From Champaign to Cedar Rapids, anyone who ever played in or partied in the rock scene in the late ‘60s, 70’s, 80’s and beyond certainly were familiar with Slink Rand. The tall, lanky guitarist from Carthage, Illinois blazed a trail with various bands including Gonn, Fred Tieken’s American Music Band, ILMO Smokehouse, and of course, Slink Rand.
Keith Thomas ‘Slink’ Rand (12/3/49-2/21/20) started playing guitar in the mid-‘60s at home in Carthage, a small town in western Illinois just 15 miles from the Mississippi River bordering Iowa, with The Wildcats. By 1967 he joined former members of neighboring Keokuk, Iowa band The Gallows, before his band became the Floggs and then forming the Bonaparte Citrus Store patterning themselves popular Chicago bands like the Cryan’ Shames and New Colony Six. While they played local school dances and sock hops, Slink was already looking for something more. In 1969 he would join Gonn, an Iowa-based progressive garage rock band who had already released a couple of their own singles highlighted by their signature song “”Blackout of Gretely.”
While interested in moving into a more creative, original musical style, Slink wanted to make a living playing music. That came when Fred Tieken, who had one of the most popular bands in the tri-state region of Illinois, Iowa and Wisconsin with Fred Tieken and the Rockers decided “the late-‘60s were a time of great social change in America,” noted Tieken, “and my music fell under the influence of those changes.” Breaking from his rock-and-roll mode he rebranded his group Fred Tieken’s American Music Band. It was that lineup when Slink joined the group. “We covered songs by groups such as Blood, Sweat and Tears and Electric Flag, but we were also experimenting a lot with original material that combined traditional soul and R&B,” says Tieken. As an eight-piece group with horn section, while they expanded their performance region, breaking into Chicago, the expense of travel made it difficult to make a living. And when they went back to the original Fred Tieken and the Rockers region, people wanted their old songs.
Returning to western Illinois, Tieken would pare the band down. With Slink on guitar and Tieken’s younger brother Dennis on drums, he would add Craig Moore from Gonn on bass and Gerry Gable on keyboards the would become ILMO Smokehouse. “We developed an original repertoire of extremely heavy psychedelic blues/rock material,” remembers Tieken. “We were talking about producing an album and a local entrepreneur and fan of the band, Greg Eversden, agreed to provide the financial backing for a recording session.” 32 hours of studio time later, the album was finished. The self-titled DIY album would generate local radio airplay, and would generate major record label interest. They would ink a deal with Roulette and then go back in and re-mix the album, the label then re-issuing it in 1971.
While they thought it would be the opportunity to break out on a broader scale, what they found was Roulette was a national label and at the time appeared to be capitalizing on the fan base they had already established throughout the middle U.S. The album was featured in Billboard as a Spotlight Pick, but the momentum didn’t last. ILMO Smokehouse would go through various incarnations over the next couple of years.
Meanwhile Slink would step out on his own forming his first incarnation of the Slink Rand Group. From that point on all of his bands from the ‘70s forward used his name in some fashion – Slink Rand Group, Slink Rand Band, Slink Rand and…
As the Slink Rand Group they would serve up two songs – “All Night Long” and “Runaway” – on the 1979 various artist compilation of central Illinois bands Pointy Feet Beat. And Rumble Records would release a single “Runaway” b/w “Eastern Blues.”
“His iconic image was that of a tall, lanky, long-haired monster guitarist who’s 1958 Gibson Flying V became as iconic and as associated with him as any trademark could ever be,” says Craig Moore.
The ‘80s and ‘90s found Slink settling in the Champaign/Urbana area with a focus on raising a family. He would continue to play locally with numerous aggregations.
In 2014 Slink re-united with Craig “Wolf” Moore in the creation of Slinkenwolf. In 2017 the pair recorded their first all-new album together The Return of the Slinkenwolf.
Unfortunately, while they had hoped for a new musical chapter, while rehearsing to take the band on the road, Slink was diagnosed with Stage 4 liver cancer. Prognosis allowed for only one live performance of the album. Sadly, Slink Rand lost his battle, passing away in 2020.
Discography
ILMO Smokehouse
1970 ILMO Smokehouse (Beautiful Sounds LA-1200)
1971 ILMO Smokehouse (Roulette 3002)
Slink Rand Group
2007 Slink Rand Group (SR ORI 0707)
1979 Pointy Feet Beat (GDS 2021)
(Note: Various artist compilation featuring two Slink Rand songs)
1979 Runaway b/w Eastern Blues (Rumble)
Slinkenwolf
2018 The Return of the Slinkenwolf (MCCM 20181)