Cry Before Dawn: "We're delighted to still be around after 40 years. A lot of bands don't get 40 minutes"

Cry Before Dawn is one of those classic Irish rock bands that caught Hot Press's eye in the beginning—in September 1989, to be exact.

"When we needed it, years ago, Hot Press gave us a front cover," Cry Before Dawn's bassist Vinnie Doyle tells me over the phone. "That was a big deal for the band. It’s nice to be able to say you were on the front cover of Hot Press Magazine. So, yeah, thanks Hot Press!”

Cry Before Dawn's new retrospective album, Songs That Got Away: 1984-1990, harkens back to the four-piece's whirlwind early years, back when they were shooting magazine covers and playing sold-out stadium shows.

The band, made up of Doyle, Brendan Wade (vocals, guitar, pipes), Tony Hall (guitar), and Pat Hayes (drums), got its start in the mid-80s, back before Ryanair was founded.

"We used to go on the mail boat, we called it," Doyle says. "We went out from Rosslare on the boat to sign the record [deal]. When we came back a few months later to record the album, a new airline had started out of Waterford."

"That airline was Ryanair—and we were on the very first flight out!"

That July 1985 flight from Waterford to Gatwick made it possible for them to record their first album Crimes Of Conscience, which spawned hit singles 'Gone Forever', 'The Seed That's Been Sown', and 'Girl In The Ghetto'.

Songs That Got Away: 1984-1990 features rarities from the Crimes Of Conscience days, as well as a number of songs cut from their second LP Witness for the World.

The retrospective album was released exactly 40 years after Cry Before Dawn got signed by CBS Records.

“I remember the excitement of it," Doyle says of the band's early success. "We had a couple of offers on the table, and we felt that CBS was the best offer. And we did a publishing deal with Chapel Music, so we got mixed up with two very big companies."

"Then we could give up the day job and go full-time into music, concentrate on the songs and concentrate on getting the album together.”

Before signing, the band played local shows for "3 or 4 years, with the odd trip to Dublin."

"We were playing in Waterford, Carlow, and Wexford, of course. We used to go out sometimes and play to six or seven people, which was a bit disheartening."

A Janice Long session on BBC Radio piqued the interest of some big record companies, including EMI, Virgin Records, and the band's future label, CBS's Epic Records. Soon, Cry Before Dawn were playing showcases for A&R representatives to try to snag a deal.

"It gave us quite a bit of confidence at the time," Doyle recalls. "We always felt we had good songs, but trying to get people to hear it is the hard bit, you know? When the record companies got interested in it… it gave us verification that the songs were good."

Doyle looks back on the band's early days with wistfulness and awe.

"When you’re a young fellow, you dream of becoming a professional soccer player or being in a rock band. We were lucky enough to be in a rock band and do it as a living. That was a big deal to us."

But the rock-and-roll life took a toll, and Cry Before Dawn took a hiatus in 1992, with no plans of reforming.

“I don’t think we had an inkling of coming back together," Doyle shares. "The lads were living in three different countries. I was the only one still living in Wexford, I think."

“A lot of people we’d meet on the street, they'd often ask, ‘oh, would you ever play again?' We hadn’t really had an idea about doing it, but around 2010, we were back in contact with each other. We met up... and we decided, yeah, let's go and do it."

The band officially got back together in 2011, appeasing those streetwalking fans by playing a number of shows.

"We got a really good reception from the crowds who came to see us," Doyle says of the reformation. "It was all worthwhile then. We sold some great shows!"

"We did two sold out nights in the National Opera House in Wexford, we did a great show in Dublin at Vicar Street... We proved to ourselves we weren’t a bad band. We were pretty good, and people still liked us."

Originally, the revival saw Cry Before Dawn as a trio, not a quartet.

“When we reformed in 2011, Tony, who’s a massive part of the sound of the band, couldn’t rejoin with us," Doyle says. "It wasn’t until about five years later Tony came back into the fold. Then we had the original four of us... When Tony came back, it felt right again."

For Doyle, the band's growth over time is evidenced through how they work together.

"As you go through life, you mature, and you learn, and all the rest of it. We’re very at ease with each other now. I think we work in a more relaxed way. There was a fair bit of pressure back in the old days to get results, to get songs. We do it under our own steam now."

With that can-do spirit in mind, Cry Before Dawn strayed from their tried-and-true recording methods to make their 2025 EP Open Water.

"The old way we did the recording was to get everybody into a studio, then just keep playing it and playing it, and the engineers and the producers got the best takes," Doyle explains. "It’s different now. We did it through three different countries."

The unconventionally-recorded EP was produced by Grammy-nominated duo Chris O'Brien and Graham Murphy.

"In Dublin were the producers. Brendan did the vocals from his studio in Switzerland, that’s where he lives. Tony did his guitars in England. We did the rest of it here, some of it in Enniscorthy in Wexford, and then it was all put together in Dublin."

"It was quite a different way of doing things than we were used to back in the 80s."

Doing things differently paid off: Open Water hit no. 1 on the Irish Independent Chart last August.

"We wanted to have a number one, and we had one," Doyle says. "Which was great for us. Just a bit of fulfillment."

"We were a bit nervous doing new recordings after such a long time. We always said we didn’t want to do it if we didn’t feel the songs were up to scratch, but we were very happy with the songs. Even doing it that way in the different countries, it worked for us."

Piggybacking off of the success of Open Water, the band is working on a new track.

"We’re in the middle of it right now—I’m in the studio as we talk," Doyle says. "We’re doing a new single, and that should be out in the middle of the summer."

“It’s an old song that’s now a new song, because we’ve re-experimented with it. It’s quite an upbeat song, but it’s looking at the world the way it is and all the problems in it. I think we’re all looking for someone to pop their head up and start the whole thing out. We’re all looking for a hero. That’s all I’ll say about it at the moment.”

They've got plenty of gigs coming up, too, including festival dates at Kildare's Greenfields and Wexford's Speigeltent.

"If we can continue doing great shows, continue producing some good songs and getting them recorded, putting them out as singles and maybe an album in the future, we’d be very happy with that... We’ve got a good bit to look forward to."

As he speaks about the band's history and legacy, Doyle's got nothing but gratitude to share.

"We as a band are delighted to still be around after 40 years. A lot of bands don't get 40 minutes."

Listen to Songs That Got Away: 1984-1990 here.

Read a full list of Cry Before Dawn's upcoming Irish gigs below.

Friday, May 1: Mike The Pies, Kerry

Saturday, May 2: King John’s Castle with guests The Human League, Limerick

Sunday, May 3 Greenfields Festival, Kildare

Friday, July 24: Cyprus Avenue, Cork

Sunday, July 26: Forest Fest, Laois

Friday, July 31: Dolans, Limerick

Friday, October 16: Spiegeltent Festival, Wexford

Saturday, October 17: Whelans, Dublin