Acclaimed Wexford band, Cry Before Dawn, celebrate the 40 years since signing their first record deal with CBS/Epic Records in March 1986 - with news of a new retrospective album and Irish tour in 2026.
Songs That Got Away: 1984-1990, out Friday 13 March, features some of their earliest recordings as a band, available digitally for the first time ever, alongside other fan-favourites & rarities from their formative years. The album's opening track, "The Streets Are Paved With Gold" - is out now.
It was in 1982, outside of the critical gaze of the Dublin music scene, that Cry Before Dawn started writing and rehearsing songs in their home town of Wexford. Despite the fact the band had at this point never played outside of their native county, international interest was building - which culminated in invitation to record a session in 1985 with Janice Long on BBC Radio 1. It was then that the rest of the country started to also sit up and take notice.
“At that time, the process of recording music was very different to now. No laptops or digital, everything was analogue. Almost all of these songs were recorded as demos, which meant the band in a studio with live drums, loud amplifiers, microphones, and LOTS of cables. Takes were all live, with vocals and a few overdubs added later. Demos were usually recorded and mixed in a matter of hours, whereas completing an album would take months.
While the recordings may lack the polish that comes with months of rework and production, it is a snapshot of how songs ideas were developed and recorded back then."
– Tony Hall (guitarist)
In March 1986 CBS / Epic Records decided that the band were ready for a major label deal and before long were recording in London, what went on to become their critically acclaimed debut album, Crimes of Conscience - spawning three hit singles in Ireland - the trad-tinged "Gone Forever", the gutsy "The Seed That's Been Sown" and the anthemic "Girl In The Ghetto".
They were awarded Best Newcomer at the IRMA Awards in 1987 - followed by their eventual rise to the summit, winning Best Irish Group at the same awards in 1989 after the release of their second album - produced in Los Angeles and beaming with a new sound, Witness For The World. It included the politically informed "Witness For The World", the Dylanesque "Last Of The Sun" and the beautifully melancholy "No Living Without You".
After a long recording hiatus in the intervening years, the band reached #1 in the Irish Independent Album Charts and #2 in the overall Irish Album Charts in 2025 with Open Water, their first new body of recorded work in over 35 years.
Never has there been a better time to revisit one of Ireland's most loved bands