There must be something in the water, or more likely the beer, that has kept Už Jsme Doma and Psí vojáci going for so long. This week the two great bastions of the Czech alternative scene are teaming up for what promises to be a great double bill at Lucerna.

The incomparable punk, acid, experimental group Už Jsme Doma has been breaking in a new lineup in recent months, after bandleader Miroslav Wanek dumped his old sidemen wholesale last year. "It's not been easy," he says, "but because the music is written in advance, that part is not so difficult to continue with new people. It's finding the atmosphere of the lyrics that is sometimes difficult."

The band marked its 20th anniversary last year with an October show at Archa that will be on a double DVD, 20 Letu, scheduled for a September release. "It's funny," says Wanek, "20 Letu in Czech can mean either 20 years or 20 flies!" The second half of the disc will feature historical material from the band's archives.

Už Jsme Doma's transit van will also be working in overdrive for the rest of the year, taking the group on tours to Russia, Ukraine, the United States and Japan, among other places. "We do about 200 shows a year," boasts Wanek. "But Prague is where we always return. It's where we have our celebrations and release parties."

Psí vojáci dates back even further than Už Jsme Doma, to the darkest days of communism. The band is led by the irrepressible Filip Topol, son of well-respected Czech poet Josef Topol. He first grabbed the mic in 1978, at the tender of age of 14, after family friend Václav Havel asked The Plastic People of the Universe if Topol could join them in a performance at Havel's countryside cottage in Hrádeček. "He was only 14, but he had a really strong and wild message," recalls Vratislav Brabenec of The Plastic People.

In 1979, Topol formed Psí vojáci, which made its debut at the ninth Prague Jazz Days with Topol banging on a keyboard. His brother Jáchym Topol, who later became a successful poet in his own right, provided most of the lyrics. Unsurprisingly, the band weren't state-friendly and were forced underground in June 1980.

Illegal cassettes continued to surface, though, and after the Velvet Revolution, the band produced albums at a prolific rate. Topol also got into acting, starring in Zdeněk Tyce's film Žiletky, and moved the band more toward chanson-meets-underground rock with albums such as 2002's Slečna Kristýna.