Līvi

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Līvi
Country Latvia
Years active 1976–present
Genres Hard rock
Labels Melodija
Mikrofona ieraksti
Members Ainars Virga
Jānis Grodums
Guntars Mucenieks
Andris Ērglis

Līvi is a Latvian hard rock band, that was very influential in forming the Latvian rock music culture. Līvi have been dubbed by many to be the Latvian equals to Led Zeppelin and Deep Purple. Their signatures are very poetic lyrics and trademark guitar solos.

The band debuted in 1976, when it was founded in Liepāja by Ēriks Ķiģelis and Juris Pavītols. They started out as a pop-rock band and played in various gigs around Latvia, whilst trying to find their own specific style. Thus the period of 1977-1985 was largely a chaotic time in group’s music – it varied from pretty pop to heavy rock. But one thing never changed – their anti-soviet propaganda, their patriotism and their monumentalism.

After the tragic death of Līvi leader Ēriks Ķiģelis in 1986, Ainars Virga joined the band, thus starting a new era – the era of anthemic ballads, hard hitting heavy rock tunes and rebellious philosophy. Virga turned out to be a worthy successor to Ķiģelis by composing some of the best-known Latvian hard rock songs. Since the beginning, Līvi have recorded a total of 9 albums and are still rocking’ to this day.

The band’s trademark songs include “Dzimtā valoda”, “Dzelsgriezējs”, “Meitene zeltene”, “Saldus saule”, “Piedod man”, “Zīlīte” and “Tikai tev un man” and “Pāri visam”.

Contents

[edit] History

[edit] The Early Days (Ķiģelis era)

The birth of Līvi is usually associated with year 1976, although a band with this name existed for a short time before that. But the only common thing is that both bands were founded by Juris Pavītols – a well known guitarist in the 70’ties. The symbol of Latvian struggle for independence and the hard hitting gods of rock were in fact born in the summer of 1976, when two different people first met – Pavītols, a man known for his musical achievements, and Ēriks Ķiģelis, a young, but very talented guitarist from the city of Saldus. Although their characters waried a lot, both had one common thing on their minds, that is, to form the basis of a new genre, which they referred to as “Latvian rock”.

Thus Ķiģelis (vocals, guitar), Pavītols (vocals, guitar), his wife Ingrīda (vocals), drummer Andris Krūmiņš and “the dinosaur of rock” Jānis Grodums (bass) formed a band, taking the name of Pavītols’s first band. “Līvi’ were actually a Latvian tribe living in the vicinity of Liepāja and making their living by pirating and spent time on fierce fighting with foreign oppressors, so the name suited the band very well. First years of existence were spent in small-time gigs. Līvi mostly played sad songs written by Pavītols and sung by his wife, but sometimes the band surprised it’s listeners with some faster, more harder songs, composed by Ķiģelis, who was a big fan of Jimi Hendrix.

Līvi have always had a troublesome history, and the first sign of that appeared in 1978 when Ēriks Ķiģelis left the band, stating, that his and Pavītols’s artistic differences are impossible to overcome. He then forms his own band, called Corpus and tries to distance himself from his former musical partners. Meanwhile Līvi hired guitarist Modris Šterns, who was a great artist, but lacked the creativity of Ķiģelis, leading Līvi to two years of artistic stagnation.

In 1980, however, Ēriks Ķiģelis came back together with three newly founded talents – the 17-year old singer Rodrigo Fomins, drummer Vilnis Krieviņš (Krūmiņš had left the band a bit earlier) and band’s life-long sound engineer Juris Jakovļevs. Šterns, on the other hand, felt oppressed and had left the band some months earlier. That didn’t slow the band down, though, and Ķiģelis immediately started writing new songs, so Līvi suddenly became a new fad, appearing in many music festivals and slowly starting to record their first album – the self-titled Līvi, which was released only in 1983.

Here it is vital to remind that Latvia at that time was a part of the Soviet Union, and Latvian rock bands were oppressed by the Communist party. The Red Regime saw a potential enemy in the rebellious Latvian hard rockers and in 1981 used its power to ban Līvi from playing any concerts. At that time many fans considered this to be the end of Līvi, but to everyone’s surprise Ķiģelis and Co. emerged in 1982 with a new hit single “Zīlīte”. This song was such a huge hit, that Līvi are immediately raised to stardom by their fans.

This doesn’t come without a price though – Šterns came back to the band, but founder Juris Pavītols still couldn’t settle his differences with Ķiģelis and left the band forever. So did his wife, who just didn’t fit in the band’s new hard-hitting style, though songs recorded with her were used in Līvi second album Aprīļa pilieni (April’s Raindrops). For a short period the band is also joined by keyboard player Tālis Pusbarnieks. Together they successfully record another album – Iedomu pilsēta (Phantasm City) and became the most popular band of that time.

But the history of Līvi was never an idyllic one. Pusbarnieks, Fomins, Šterns and Kreiviņš left the band in 1984, because of wanting to start their own musical projects. Ķiģelis was forced to save the band by hiring vocalist Aivars Brīze (later to become known as “the voice of Latvian rock”), keyboardist Guntars Mucenieks and drummer Valdis Štarks. With new members and Līvi all-timer Grodums by his side, Ķiģelis was confident of his chances to remain on top. He starts his work on new songs and prepares for another tour next year.

Sadly 1985 turned out to be a tragic period for Līvi, and, what is more disturbing, the first of many. After a concert, Ķiģelis gets caught in a car accident and dies. This is a very hard blow to the new lineup of Līvi and it can be surely stated, that any other band would have fallen apart. But Līvi is not an ordinary band; they are fierce, just like the ancient tribe from which they had borrowed their name. Līvi moved on.

