The short-lived band Lava was founded in 1971 by keyboardist Thomas Karrenbach and guitarist Stefan Ostertag, who were actually actors at Berlin's Forum Theatre. They got together with Jürgen Kraaz (g, b, fl, voc), Christian Ostertag (b, g, voc), Archer Weaver (dr, harm, voc) and Peter Moses (perc) to make music together. With these sessions and a few live performances, they made a name for themselves in the Berlin underground scene. The record label Brain took notice of them and offered them a record deal. They subsequently recorded their debut album in 1973 at Audio Studios Berlin, produced and mixed at Windrose Studios by legendary producer and sound engineer Conny Plank. Their first and only LP, Tears Are Goin' Home, was released in the same year in the green Brain 1000 series.

The seven songs are very varied and entertaining thanks to their extremely diverse and different musical approaches. They played hard space rock, psychedelic heavy rock blues, American West Coast folk rock, melancholic jams with acoustic instruments, and progressive rock with flute and organ. Discouraged by their lack of success and shocked by the early death of Thomas Karrenbach, the group disbanded in 1974. Rediscovered by collectors many years later, the original German vinyl on the cult label Brain now fetches high prices.