Premiere: Cathedral of Tears - "Black Emotion"

"our love be screamin"

When Jack Grisham left legendary Long Beach punk band T.S.O.L. in 1983, he went on to form goth-inspired rock outfit Cathedral of Tears. Dubbed 'darkwave', Grisham formed the band with fellow T.S.O.L. alum Greg Kuehn, and while the band was relatively short-lived, their one release (1984's self-titled EP) has found resonance and a following that still reverberates today.

Prior to the release of the EP, a 3-song demo was recorded. It was never officially released after the label found the songs not to their liking. Grisham took matters into his own hands and stole the masters and drove them to Los Angeles radio station KROQ himself. In a 2011 interview, Grisham tells the story of how the songs took off after that;

"I stole the master tapes from the studio and drove them straight to KROQ. As I was driving away they were already playing “Black Emotion” on the radio. It went on to be the #4 most requested song on KROQ in 1984"

Now some 35 years after the demo was recorded, Pine Hill Records will officially release the Cathedral of Tears demo that includes an early version of the song "Black Emotion". We are very pleased to be able to share the lyric video for the demo, which you can check out above.

Pine Hill Record will release the 3-song demo as a 7" on October 4th. The limited-edition release will be available in a run of 250 gray colored vinyl, and 250 clear vinyl. You can pre-order the 7" now via Pine Hill Records.