Biography:

Ricardo Bisuk Juara Siahaan [ 1 ] (May 5, 1976 – April 19, 2025) [ 2 ] was an Indonesian musician, producer and manager. He is known as the founder and guitarist of the rock group Seringai .

Music Career

When he was in elementary school, Ricky started to like hard rock bands like Mötley Crüe and Iron Maiden after watching music video compilations, and Metallica became his favorite band. Ricky only learned guitar in high school because he saw his friends who brought guitars to school and were surrounded by the opposite sex. Because he idolized James Hetfield from Metallica and Billy Corgan from The Smashing Pumpkins , he learned the songs of those two bands. [ 3 ]

In 1995, Ricky formed a band called Chapter 69 with Deddy Mahendra Desta and Cliff Rompies , two of his school friends at SMA Negeri 68 Jakarta who would later join Clubeighties . They performed songs by Smashing Pumpkins and Ratcat, and from here Ricky began to hang out with various bands and communities that often gathered at Poster Cafe. One of the bands that Ricky admired the most from that time was Puppen , a hardcore music group from Bandung that Ricky considered to have a higher level of professionalism in terms of stage production compared to underground bands in general. [ 3 ]

Step forward

Ricky had been in a hardcore band called Buried Alive, but then in 1999 he was offered to become the guitarist for Stepforward . Stepforward was another hardcore band that Ricky admired from the Poster Cafe era, and he agreed to join. Inspired by Puppen, Ricky tried to help make Stepforward more professional in terms of stage production and management. They released the album Stories of Undying Hope in 2001. [ 3 ]

Ricky is still active in Stepforward, although not as intensively as in Seringai, the band he formed with Arian13 , the former vocalist of Puppen, in 2002. They have been on hiatus for the most part, occasionally appearing to perform at major festivals such as Java Rockin’ Land in 2011, [ 4 ] Rock In Celebes in 2016, [ 5 ] and Synchronize Festival in 2019. [ 6 ] In order to celebrate its 25th anniversary, Stepforward released a vinyl record containing two songs, namely “Solitaire” and “Saksi Imaji”. [ 7 ]

Grin

After joining Stepforward, Ricky became close with Arian13, the vocalist of Puppen who was also a good friend of Jill Van Diest, the vocalist of Stepforward. Ricky and Arian hit it off because they both had broad tastes in music, and since then when Arian came to Jakarta, he usually stayed at Ricky’s house who picked him up at Gambir Station. On the other hand, when Ricky went to Bandung to distribute the Stepforward album cassette, he stayed at Arian’s house who helped him go around to shops that would sell his cassette. [ 3 ]

After Puppen disbanded in 2002, Arian moved to Jakarta to live and work. Ricky and Arian then had the idea to create a new band whose music was different from what they had made before. Together with guitarist Adhitya Ardinugraha from Pure Saturday , bassist Regina Citra Arini from Traxap, and drummer Edy Khemod who had played with Arian before Puppen disbanded in a short-lived band called Aparat Mati, [ 8 ] they formed Derai whose music was inspired by At the Drive-In , Texas is the Reason and Kiss It Goodbye . [ 3 ]

Derai’s life was short-lived, because Ricky and Arian felt that the music they were making did not match their abilities. Then when playing Black Sabbath and Black Flag songs for fun, they found a suitable band concept. [ 3 ] Thus Seringai was born, still involving Edy Khemod on drums, plus Toan Sirait on bass who was later replaced by Sammy Bramantyo. [ 9 ] Seringai also became one of the new wave of independent bands in Jakarta that also enlivened the bar called BB’s [ 10 ] and was later documented through the compilation JKT:SKRG which was released in June 2004. [ 11 ]

With Ricky as guitarist, composer and producer, Seringai has produced one mini-album, High Octane Rock (2004), and three full albums, namely Serigala Militia (2007), [ 12 ] Taring (2012) [ 13 ] and Seperti Api (2018). [ 14 ] In addition to performing in various cities and islands in Indonesia, Seringai has also been invited to play in Malaysia, Singapore and Japan. [ 15 ] Seringai was even the opening band at Ricky’s childhood idol’s concert, Metallica, at Gelora Bung Karno, Jakarta in 2013. [ 16 ]

Dead Squad

Ricky once formed the metal band Deadsquad with Stevie Item in 2006. [ 17 ] However, not long after joining, Ricky resigned due to his busy schedule outside the band, and his position was replaced by Prisa Rianzi . [ 18 ]

In 2019, Ricky was one of the Indonesian musicians who rejected the Music Bill and urged that it be cancelled. [ 19 ]

Media Career

Ricky’s career in the media world began in 2002 as a producer at the MTV On Sky radio station (now Trax FM ). [ 20 ] Then in 2005, Ricky began working as an editor at Rolling Stone Indonesia magazine [ 20 ] [ 21 ] and gradually rose to the position of managing editor . [ 22 ] With the magazine’s closure in late December 2017, Ricky’s career as a music journalist also ended, calling Rolling Stone Indonesia “the ultimate destination for someone who wants to pursue a career as a music journalist.” [ 23 ] In July 2023, Ricky returned to the media industry by serving as CEO of Whiteboard Journal. [ 24 ]

Iko Uwais

Ricky’s working relationship with Iko Uwais began in 2015 when Audy and Stevi Item – his best friends who are Iko’s wife and sister-in-law respectively – asked Ricky to accompany Iko to Los Angeles to meet with Peter Berg , a director and producer who was interested in working with him. [ 25 ] They could not accompany Iko because he did not yet have a visa to enter the United States, while they knew that Ricky still had a valid visa. Although Ricky did not know Iko before the trip, things went smoothly, and Iko offered Ricky to become his manager. [ 23 ]

Since establishing a working relationship with Ricky, Iko Uwais has appeared and handled action choreography in various films, including Star Wars: The Force Awakens , [ 26 ] Headshot , [ 26 ] Triple Threat , [ 27 ] Mile 22 , [ 28 ] Stuber , [ 29 ] and Snake Eyes , [ 30 ] as well as the Wu Assassins film series . [ 31 ] In mid-2018, Ricky also invited Iko to appear in Seringai’s music video, “Adrenalin Merusuh”. [ 32 ]

In June 2019 at the Shanghai International Film Festival, Iko Uwais announced his latest film project, Chinatown Express . For this film, Ricky serves as producer with Iko, who also plays the main character. [ 33 ]

At the end of 2022, Ricky’s tenure as Iko Uwais’ manager will end. [ 34 ]

Personal life

Ricky married his wife, Tabita, on February 14, 2009. [ 35 ] They were blessed with a daughter named Kara Charmanita Haomasan Siahaan on November 4, 2009. [ 36 ]

Died

Ricky died on April 19, 2025 after performing with Seringai in Tokyo, Japan. [ 37 ] due to a heart attack. [ 38 ]

Credits:

Wikipedia