Luděk Pucholt

* 1963

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He founded Houpací křeslo band

Luděk Pucholt, 1978
Luděk Pucholt, 1978
photo: Archive of the witness

Luděk Pucholt was born on February 24, 1963 in Rychnov nad Kněžnou, he spent his childhood and youth in Choceň. His father worked for the railways, his mother was an accountant, and his parents later divorced. Luděk Pucholt has an older and a younger brother. His father influenced his sons with his negative attitude towards the communist regime. Luděk Pucholt started attending primary school at the beginning of the normalisation. With few exceptions, he experienced most of the teachers who hypocritically adapted to the new conditions or became ardent supporters of Marxist-Leninist ideology. He had to join the Pioneer, but as he grew older he became increasingly attracted to Western music and a non-conformist way of life along the lines of Beat generation literature. Because of his attitudes and the wearing of long hair, he had trouble at industrial high school, but he completed it. At that time, he listened not only to Western rock bands but also to Czech unauthorized bands such as DG 307, Plastic Poeple of the Universe and Bílé světlo from amateur recordings. It was also then that he met members of the East Bohemian underground, and was strongly influenced by former Plastic Poeple drummer Pavel Zeman. After finishing his secondary education, Luděk Pucholt worked for several months as a gear inspector in Prague’s ČKD Sokolovo. Then he enlisted for two years of military service. After returning to civilian life in 1984, he settled in Hradec Králové, where he was employed as a designer at ČKD. In the second half of the 1980s, he became involved in underground activities in Hradec Králové, going to illegal concerts, exhibitions and distributing samizdat. He founded the group Houpací křeslo, which performed at unofficial meetings of young people who rejected the regime’s culture. Thanks to their contacts in northern Moravia, they also played with the band in the Ostrava region. Because of his activities, Luděk Pucholt was monitored by State Security. He was summoned for questioning several times and the pressure on him increased when in 1988 he signed the appeal of the Independent Peace Association and a year later a petition for the release of Václav Havel from prison. In November 1989 he co-organised the first demonstrations in Hradec Králové. After 1990 Luděk Pucholt devoted himself to his family and continued to work as a designer.