FPB (band)

Formation and early lineups (1980)

The band began when Wanek, an ambitious young composer and musician, chatted with his neighbor Růžička, an organizer of illegal concerts who'd done minor jail time for his involvement in the underground music scene. The communist Czech government at the time was very strict about which musical artists it would legally sanction and which it would deem 'anti-social' and prevent from performing. Starting a group outside of government sanctions was a complicated procedure, so the two decided to go at it together.

They found drummer Milan Nový, and, needing a full band, ended up employing Nový's bandmates from his band at the time, Mikron, to form the first lineup of FPB. This lineup lasted for "three or four months", and played one show, before the other members of the band were intimidated by government pressure, and the band was reduced to Wanek, Nový, and Růžička.

Classic lineup (1981–1985)

After several months as essentially a two-piece, Wanek called up his former schoolmate Romek Hanzlík, who'd been playing in a bar band called Admirál. Hanzlík was unhappy with present setup and accepted Wanek's invitation to join FPB. This became the core lineup for the band between the years of 1981–1985. Despite the complicated logistics, the band played frequently and gained much popularity in the Czech punk scene for their sophisticated take on the frantic, melodic punk rock of the time.

In 1985, Nový had co-founded a more experimental, musically omnivorous seven-piece band called Už Jsme Doma. Nový was playing saxophone in the band at the time. Wanek took an immediate liking to the group, who frequently shared illegal concert bills with FPB. In 1986, Wanek and Hanzlík were invited to join UJD, at first as guests of sort, while UJD were experiencing personnel problems. When a four-piece lineup of UJD, with Wanek and Hanzlík and sans Nový, solidified at the end of the year, Wanek and Hanzlík decided to focus on the new band and quit FPB.

New configuration of group (1986–1987)

Růžička opposed retiring the FPB moniker, so he and Nový put together a new FPB lineup featuring Kamil Krůta (guitar) and Radek Uhlíř (bass and vocals), both of whom were involved with the popular Czech punk band Šanov 1 and mere teenagers at the time. This incarnation, playing a mix of Wanek's FPB songs and new material, lasted for two years before dissolving. Most of people call this line-up "New FPB" to make obvious difference between Wanek's era and this new item, which was too far from former originality of "Old FPB".

Reformations and subsequent activity (1990, 2008–present)

In 1990, after the Velvet Revolution, Wanek, Hanzlík and Nový reunited as FPB just to record 17 songs from their 1981–85 set, which were released on the CD "Kdo z koho, ten toho", and doing one show in Lucerna Prague. The very last show of FPB was in 1993 on the privat party in pub "U vystřeleného oka" in Žižkov Prague.

After the breakup of New FPB in 1987, Nový and Krůta put together a two piece group called Pseudo Pseudo that played together for a number of years. Hanzlík played in UJD from 1986–1997, before retiring from performing to work as a manager and promoter of bands, including UJD. Wanek continued to play in UJD. Nový had three stints in UJD – as the sax player from 1985–1986, the drummer from 1988–1989, and again the drummer from 1995–1996. Krůta was briefly UJD's bassist, from 1996–1997, although he never properly recorded with the band.

In 2008, a concert of classic FPB material (21 songs) was performed by Wanek, Hanzlík, and the current members of UJD – bassist Pepa Červinka, drummer Tomáš Paleta, and trumpet player Adam Tomášek. This performance coincided with the release of "Kniha prani a stiznosti," or "A Book of Wishes and Complaints," a 3-CD set of FPB material on Malarie Records. Although this concert (called UJD and Romek Hanzlik play FPB songs) was originally intended as a one-off, the five-piece band (with Jaroslav Noga on drums) has continued, performing occasional festival gigs and other special events.

Current

Former

Releases

Compilations