Booking IMT Smile

The name of the band is composed of the initials of the Táslers. Later, Mir’s classmate from the conservatory, Peter Bič (guitar), joined them. After several concerts and recorded songs, the band disbanded. Ivan and Mir recorded their first demo in 1993. They were recordings of humorous lyrics by Ľubomír Feldek. Drummer Martin Migaš collaborated on the recording with the Táslers. A few months later, Miro Tásler and Peter Bič tried again to record two songs sung by Ivan.

In 1994, Robo Grigorov organized a competition called RG tip, in which the group IMT Smile won with the songs “Lord in a jacket” and “I sleep”. In the following months, the band sought their style, played songs in various musical genres through rock, punk, but also reggae, the band changed its name once they were Epitath, later Ruka, in the summer of 1995 they played at the open festival Marakaňa in Prešov twice: once as Ruka and the second time as IMT Smile. At the Rock FM Festival ’95, the IMT Smile group performed the song “They sent me a fundelka” composed of: Ivan and Miro Táslerovci, Martin Migaš, Peter Bič, Martin Tkáčik, Miro Bórik, Marcela Kvašňáková, Jana Bednarčíková, Viera Kollárová.

In January 1996, the band received an offer from Škvrna Records to record an album. During this period, another Prešov woman, Katka Knechtová, began to sing with the group. In June, the band signed a contract and recorded the songs “I Don’t Know” and “Ballad” in the Relax studio. Laco Lučenič collaborated with them during the recording. The song “Nepoznám” became the main single of the upcoming album, scored well on the charts and became one of the most played on Slovak radios in its period. This year, the IMT Smile group received the “Discovery of the Year” award from the Association of Authors and Performers in February 1997.

In February 1997, the IMT Smile group, together with the Prúdy and Olympic groups, took part in a joint all-Slovak tour. On April 7, the band IMT Smile, consisting of Ivan Tásler, Miro Tásler, Peter Bič, Martin Migaš and Katka Knechtová, released their debut album called Klik-klak, for which, in addition to the song “I Don’t Know”, another single called “Vrany” is released.

In 1998, Katka Knechtová and Martin Migaš left the group and a new Prešov formation called Peha was formed. Martin Valihora became the drummer of the band (he played with Richard Müller or Janek Ledecký) and IMT Smile releases his next album on October 26 called Valec, which precedes the successful single “People are not bad”. In January, one of the most famous hits from this album with the title “Cheerful Song” reached the Slovak charts and radio. In 1999, the IMT Smile band went on an unplugged tour, collecting music awards, releasing a re-edition of the Valec album called Valec Extra, followed by the Valec tour ’99 concert tour. In the year 2000, the band IMT Smile released the album Nech se likes, the band completed two more tours Like and Gambrinus tour 2000, the following year they collaborated on the album 01 with Richard Müller and went on a concert tour with him.