HOLY LAMB was formed in the fall of 1991 by brothers Eriks and Aigars Cervinskis , the goals was to play thrash/speed metal music.
At the time, only two members of the current line-up were in the band, Aigars and Qba. The original line-up also featured lead guitarist Eriks Jugans and Aigars' drumming brother Eriks. By the spring of 1993, it became apparent that Jugans had lost any interest to continue his career with the band and subsequently decided to leave due to musical differences. The vacancy was soon taken by Uldis Ludis Elerts, a guitarist well-known in the local heavy rock circuit. Ludis was recommended to the band by none other than Uldis Imalins Sens (a.k.a. Wrong Tale), a former partner in crime of Cervinskis Bros.
A phone-call to Ludis followed immediately, and rehearsals resumed in a new line-up. By then, the band had decided to switch to a softer style of music: traditional rock. Before the band went on playing at local festivals, another line-up change occurred. A free-lancer by the name of Igor Noskov was recruited to fill in on keyboards, but his days with the band were cut short in the fall of 1993. Igors was a highly accomplished musician who was often sought after by local super-groups, so he opted for the big buck and left Holy Lamb for RebelL, a R & B outfit that was enjoying immense popularity at the time. As soon as Igor had gone, another keyboard wizard joined the band. His name was Janis Valters. Although a musician of the same rank as Igor, he stayed with the band as a permanent member for the next four years.
In 1993 and 1994, the band played numerous festivals and concerts in Latvia and Estonia, and made several recordings as well. Two permanent members were recruited (flautist Ieva Bluma and violinist Eva Bindere), and collaborations with several additional musicians, mainly cellists, followed.
The hard work resulted in the debut cassette album "Bite in the Dust", recorded and mixed in a mere 10 days in the summer of 1994. This recording was engineered and mixed by Talis Timrots, who also recorded the band's first demo "Love to Eat" in 1992.
Only a couple of weeks prior to the recording sessions, the third guitarist was invited to join the band. His name was Valters Valpurgs Feists. It was Valters who wrote an additional section to the song "Too Late", the band's live favourite since 1992. (Ironically, this particular piece has never been played again after it was recorded.) Although a very talented and well-trained musician, Valpurgs didn't last long, because some band members could not get on with him at all. This resulted in Valpurgs, Janis and Aigars quitting the band.
The remaining trio of Eriks, Qba and Ludis soon found a new keyboard-player by the name of Zintis Cepurnieks, and started to write instrumental pieces, which, according to Ludis, were slightly reminiscent of ELP. Perhaps, it was this effort that set the foundations to the choice of direction the band would make a year later. Sadly, with no recorded material left behind, the band decided to call it a day in the spring of 1995.
The split-up was also prompted by various problems concerning the release of the cassette album "Bite in the Dust". At the time, no-one would have believed that the album would see the light of day a year later, in the summer of 1996. Released and distributed by the band, this album is still available from Aigars.
Invitation to do a one-off show at the annual Bildes (Pictures) festival in Riga resulted in the band's resurrection with Janis and Aigars returning on the keyboards and the guitar/vocals respectively. The Bildes festival generated a strong impulse within the band, and more open-air, club and pub concerts were played on the national scale throughout 1996, including the Rock Summer festival in Riga.
At the beginning of 1996, the band recruited a flautist by the name of Deniss Paskevics, who later turned out to be too busy keeping his own band Time after time intact. His stint with the band was only several months.
Throughout 1996, Holy Lamb were writing more complex music, leading the band to the challenging realm of progressive rock, which has always been a big influence on most of the band's members. However, this move provided yet another change in the band's line-up, which occurred in the summer of 1997 - exit Janis Valters, enter Juris Advox Rats on the keyboards. Originating from the town of Jelgava, he had previously played with Herus (now known as Citrus), a band from the same town.
The end of 1997 and all of 1998 was a time of busy writing and rehearsing which led Holy Lamb to recording four new songs in the summer of 1998, followed by the recording of "The Sea", a 16 minute epic. This recording also features female vocals courtesy of Ieva Parsa.
Holy Lamb's international debut, "Salt of the Earth", was released in November 1999 via Italy's Mellow Records.
The bad news for the band was that one of the founder members, drummer Eriks Cervinskis, left the band shortly after "The Sea" was recorded and mixed (after nearly a year in Germany, he returned to Latvia and since has occasionally been seen drumming with his ex-band on stage). To replace Eriks, a young and promising drummer, Miks Rullis (ex-Silvergruve, now also in Hard Nuts), took the stool behind the drum kit in May of 1999.
The rest of 1999 and 2000 proved to be the most successful time for the band in terms of gigging. Festivals like Forte Riga 2000, AlvariRock '99 (with Par Lindh project among others) and a prog-rock evening at Helsinki's Tavastia club (with Hoyrey-Kone & Uzva) several months later did a lot to fuel up the band.
In September 2000, the band entered the studio to record new material for the follow-up to "Salt of the Earth". The concept album, entitled "Beneath the Skin" and based on a VERY true story, was completed in April 2002. Probably the most ambitious Holy Lamb record to date, the band was augmented by guest singers (Orests Silabriedis, Andris Smaukstelis, Valdis Indrisonoks) and flautist Ieva Pudane, who used to be in the band's regular line-up from 1992 to 1994. The album was produced by Aigars, Juris and sound engineer Talis Timrots, a team that was founded in the spring of 2000 while recording a cover version of Finnforest's instrumental track "What a Night!" for a Finnish progressive rock tribute album "Tuonen tytar" (released in May 2001 by Mellow Records).
As regards "Beneath the Skin", a licence agreement was signed with Hungary's Periferic Records in August 2002, so be sure to visit our site again for release news!
Holy Lamb is continuing to play gigs whenever possible as a four-piece band (longtime guitarist Ludis left the band in January 2002 due to musical differences). Of the most recent live shows, the most important have been the gig at Tallinn's Von Krahli theatre (with the current Estonian prog greats Contus Fitmus) and the band's 11th anniversary concert in Riga.
Biography couresty of Aigars Cervinskis
Current line-up:
Juris "Advocate" Rats - keyboards, vocals
Aigars "Resns" Cervinskis - vocal, guitar
Miks "Ralis-Ralutins" Rullis - drums
Ugis "Kuba" Zemitis - bass
Holy Lamb discography:
Gyrosophy (CD, Album) 2016
"Beneath the Skin" (A transgressive rock tale) 2002
(released by Periferic Records, BGCD 112)
“Salt of the Earth” 1999
(released by Mellow Records in October)
“Bite in the Dust” 1996
(available directly from the band and local record shops)
“Love to Eat” (demo) 1992
(available directly from the band)
