Mount Airy, North Carolina-based rock band The Brotherhood Of Peace released an album ‘Cuttin’ Loose’ in 1976. It was recorded by Don Dixon and Robert Kirkland of Arrogance. Now decades later RidingEasy Records reissued their fantastic album consisting of heavy boogie rock and power pop.

The album flows somewhat similar to the way Big Star combined heavy riffs with airy pop sweetness, but B.O.P. brought more of a blues rock groove to the proceedings, resulting in heavier undercurrents to songs with glowing 3-part harmonies and impeccable power trio musicianship. By the mid-70s, rock ’n’ roll was truly anything goes. Experimentation, excess and inventing new genres was all the rage, and the trio of spritely young men — guitarist/vocalist Dennis Tolbert, bassist/vocalist Mike Arrington and drummer/vocalist Ronnie Smith — gamely tackled whatever sound they pleased. Fortunately, the band captured it all on their lone album, released on the small independent label Avanti Records in March 1976. The Mount Airy, North Carolina trio got its start as teens in 1969 as the backing band to a large 20-50 person traveling church choir called the New Americans. By 1970, the band was ready to move on to performing on their own. First as a sextet, the band soon trimmed down to a 3-piece, working the local club circuit like madmen, sometimes playing three shows a day. At the height of their live tightness, B.O.P. recorded the album with local musicians Don Dixon and Robert Kirkland of the band Arrogance who worked at Charlotte recording studio Reflection Sound in October 1975. The initial pressing of 1000 copies was released in March 1976, but without major label machinery for retail distribution, radio and press, the album never took off the way it could’ve. The band mostly sold them at live shows, via consignment at local stores and in limited distribution in the Southeastern region.

“We opened for a lot of bigger groups after the release of the album”

Where and when did you grow up? Was music a big part of your family life?

Dennis Tolbert: I was born in 1952 and grew up in Mt. Airy, N.C. Music had been a part of my Dad’s family, but that was years before I was born. I was raised in a church-going family and I sang in the choir there as a teen. I wasn’t really influenced by the local music scene which was mostly gospel, country and bluegrass. AM top 40 radio was probably my earliest influence and later, music tv shows like Ed Sullivan, Johnny Cash, Tom Jones and others.

When did you begin playing music? What was your first instrument? Who were your major influences?

I started out on drums around the age of 12. Played for a year or so then moved on to guitar. Of course, The Beatles, Elvis Presley and modern pop music were all early influences.

What bands were you a member of prior to the formation of Brotherhood Of Peace?

I was writing my own songs by the age 15-16. My first real performing band was called The Casualty Company. I played rhythm guitar, percussion and sang lead and backup vocals. We were together for a year or so. Around my junior year in high school, I joined The New Americans. It was basically a vocal group that did religious, patriotic and pop tunes. We sang at functions locally and in bigger venues also. We sang everywhere: churches, schools, clubs, festivals, et cetera. About a year into that, with the rising success of that group, the director asked me to form a band to accompany the singers. Within The New Americans and with the help of some drafted new members, we put together a 6 piece group. I wrote a song called ‘Brotherhood Of Peace’ and that was what we called the band.

Can you elaborate on the formation of the Brotherhood Of Peace?

Other than earlier appearances with The New Americans, who by the way, we recorded two albums with in 1969-70 and 1971, we appeared at Atlanta Fulton Co. Stadium in front of close to 55,000 people at an Atlanta Braves doubleheader intermission along with a regional VFW convention in Miami. We had a lot of exposure for a bunch of teenagers. As members got older, going away to college, relocating etc., the band slimmed down to a trio. After another year or so with the New Americans, Brotherhood Of Peace left the fold to go out on our own. Other than the New Americans material, some of the early songs the Brotherhood Of Peace performed were more rock influenced like Steppenwolf, the Beatles, Rolling Stones and even Iron Butterfly. We were accepted righteously early on because of our previous exposure with The New Americans. As I said before, we went from playing churches, rec halls, bowling alleys, etc., to teen clubs, more festivals, country clubs, school dances/proms, pizza restaurants and any other special events that we could. We played mostly in N.C. and Va. in the beginning. We went through a lot of different musical phases in the early ’70’s, but all were rock oriented. We covered the hits and album cuts by different groups along with a few of our own songs too. Guitar, bass and drums with all 3 members singing lead and backup. We ventured out, adding Tenn., S.C. and W. Va. to our list of performing areas, playing night clubs and more festivals along the way.

What’s the story behind your debut album?

