Cry Before Dawn are a four-piece

rock Rock most often refers to: * Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids * Rock music, a genre of popular music Rock or Rocks may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wale ...

band Band or BAND may refer to: Places *Bánd, a village in Hungary * Band, Iran, a village in Urmia County, West Azerbaijan Province, Iran * Band, Mureș, a commune in Romania * Band-e Majid Khan, a village in Bukan County, West Azerbaijan Province, ...

originally hailing from Wexford in

Ireland Ireland (, ; ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe. Geopolitically, the island is divided between the Republic of Ireland (officially Names of the Irish state, named Irelan ...

. They released several singles and two albums in the late 1980s and toured Ireland, UK and US.

Lineup

* Brendan Wade –

vocals Singing is the art of creating music with the voice. It is the oldest form of musical expression, and the human voice can be considered the first musical instrument. The definition of singing varies across sources. Some sources define sing ...

acoustic guitar An acoustic guitar is a musical instrument in the string family. When a string is plucked, its vibration is transmitted from the bridge, resonating throughout the top of the guitar. It is also transmitted to the side and back of the instrument, ...

uilleann pipes The uilleann pipes ( or , ), also known as Union pipes and sometimes called Irish pipes, are the characteristic national bagpipe of Ireland. Their current name is a partial translation of the Irish language terms (literally, "pipes of the ...

and

whistle A whistle is a musical instrument which produces sound from a stream of gas, most commonly air. It is a type of Fipple, fipple flute, and may be mouth-operated, or powered by air pressure, steam, or other means. Whistles vary in size from a s ...

* Vince Doyle –

bass guitar The bass guitar (), also known as the electric bass guitar, electric bass, or simply the bass, is the lowest-pitched member of the guitar family. It is similar in appearance and construction to an Electric guitar, electric but with a longer nec ...

* Pat Hayes –

drum The drum is a member of the percussion group of musical instruments. In the Hornbostel–Sachs classification system, it is a membranophone. Drums consist of at least one membrane, called a drumhead or drum skin, that is stretched over a ...

percussion A percussion instrument is a musical instrument that is sounded by being struck or scraped by a percussion mallet, beater including attached or enclosed beaters or Rattle (percussion beater), rattles struck, scraped or rubbed by hand or ...

backing vocals A backing vocalist is a singer who provides vocal harmony with the lead vocalist or other backing vocalists. A backing vocalist may also sing alone as a lead-in to the main vocalist's entry or to sing a counter-melody. Backing vocalists are us ...

* Tony Hall –

electric Electricity is the set of physical phenomena associated with the presence and motion of matter possessing an electric charge. Electricity is related to magnetism, both being part of the phenomenon of electromagnetism, as described by Maxwel ...

and acoustic guitars

Career

They achieved attention in 1987 in the UK when they released their

album An album is a collection of audio recordings (e.g., music) issued on a medium such as compact disc (CD), Phonograph record, vinyl (record), audio tape (like 8-track cartridge, 8-track or Cassette tape, cassette), or digital distribution, dig ...

''Crimes of Conscience'' on the

CBS CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS (an abbreviation of its original name, Columbia Broadcasting System), is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainme ...

label. The lead

single Single may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * Single (music), a song release Songs * "Single" (Natasha Bedingfield song), 2004 * "Single" (New Kids on the Block and Ne-Yo song), 2008 * "Single" (William Wei song), 2016 * "Single", by ...

from the album was "Gone Forever", which was released in Ireland in February 1987 and subsequently re-released there and in the UK in 1988. The follow-up singles were "The Seed That's Been Sown" and "Girl in the Ghetto". The album was a success in Ireland and was critically acclaimed in the UK. The band made an appearance on the UK's ''

Wogan ''Wogan'' is a British television talk show which was broadcast on BBC1 from 1982 to 1992 and presented by Terry Wogan. It was usually broadcast live from the BBC Television Theatre in Shepherd's Bush, London, until 1991. It was then broadcast ...

'' chat show performing "Witness for the World". Their popularity in Ireland was accounted by some to the fact that they came from Wexford, and lyrically their work connected more with the rural Ireland of the time than Dublin. This was reflected in the promotional video for "Gone Forever", which very successfully set itself in an Irish small town. Their success in Ireland did not transfer to the UK however, although they supported

Big Country Big Country are a Scottish Rock music, rock band formed in Dunfermline, Fife, in 1981. The height of the band's popularity was in the early to mid 1980s, although they have retained a cult following for many years since. The band's music inc ...

on their 1989 UK "Peace in Our Time" tour. In 1988 Cry Before Dawn contributed a new track, "Silly Dreams" to the

soundtrack A soundtrack is a recorded audio signal accompanying and synchronised to the images of a book, drama, motion picture, radio program, television show, television program, or video game; colloquially, a commercially released soundtrack album of m ...

of the Irish

film A film, also known as a movie or motion picture, is a work of visual art that simulates experiences and otherwise communicates ideas, stories, perceptions, emotions, or atmosphere through the use of moving images that are generally, sinc ...