[edit] Resurrection (Virga takes on Līvi)

Just when things looked dull for one of Latvia’s favorite bands, Ķiģelis protégé, possibly the best solo guitarist Latvia ever had – Ainars Virga - took on the role of being the band’s new leader. Virga was a fan of bands like Black Sabbath, Scorpions, Deep Purple and Led Zeppelin, so, when joining the band in 1986, he had already visualized a new path for the band – a harder, guitar-solo oriented and rebellious. His first song “Dzimtā valoda”, an emotional ballad, an appraisal of Latvian language and culture, was a clear proof of this, becoming a sort-of national anthem for the people of Latvia at that time.

In 1987 Štarks is replaced by Ainars’s younger brother Dainis and in 1989 Tomass Kleins joined the band as a regular guitar player. Thus, when the Soviet Union broke up, Līvi had recorded a dozen of hits and formed their longest-standing lineup, consisting of Aivars Brīze (vocals), Ainars Virga (guitars), Tomass Kleins (guitars), Jānis Grodums (bass) and Dainis Virga (drums). To some they were heroes, to some – rebellious punks, who didn’t stand close to Līvi of Ķiģelis era, to some – a great rock band, to others – aging rockers. But whatever you thought of them, at that time you wouldn’t have predicted that Līvi had just begun their career.

In 1994 Līvi released their long-awaited new studio album Karogi (Flags), their first recording since the tragic death of Ēriks Ķiģelis in 1985. The album sells double platinum and is regarded by most their best recording ever. Release of Karogi is immediately followed by a tour across Northern Europe and Latvia.

In December of 1994 Līvi done something never done before – they recorded an album in just one night. Spoku Koks (The Ghost Tree) was recorded, cut, mixed and delivered to stores in just one night. Rock history doesn’t hold any other records of anything like that.

Two years later Līvi showed everyone that they are as rebellious as ever, with the release of K.M.K.V.P or Kas Mums Var Ko Padarīt (Who Can Do Anything Against Us?). Radio top hit singles include “Meitene”, “Bize” and a jazz version of Līvi old super hit “Dzelsgriezējs”. In 1997 Līvi recorded their best-selling disc Bailes par ziņģēm (Fear about Songs); an album dedicated to the memory of Ēriks Ķiģelis. The album was a huge success and remained in fans memories for “Piedod man” – a hard-rockers confession written by bassist Jānis Grodums.

Fans thought that everything was going good for their favorite band. Even too good to be true. Many knew that something was stirring. And they were right – shortly after the release of Bailes par ziņģēm long-time vocalist and “the voice of Latvian rock” – Aivars Brīze was fired by other band members for drinking. Shortly after Ainars Virga became addicted to drugs, although at that time no one knew about it. Two years later Līvi recorded their 7th album Viva, their best selling disc ever, and afterwards Ainars Virga went to USA for one main reason – rehabilitate from drug addiction. For two years band played without their leader and struggled in the artistic department, by not writing a single song.

In 2000 Virga came back and Līvi recorded a homage to the old millennia – an album titled 2001. This symbolized the fact, that Līvi are willing to leave everything behind and start a new life. This also symbolized a new style of music – Virga added some punk-rock tunes to their compositions. Sadly, Līvi just can’t get rid of troubles; it seems that the Devil has his eyes on the definitive hard rockers of Latvia. In year 2003, while driving back from a gig, the car driven by Ainars got in another car accident. Ainars and Jānis Grodums got through with only a scratch, but drummer Dainis and sound-engineer Juris Jakovļevs died from their wounds on the spot. This was one of the saddest days in the existence of the band.

The accident spawned a mass of trials and Ainars Virga was accused of being responsible for this tragedy. At one point he was almost sentenced to 7 years in prison. The court redeemed him, though. Līvi didn’t go on sorrowing, they just did, what they do best – recorded a new album, called Pāri visam (Over everything); a recording dedicated to all rock musicians, who have died in accidents. Krieviņš came back to destroy the drum set with his virtuoso drumming and Mucenieks also returned as a regular keyboard player.

When Ainars Virga was found not guilty of his charges, Līvi were approached by an interesting offer to do a concert accompanied by a symphonic orchestra. Originally an idea by band’s deceased drummer Dainis, the arrangements of songs was done by Ainars and conductor Jēkabs Ozoliņš. The result – a grandiose concert for fans, that was later released on a DVD. Līvi had written themselves into Latvian musical history as the first band to do something like this.

What does the future hold for Latvian hard rockers? Who knows – they have gone through banning, tragic deaths of their fellow members, more line-up changes than Deep Purple and are still on the top as one of the best hard rock bands in the world. But as their fans have said fore 30 years now: “Līvi – vienmēr dzīvi!” (Līvi – always alive!).

[edit] Members

[edit] Former members

[edit] Discography

  • Aprīļa pilieni, EP (1985)
  • Iedomu pilsēta (1986)
  • Līvi aka Kurzemei - saules ceļš (1988)
  • Karogi (1994)
  • Spoku koks (1994)
  • K.M.K.V.P (1996)
  • Bailes par ziņģēm (1997)
  • Viva (1998)
  • 2001 (2000)
  • Līvi Zelts 1 (2002)
  • Pāri visam (2004)
  • Līvi 1995-2005 (2005)

[edit] Filmography

  • Līvi & Liepājas simfoniskais orķestris: Koncerts bildēs 2004 DVD (2005)

[edit] External link

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