The founding members of Cry of Love are all experienced musicians from small rural communities in North Carolina USA.
Prior to the formation Cry of Love, Drummer Jason Patterson was playing in a revised line-up of 70’s rockers 'Nantucket' whilst guitarist Audley Freed and Bassist Robert Kearns had played in 'Sidewinder' (a legendary cover band in the NC area).
In 1989, the three musicians left the cover band circuit and began rehearsing in Raleigh whilst looking for a singer to front the band.
Intial singer was Pee Wee Watson, who had played in Nantucket and later, the Nantucket off-shoot band PKM. The band eventually recruited singer Kelly Holland in November 1991. Kelly was actually the bands first choice for vocalist and only became available after making a decision not to follow his band 'The Point' to Los Angeles in October 1991.
They began recording a demo with friend / producer John Custer. John, who had produced US Hardcore Metal band Corrosion Of Conformity, helped them by working around the studio’s paying customers. Sessions were cheap but might only last a few hours before a two week break. In short, everything was far from finished when a friend of Audley’s, Pepper Keenan of COC, was rehearsing for a tour in the studio right next door to Cry Of Love. Pepper, asked for a tape to take with him on the upcoming Corrosion Of Conformity tour, under strict instruction from the members of Cry Of Love not to play it to anybody...
Within a short time, Pepper Keenan had played the tape for Corrosion Of Conformity’s record label and Cry Of Love were invited to set-up a show. Columbia A&R man, Josh Sarubin, later said after hearing the first 10 seconds he had already made up his mind he wanted to sign the band. The video of the show was sent back to the record company president and Cry of Love were told to “Get a lawyer”...
The band had their first rehearsal with Kelly on November 1st 1991, played their first show in January 1992, got offered their deal 1st day of June, signed it on August 10th and were in Muscle Shoals studios on November 1st 1992. The now legendary debut album "Brother" took 20 days to record.
Within another year, "Peace Pipe" (taken from the debut album) was at the top of US magazine Billboard’s Album Rock Chart. Cry of Love's 1993 debut album Brother yielded two other rock radio hits. "Bad Thing" and "Too Cold In The Winter" were the soundtrack for an extensive 18 month tour opening for Lynyrd Skynyrd, Paul Rodgers, Bad Company, ZZ Top and playing in Europe as support for Robert Plant. In addition, they continued their own heavy touring schedule, where they freely jammed on extended versions of album material and preceded their second UK tour with a well received spot at the 1994 Donnington Festival.
It therefore came as something of a surprise when Kelly Holland departed later that year ("Brother" had sold over 220,000 copies in the States alone). After parting ways with their singer, the band launched an exhaustive search for a new voice while writing songs and rehearsing for a new album. Former Silent Witness and Lynch Mob vocalist Robert Mason was eventually recruited to replace Holland as the band's new frontman.
With a new singer in tow, Cry Of Love entered Jag Studios in Raleigh with producer / engineer John Custer once again and recorded the second album "Diamonds & Debris" for release in 1997.
Mason had come to the band after Cry Of Love had received in the region of 400 demo tapes from singers looking for the job... unfortunately, the band failed to achieve the level of success that "Brother" had enjoyed. Columbia pulled back tour support for the album and the band split towards the end of 1997 !
There was no way the band could afford to continue touring without the help of a label...
Source : http://www.myspace.com/cryoflovepeacepipe
