Stones numbers but began to compose their own songs.
Though playing cover music, the band had an incredible stage presence.
Their earliest fans called it, in Betawi lingo, slenge'an, which means reckless, ignorant and indifferent.

And so, Red Evil became Slank. With fame and money came drugs. This was cited as one of the reasons why the band changed formation a number of times before settling on the formation it has had now.

Drummer Bimo "Bimbim" Setiawan Almachzumi; guitarist Abdee Negara; guitarist Mohammad "Ridho" Ridwan Hafiedz; bassist Ivan "Ivanka" Kurnia Arifin and lead vocalist Akhadi "Kaka" Wira Satriaji are no accidental heroes.

While many musicians try desperately to run with the in-crowd through the addition of piercings, tattoos and punk hairstyles, for example, "cool" comes naturally for the guys from Slank. Genuinely humble and minus other celebrities' "busy being popular" attitude, the guys spared time for an interview on Wednesday at their oh-so-popular base-camp, Gang Potlot, in Kalibata area, South Jakarta.

Casual and composed, Bimbim seems to be the glue that holds his band mates together. Though staying true to the Rolling Stones influence in their music, Slank has left behind it the stereotype of "party hard, die young" rockers.

Kicking their drug habits in 2000, the guys have taken on new roles and are leading the moral movement against corruption, which has seemingly become a trendy pastime for state officials and power holders. Slank have gone against the grain from the very beginning of their careers, and grown to be heroes for their fans, or Slankers, who now number a staggering 10 million or so across the country.

"We're proud of being Indonesian, you could call us true nationalists even. We always bring the red-and-white on stage. Slankers too are enthusiastic. These days, where else you can find a junior high school student proudly waving the national flag if not at our concerts," said Bimbim, the former member of the group.

"Their emotional attachment to us is absolutely no burden, though it means responsibility. We're not politicians," Bimbim said. "Slankers, whoever they are, have become our eyes, ears and hearts -- everywhere," Kaka jumped in. "From Slankers, we have a greater knowledge of how many potholes are in one area, for example, than the public works minister," Bimbim said.

Good management has led to other things. Slank's management -- Pulau Biru -- knows how to keep these loyalists within their reach and Slank apparently plays it cool with them, for they have to lead the moral movement too for their fans.

"If a slanker gets drunk, another slanker will reprimand him. It's not the way it should be. We've been there and done that," Kaka said. It certainly seems to be Slank's year with two album releases -- one's in Japanese, the other in English -- released in the USA end of September. "It's good to be able to dream, you know, but for us it's best to have one dream at a time. Make it real and dream another one," Bimbim said.

_{Emmy Fitri - Jakarta Post
Edited by ASS - slank.com}