Sheep Got Waxed, the winner of the main prize of the VJYP competition in 2011, is no longer a promising newcomer, but one of the most interesting alternative music bands in the country, and one of the most attractive Lithuanian music export groups, receiving excellent reviews not only at home, but also internationally.

The trio’s music is not easy to digest, but it does attract the lovers of the “drive”. Sheep Got Waxed boldly juggles the musical extremes and contrasts: it caresses and bites, freezes and burns, shampoos and putts a glance. Defying the canon, the band has made it to the top ten for its creative effects and improvisations.

Having formed a trio in 2010 at the Lithuanian Academy of Music and Theatre, the jazz students Simonas, Adas and Paulius started to rock Lithuanian festivals a year later. Their saxophone, guitar and drum cocktail of jazz, punk rock and avant-garde caught the attention of theatre director Vidas Bareikis, who invited the band to compose music for his play Kovos klubas (Fight Club) and perform it live on stage – the play won the Golden Stage Cross nomination for the music. The trio’s compositions featured there were compiled into Sheep Got Waxed’s first album.

The trio’s second album Pushy, released a couple of years later, attracted attention not only in Lithuania, but also abroad. The musicians presented the works featured in this album on their Chinese tour. Even more acclaim came with the albums Tommy Got Waxed (2019), recorded live with the Dutch band Tommy Mustache, and More Chews (2022). Foreign critics, like their Lithuanian counterparts, have recognised the uniqueness of the trio’s music.

Sheep Got Waxed has been nominated twice for the M.A.M.A Award in the Alternative of the Year category.

The trio has performed in China, South Korea, Taiwan, Slovenia, France, Spain, Denmark, UK, Latvia, Estonia and other countries. For several years in a row, the group acted as a silent film taper at the Stockholm, Helsinki and Copenhagen festivals.

All members of the trio are exceptional musicians and inventive idea generators.

Saxophonist Simonas Šipavičius was named the Best Instrumentalist in the VJYP competition in 2010, and in 2019 has already received the Vilnius Jazz Award “For Merit to Lithuanian Jazz”. He is not only preoccupied with the trio Sheep Got Waxed. Simonas is a member of CinAmono and Lithuanian JJazz Ensemble; has released solo albums Saxual Harassment (2018) and Grandes Saxitos (2022) under the pseudonym “Sheep Effect”.

Born in Kretinga, he graduated from the Stasys Šimkus Conservatoire in Klaipėda and completed his master’s studies at the Jazz Department of the LAMT under Petras Vyšniauskas. Since autumn 2019, he has been devoting a lot of his time to pedagogical work at the innovative youth music school “Muzikalkė”, the main focus of which is developing the creativity of the pupils.

According to Šipavičius, everything is possible in music. “Freedom is a great value. Often in life you can’t be completely yourself because you might not be understood. In music, you can afford anything. You can be who you really are or who you want to be – not to quote but to speak in your own words. That’s the fascination of improvisation. It helps performers to speak,” said the saxophonist.

Drummer and composer Adas Gecevičius started his musical education with piano and accordion lessons at the M.K. Čiurlionis Music School in Druskininkai. From the age of 13 he played drums in local rock ensembles and composed his own music.

While still studying jazz percussion at the LAMT, he signed a contract as an advertising representative for the Swiss cymbals manufacturer Paiste. In 2013, Adas won the Drum Day international drum competition and represented Lithuania at the Baltic Drum Competition in Latvia.

For almost a decade, he has also been a successful composer, writing music for the first full-length Lithuanian horror film Rūsys (The Basement), the musical festival Mfest, as well as the children’s play Gararar by O. Lapina, which was nominated for the Golden Stage Cross. In 2017, Gecevičius was awarded the Golden Stage Cross as a co-author of the best dance performance Žaidimas baigtas (The Game is Over).

In addition to Sheep Got Waxed, the musician is involved in his solo project ADAS and participates in the projects of the collective Vilniaus Energija. He has collaborated with various musicians and the representatives of other artistic medias, including singers Jurga Šeduikytė, Alina Orlova, Renata Dubinskaitė, Migloko, Solo Ensemble, saxophonists P. Vyšniauskas and Jonathon Haffner, drummers Kenny Wollesen and Dalius Naujokaitis, conductor Ričardas Šumila, actor Rolandas Kazlas.

Guitarist Paulius Vaškas graduated from Vilnius Conservatoire and studied guitar at the Jazz Department of the LAMT. In addition to the Sheep Got Waxed projects, the musician collaborates with creative improvisers of his generation in various formations, plays in a duo with saxophonist Kazimieras Jušinskas, has participated in several theatre projects, and has gained experience as a radio host.