The Alarm

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The Alarm are a Welsh alternative rock band, who were most popular in the 1980s.

Contents

[edit] Band members

[edit] Biography

The band was formed in Rhyl, Wales in 1978 and was originally called Seventeen. They were subsequently renamed Alarm Alarm. However, lead singer Mike Peters at the advice of legendary DJ John Peel, decided to change the name again in 1981, because too many bands during the early 1980s had redundant names, such as The The and Duran Duran.

Peters and Twist had originally been in local punk band The Toilets, Sharp in Chuck Burial & The Embalmed and Macdonald in Amsterdam. All bands were short lived.

They moved from North Wales to London and made a name for themselves through playing countless gigs in the capital. The high-fuelled stage show earned them recognition. The band toured extensively through the United States and Europe through the 1980s into 1991. They gained much popularity in 1983 as they were the opening act during U2's War Tour. The Alarm were often compared musically to U2.

On March 13, 1988, The Alarm performed at the legendary Fillmore Auditorium in San Francisco, California with The 77s and House of Freaks. Audience members included Neil Young. After the release of Raw in 1991, despite their success and relative longevity, Mike Peters announced on stage at the Brixton Academy that he was leaving the band. This came as much of a shock to his colleagues as the audience. Although the three remaining members tried to continue without Peters, they soon disbanded.

After a long and successful solo career in the 1990s, Peters re-organized the group again with different members, including Craig Adams (ex The Sisters of Mercy, The Mission, The Cult), James Stevenson (Chelsea, Gene Loves Jezebel, The Cult) and Steve Grantley of Stiff Little Fingers, and released the In the Poppy Fields CD in 2004. The lead single reached the Top 40, on indie Snapper Music after the band credited the track to The Poppyfields and got a younger band to front the single in their video. However the second single, credited to The Alarm, charted a few places lower than the Top 40.

The original members of The Alarm finally appeared together on the VH1 show Bands Reunited in 2005, and performed live in London with a subsequent expanded DVD/CD release of the episode.

The Alarm's single "68 Guns" has been featured in an American Heineken lager television commercial.

In late December 2005, singer Mike Peters revealed he has been diagnosed with a form of cancer called chronic lymphocytic leukemia, but it was diagnosed in its early stages and his prognosis is favourable. This came after he had been in remission from cancer previously that he had fought in the 1990s. Indeed the 1996 solo album Feel Free has a song titled "Regeneration" in which he discusses his diagnosis and subsequent alternative medicine that he believes help cure him.

February 2006 saw the UK release of a new album, Under Attack on EMI, credited to The Alarm MMVI. The first single release, entitled "Superchannel", hit number one on the UK Rock Chart and number 23 in the main UK Album Chart. For the first time the album had a DVD with a separate video for each of the 13 songs. The videos were shot and edited in a record breaking three days, in and around their "hometown" of Rhyl, by 1000 Words Productions.

The U.S. release of "Under Attack" was Tuesday June 13, 2006 on Eleven Thirty Records. Like the UK edition it features the DVD, but with a bonus Special Edition of "Superchannel" and a 'behind the scenes' style documentary.

[edit] Discography

[edit] Albums

[edit] as The Alarm MMVI

[edit] Singles

Year Title
Chart Positions
 Album
US Billboard Hot 100 US Mainstream Rock US Modern Rock UK Singles
1981 "Unsafe Buildings/Up for Murder" - - - - Non-album single
1983 "The Stand/Third Light" - #1 #1 #86 Declaration
1983 "68 Guns/68 Guns Part 2/Thoughts of a Young Man" - - - #17 Declaration
1984 "Where Were You Hiding When the Storm Broke?/Pavilion Steps/What Kind of Hell (Live)" - - - #22 Declaration
1984 "The Deceiver/Reason 41/Second Generation" - - - #51 Declaration
1984 "The Chant Has Just Begun/The Bells of Rhymney/The Stand (Full version)/Bound for Glory" - - - #48 Non-album single
1985 "Absolute Reality/Reason 36/Blaze of Glory (Alternate version)/Room at the Top" - - - #35 Strength
1985 "Strength/Majority" #61 #12 - #40 Strength
1986 "Spirit of '76/Where Were You Hiding When The Storm Broke (Live)/Knocking On Heaven's Door (Live)/Deeside (Live)/68 Guns (Live)" - #29 - #22 Strength
1986 "Knife Edge/Caroline Isenburg/Unbreak the Promise (BBC Acoustic session)/Howling Wind (BBC Acoustic session)" - - - #43 Strength
1987 "Rain in the Summertime/Rose Beyond The Wall/The Bells of Rhymney (Live)/Time to Believe" #71 #6 - #18 Eye of the Hurricane
1987 "Rescue Me/Pastures of Plenty/Elders and Folklore/My Land Your Land" - #35 - #48 Eye of the Hurricane
1988 "Presence of Love/Strength (Live)/Dawn Chorus (Live)/Knife Edge (Live)" #77 #16 - #44 Eye of the Hurricane
1989 "Sold Me Down the River/Corridors Of Power/Firing Line" #50 #2 #3 #43 Change
1989 "Devolution Workin' Man Blues" - #9 #11 Not released in the UK Change
1989 "A New South Wales/The Rock" - - - #31 Change
1990 "Love Don't Come Easy" - #33 - #48 Change
1990 "Unsafe Building 1990/Up For Murder 1990" - - - #54 Standards
1990 "The Road" - #16 #7 Not released in the UK Standards
1991 "Raw" - - #15 #51 Raw
2004 "45RPM" (credited to The Poppyfields) - - - #28 In the Poppyfields
2004 "New Home New Life" - - - #45 In the Poppyfields
2006 "Superchannel" - - - #23 Under Attack

[edit] References

[edit] External links

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