By around 1974, we had enough original material to record an album. We dreamed that by doing this, we would move on to the next level. Through a night club we were playing at that time, we did a live recording with Don Dixon, who was a member of Arrogance. He had a mobile recording studio in a bread truck where we could run a sound snake from the venue out the back door. The recording came out pretty good and later we approached him about the further recording of a studio album. We sent Don a cassette of our originals and after a meeting, we scheduled the recording session at Reflection Sound Studios in Charlotte, N.C. in Oct. of 1975. We did all 9 of the basic tracks in about 15 hours and went back the next day and did the vocals and overdubs. We used Sound City and Acoustic amps, Ludwig drums, an Ovation acoustic, a Hammond B-3, Echoplex, Maestro phase shifter, Cry Baby wah pedal and various percussion and congas. I wrote all of the music on the album and here are my comments about the songs. Since You’ve Been Mine was influenced by my hybrid of Beatles/Badfinger/Raspberries pop/rock inspiration.

<a href="https://ridingeasyrecords.bandcamp.com/album/cuttin-loose">Cuttin’ Loose by Brotherhood of Peace</a>

‘Holiday’ is my nod to Led Zeppelin. ‘Mistreater’ and ‘Red Sun’ have a Doobie Bros./Grand Funk feel to them. ‘Candyland’ is the hard rock hybrid of Deep Purple meets Nazareth. ‘Little Sweet Kiss’ is our contribution to dance music that was filtering in during this period, tight and catchy. ‘Ready To Go’ was our nod to early Lynyrd Skynyrd, with a plodding beat, talkbox and percussion. ‘Before The Dawn’ is our power ballad with nods to Led Zeppelin again. Closing out the album is ‘Keep On Getting It On’ which felt like Grand Funk to me. The album was called ‘Cuttin’ Loose’. We were hoping for a Christmas release that year (1975), but it didn’t happen till March of 1976. We shopped it around to radio stations, booking agencies, promoters and even sold them at shows. I think we had 1000 copies pressed. There may have been a repressing but I’m not sure.

We expanded our touring to include Florida, Georgiy and Alabama. We opened for a lot of bigger groups after the release of the album. Shows with Capricorn acts, White Witch and Captain Beyond, Grinderswitch and Atlanta Rhythm Section, then local favorites Nantucket, Glass Moon, Jesse Bolt and Blackfoot.

What about the single, ‘Feel the Heat (In the Driver’s Seat)’ / ‘Dance the Hoochie Koochie’?

In January of 1978 we recorded a single ‘Feel The Heat’ b/w ‘Dance The Hoochie Cootchie’ at Reflection’s newer location, producing it ourselves. We kept rolling along doing shows and adding Black Oak Arkansas, Brownsville Station, Jerry Jeff Walker, Hydra and others to our list of major groups we had shared the stage with.

What happened after the band stopped?

Disco was getting bigger all the way thru the late ’70’s and rock shows in clubs became less attractive. Sadly in 1979, we folded. Less than a year later, I formed the Dennis Tolbert Band and have been performing ever since. One of the members that recorded the album has passed away and the other member went on to play with several other groups. The bassist who appeared on the 45, Frank Scheper, still plays around eastern N.C. and I continue to chat with him occasionally.

“I am humbly proud of all my original music on the album and 45”

Looking back, what was the highlight of your time in the band?

As far as highlights of my time in BOP, the gig at Atlanta Stadium is still the largest crowd I ever performed for. The recording of ‘Cuttin’ Loose,’ working with Don Dixon, Robert Kirkland, Rod Abernethy, all from Arrogance, was a fantastic experience. I am humbly proud of all my original music on the album and 45. Just the idea of a teenager growing up in a small town N.C. being able to travel and perform music that he loves, is and will always be, a blessing to me. There have been countless memorable gigs: so many that I don’t really have a favorite.

What would be the craziest gig you ever did?

As far as craziest gigs, are you kidding? The majority of them all were quite crazy: from Lee Dorman of Iron Butterfly/Captain Beyond blowing up his bass amp during the show and having to use ours to meeting Nazareth, original members of Lynyrd Skynyrd, touring with the original line up of Blackfoot, meeting members of the Doobie Bros., Bob Seger’s Silver Bullet Band and Peter Frampton himself.

Is there any unreleased material by Brotherhood of Peace?

There are a few bits and pieces of demos of unreleased BOP music but sadly, they’ve vanished with time.

Are you excited about the recent RidingEasy Records reissue?

I am very excited with the re-release of both ‘Cuttin’ Loose’ and the 45 ‘Feel The Heat’.

Thank you for taking your time. Last word is yours.

Even though we never hit the bigtime, there are a lot of folks who remember the group, the music we played and the times that we had in the glory days of ’70’s rock.

Klemen Breznikar

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