The oldest club in Prague. Music. Theater. Café
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Watch a truly exciting band’s return to the Czech Republic. VHK are coming from Budapest, Hungary to play psychedelic-folk-punk led by their shamanistic singer, Atilla Grandpierre.
Fekete Zaj Festival and Rock Café proudly presents
Vágtázó Halottkémek (Galloping Coroners) plus guests // Rock Café, Prague
Galloping Coroners (Vágtázó Halottkémek) also known as VHK. The band established a unique “shaman punk” or “psychedelic hardcore” sound, and is regarded as one of the most important alternative bands of the 1980s from the Eastern European block. Permanent restrictions by Hungarian authorities made worldwide tours difficult for the band, but its ecstatic concerts garnered surprising success across Western Europe. Though relatively obscure and commercially limited outside of Eastern Europe, VHK has been praised as a highly important band by Iggy Pop and Henry Rollins. The band played repetitive, wild, yet melodic music, combining tribal shamanic music with rock guitars and drumming to form a uniquely pulsating and obsessive sound. Songs regularly feature ritualistic improvisation, and live shows were often accompanied by ecstatic on-stage actions. The New York Times described their music as “basic and elemental and filled with obsessive, galvanizing passion.”
The Melody Maker (UK):
“As the singer spins around inside the band’s mesmeric voodoo howl like whirling dervish the effect is almost hypnotising. Incredible. Watching them play in Cologne, I was fascinated, not just by the band’s performance (which was amazing) but by the frenzied reaction of the crowd. Seeing VHK, I realised just what a dangerous proposition rock’n’roll can be.”
Metal Hammer (UK):
“Musicians hang from the ceiling as the chaotic opening summoning gradually coheres into ritualistic, crust-ridden riffs, pounding tribal grooves, and East European vibes all revving up to optimum, lose-your-shit abandon”