A Lithuanian rock band formed by Algirdas Kaušpēdas for an architects' party (first concert on 31 December 1984), Antis quickly became an important phenomenon in the history of Lithuanian rock and revival.
After the festival Lituanica '86 and the musical film Kažkas atsitiko, Antis became popular in Lithuania and later in the USSR. After declaring themselves a perestroika band, they helped the Sąjūdis, took part in the Rock Marches across Lithuania, performed extensively in Western Europe (Germany, France, Italy, Austria) and in the USA, where they took part in the New Music Seminar in New York. In 1989, the band took part in the Festival Interceltique de Lorient in France, where they performed in place of The Cranberries, an Irish band that had recently formed and had not arrived at the festival.
The band's songs, characterised by their current lyrics, mocked the Soviet regime, bureaucracy and bourgeoisie. These ideas were underlined by theatrical concerts and the monstrous image of Algirdas Kaušpēdas. In its music, Duck combined the energy and criticality of the New Wave with the musical ideas of art rock and jazz rock.
The visual image of the band was shaped by the creators of the film "Kažkas atsitiko", the painter Gailius Kličius. The first line-up of the band was almost exclusively architects, later most of the members were gradually replaced by professional musicians. The group split up after the November 1990 tour of the USA on the initiative of A. Kaušpēdas.
The group returned with concerts three times:
July-August 1996 for the festival "Rock March through Lithuania '96" (concerts in Klaipėda, Kaunas and Vilnius). As the band's line-up was unoriginal, the official name of the band was the United Duck Orchestra. The concert in Vilnius was filmed by LNK and released by LNK Records in the videocassette "The Last Concert of the Legendary Group");
October-December 2003 for three concerts (at the Forum Palace, the LNK studio and the Vilnius Concert and Sports Palace). The video of the concert on 12-12-2003 was released on the DVD "Gyva";
In May 2005 for one short concert, where they presented the DVD "Gyva".
Antis was fully reborn after seventeen years. In November 2007, the musicians of the band recorded the tracks of the album "Ančių dainos". The album was released in mid-December and became the most successful in the Duck discography with the hits "Mes rimti!", "Burzhui", "Auksinis Buda" and "Girtuoklis".
The comeback album was presented with three concerts in Vilnius at the Forum Palace and a concert tour through Lithuania. The final concert of the tour, which was attended by 30,000 people at the Cathedral Square in Vilnius on 7 September 2008, has been released on DVD as "August 33".
In January 2009, Antis won the Veteran of the Year Award at the Radiocentro Music Awards, where they performed five of their own songs, and began work on a new project to celebrate the band's 25th Anniversary. At the end of the year, the band presented music fans with a musical utopia and a new CD "Zuikis Pleibojus". At the beginning of 2010, the band released the vinyl record "Zuikis Pleiboojus", which became the first new Lithuanian popular music vinyl record after a break of several years, and at the end of the year the band invited the audience to the final performances of the musical utopia.
In 2013, the band performed with a new programme at the biggest festivals in the country and at the end of the year the band released the album "Baisiai džiugu!" (2CD), as well as the concert album "2xANTIS" (2CD+DVD). The new songs "Žaislas" and "Muzika" (for the latter, the band released a concert video) have reached radio stations, and at the music awards M.A.M.A. "
On 21 May 2014, Antis performed in Vilnius together with Aerosmith on their Global Warming Tour. A week later, the band announced that they would be holding a celebratory thirtieth anniversary tour at the end of December through the biggest arenas in Šiauliai, Vilnius and Kaunas. In August, Antis released their most successful radio single since their comeback, "Clouds", for which a video was shot (directed by Saulius Baradinskas) and remixes were created by ArtG and DJ Gie.
On 25 November, Antis shared an unexpected duet on his Facebook account - he resurrected his legendary song "New Year" with Leon Somov and Jazzu, which became a big hit on radio stations (reaching No. 5 in the M-1 Top 40; in the annual chart, it reached No. 96 in 2014 and No. 71 in 2015), on YouTube and Soundcloud. In late December, the Duck show "Zombies are coming out!" (directed by Emilis Vėlyvis) in Šiauliai, Vilnius and Kaunas arenas was attended by over 16 000 spectators.
On 11 March 2015, Duck played a solo concert in Klaipėda's Švyturys arena. At the beginning of June, the band released their thirtieth anniversary concert album "Zombies are Coming Open!" (2CD+DVD), which was presented with special screenings at Forum Cinemas cinemas in Vilnius, Kaunas and Klaipėda. The band gave concerts in Klaipėda, Alytus, Jonava, Kėdainiai, Šiauliai, as well as appeared at the Karkle and Lituanika festivals. "For the second year in a row, "Nauji metai" became the most popular New Year's song on the Lithuanian iTunes chart and returned to the charts of some radio stations.
On 16 February 2016, the band gave a concert in Panevėžys at the Cido Arena. In April, they announced a concert "Antis" in Trakai Castle on 5 July". On 22 June, the band issued a statement announcing that the concert in Trakai would be the band's farewell concert.
