Visací zámek – Czech punk veterans celebrate 40 years

Visací zámek

The Czech punk band Visací zámek are currently celebrating 40 years together. Remarkably the group, whose name translates as “padlock”, still have the exact same line-up as when they got together 1982.

Photo: Honza Groh  (Jagro),  Wikimedia Commons,  CC BY-SA 3.0

Visací zámek comprise Jan Haubert, Michal Pixa, Vladimír Šťástka, Ivan Ruth and Jiří Pátek, who met while studying construction in Prague. Their first single didn’t come out until six years after they began gigging, in 1988, under the name V.Z. The band’s debut album was released in 1990. Since then they have put out another 20 or so records and crisscrossed the country on countless tours.

Visací zámek were due to play a special 40th anniversary concert at Prague’s Strahov on Saturday.