, ''The Courier''. Their second album ''Witness for the World'' was recorded in

Wales Wales ( ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by the Irish Sea to the north and west, England to the England–Wales border, east, the Bristol Channel to the south, and the Celtic ...

and mixed in

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

by Greg Ledanyi, and was released to lukewarm reception in 1989, again on

Epic Epic commonly refers to: * Epic poetry, a long narrative poem celebrating heroic deeds and events significant to a culture or nation * Epic film, a genre of film defined by the spectacular presentation of human drama on a grandiose scale Epic(s) ...

/CBS. The lead single, "Witness for the World", reached number 67 in the UK Singles Chart in June 1989, though the two follow-up singles: "Last of the Sun" and "No Living Without You" failed to chart. Around the time of their second album, the band appeared on the cover of the Irish music magazine ''

Hot Press ''Hot Press'' is a monthly music and politics magazine based in Dublin, Ireland, founded in June 1977. The magazine has been edited since its inception by Niall Stokes. History ''Hot Press'' was founded in June 1977 by Niall Stokes, who cont ...

''. In 1989, Cry Before Dawn were awarded best Irish group at the Irish Recorded Music Association (IRMA) awards, after winning the 'Best Newcomer' award 2 years earlier. After parting with their record company, the band toured Ireland later the same year, after which they decided to split. This initial disbanding was short-lived, however, and the band reformed with Paul Spencer replacing Tony Hall on guitar. Steve Belton subsequently took on the role of guitarist instead of Paul Spencer. After a single-only release, "To Be True" in 1992, the band split again, this time it seemed for good. Brendan Wade subsequently teamed up with Paul Bell to form The Wild Swans, shortened to The Swans in 1999, and renamed again to Bell and Wade in 2000. Their songs were moderately successful in Ireland, being released on Ritz Records and their own

record label "Big Three" music labels A record label or record company is a brand or trademark of Sound recording and reproduction, music recordings and music videos, or the company that owns it. Sometimes, a record label is also a Music publisher, ...

. Their most successful release was "Dancing at the Crossroads", released to coincide with

County Wexford County Wexford () is a Counties of Ireland, county in Republic of Ireland, Ireland. It is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster and is part of the Southern Region, Ireland, Southern Region. Named after the town of Wexford, it was ba ...

's success in the 1996 All-Ireland hurling final, which reached number 1 in the Irish pop chart. Brendan now lives in Winterthur, Switzerland and has been performing in music venues around the country, both solo and supporting other artists. Bass player Vincent (Vinnie) Doyle is in the motor trade with his family business in Wexford and drummer Pat Hayes is also living back in Wexford after 12 years in

Stockholm Stockholm (; ) is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, most populous city of Sweden, as well as the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, largest urban area in the Nordic countries. Approximately ...

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. It borders Norway to the west and north, and Finland to the east. At , Sweden is the largest Nordic count ...

. The band reformed in November 2010. Brendan Wade's own website gave the lineup for the reunion tour as Wade, Pat Hayes, Vinnie Doyle and Steve Belton. The first dates announced on the tour were Vicar Street, Dublin on 8 April 2011, and at Wexford Opera House on 14 May 2011. In December 2012, the band issued a limited edition double album of their two nights at the Wexford Opera House, produced by Steve Belton, called ''Live at the Opera House''.

Discography

Albums

* 1987: '' Crimes of Conscience'' (20 July 1987) (CBS Records) * 1989: ''Witness for the World'' (CBS Records) * 2011: ''The Best of Cry Before Dawn'' (Sony Music Ireland) * 2011: ''Live at the Wexford Opera House'' (CBD Records)

Singles

References

External links

Cry Before Dawn's official website

Brendan Wade's official website

Cry Before Dawn fansite

The Cry Before Dawn web forum
Irish celtic rock groups Irish rock music groups Musical groups from County Wexford Musical groups established in 1986 Musical groups disestablished in 1992 Musical groups reestablished in 2010 {{authority control 1980s in Irish music 1990s in Irish music 2010s in Irish music 2020s in Irish music