Origins (2005-2008)
The band was formed in Brno in 2005 when Eyrah wrote several songs for guitar and vocals, later adding piano to the mix, and with Ereis as vocalist, they founded an acoustic project called Lost Grace.
Soon, however, they both began to gravitate towards harder music, so they approached keyboardist Lori and a little later switched to an electric sound with a new guitarist, Nemo. While they transformed existing songs and created new ones, the folk feel remained and was supported by the arrival of flute player Růžmen. Despite constant rehearsing and planning over the next two years, they were unable to find a drummer, which prevented them from performing live, and eventually their enthusiasm waned. When Eyrah and Ereis moved to Prague for university, the band inevitably fell apart. In the summer of 2008, Lori and Nemo went on to pursue their own projects and Eyrah and Ereis started looking for new bandmates.
Starting up (2008-2011)
Orvin, the drummer, and Marcus, the guitarist, joined Ertha in the autumn of that year. The four started rehearsing and composing. However, finding a keyboard player proved to be much more difficult. It wasn’t until January 2010 that Rea came along. A few months later, Saňour joined to complete the group on flutes and vocals, and they rehearsed with great energy.
The first concert took place in June 2010 at the K4 club in Prague. Although it was a relatively small event, the response from the audience was encouraging. The gigs continued in and out of Prague. The playlist was growing, with something new being added at almost every concert. The first merchandise items were also launched. At the end of the year, the band spent a weekend in the studio recording four songs for their long-planned EP. The CD was released in January 2011 during a concert at Prague’s Exit Chmelnice with Miloš and Monika from the related band ‘Demencia Mortalis’ as godfathers.
Despite their success, serious disagreements began to emerge within the band. As a result, the collaboration with Rea was ended. However, this was not enough to save the situation and in the months that followed, all but the founding members of Ertha left the band.
The never-ending search (2011-2014)
Following the collapse of the first Prague formation, it took a long time to put together a fully functional line-up. There were several periods of searching and recruiting new members, rehearsing the concert repertoire and performing the first gigs, after which players started leaving the band again. This unfortunate situation dragged on for a few years and hindered the development of the band and the creation of new compositions. Nevertheless, the band managed to play many concerts, visit new places and establish valuable collaborations with other musicians. In 2013, they performed their first show abroad in Berlin, sharing the stage with Fauns and Devil’s Kiss. The collaboration with guitarist and composer Greg Jonson, as well as with violinist Zelda, which began at that time, continues to this day.
Restart (2015-2018)
The turning point came in 2014, the band’s busiest year to date. However, after the announcement of the singer’s pregnancy, the line-up was reduced to Eyrah, Ereis and Zelda, and the question arose as to whether and how Ertha would continue. For a while, the band’s activities were limited to intimate acoustic rehearsals as a trio with the baby in the background. Ereis started playing the harp, Zelda added a flute, and Eyrah returned to the guitar. But eventually they began to miss making metal music and decided to give it another try. A new line-up was gradually formed, starting with the arrival of keyboardist Petr in the summer of 2016. In 2017, the band recorded the single ‘Pilgrim’, featuring Tonda ‘Gabriel’ Buček from Rosa Nocturna on guitar. Guitarist Bran joined shortly after. Following difficulties in finding a drummer, Ertha decided to hit the road in spring 2018 with an incomplete line-up, learning from past mistakes. The highlight of the season was without a doubt the performance at the sixth Folk Metal Fest in Tišnov. However, concerts had to be temporarily suspended again towards the end of the year.
And the Stars Went Out (2019-2021)
The band made it through the second parental break unscathed and decided to take it as a creative sabbatical. They started planning a full-length album and made the first studio recordings in the summer of 2019. One of them, Guiding Star, was released in September of that year as a single to accompany the fantasy novel ‘Rituál’, co-written by Eyrah and Ereis. A return to touring in the spring of 2020 was cut short by the pandemic, but work on the album continued slowly, and in December they released their third and final single, Trollbound.
The preparations culminated in the following year. The last guests arrived at the studio, new concert costumes and promo photos were created, Ereis worked on illustrations and graphics for the album. Once the recording was finished, guitarist Bran left the band to focus on his own project. The album ‘And the Stars Went Out’ was released in December 2021, but the planned release party and tour had to be postponed indefinitely due to the difficult situation – Bran’s sudden departure, pandemic restrictions being in place and the third addition to the band’s nursery.
The present (2022-2024)
The euphoria of finishing a long-prepared album was soon followed by the band starting a new chapter in their life the following year. Greg Jonson, who had been working with Ertha on various projects and contributed to the released album, temporarily took over as guitarist for live performances, but after a few months it was clear that he would stay permanently. In the summer of 2022, the band got to play at the GameCon festival, a fantastic event that kicked off further concert activity. Then in September, they released a new single, ‘Their Rules’, to go along with the fantasy novel ‘Trojice’ by Eyrah and Ereis.
Na podzim 2023 proběhl na brněnské Melodce dlouho odkládaný křest alba And the Stars Went Out. Plánované turné kapela nakonec musela ze zdravotních důvodů razantně zkrátit, mezitím však vznikla a stále vzniká řada jiných věcí – od kapelních triček s motivem skladby Pilgrim přes nové skladby po videoklip k singlu Their Rules. Přestože zdravotní pauza stále trvá, kapela se už připravuje na příští koncerty a v plánu je toho ještě mnohem víc.
