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Alarm Christmas 2011 thealarm 1,080 views Christmas Greeting from Mike Peters in 2011. Recorded in Norway during the Acoustic Norway Tour, December 2011.
Norway 2011 thealarm 174 views
In The Poppy Fields thealarm 854 views Mike Peters performs "In The Poppy Fields" at the O2 Oxford Academy on 11/11/11.
Mike Peters - Direct Acoustic Tour - Timelapse thealarm 1,256 views
Celtic Rock Festival Advert in Killarney thealarm 872 views
Avebury Rocks - 2011 thealarm 1,239 views A Love Hope Strength Foundation and Rotary Club event organised by Nick Harper and Love Hope Strength to raise funds for Prospect Hospice in Wiltshire. The 20 mile walk and...
6th June 2011 - 30 years since the birth of The Alarm thealarm 1,680 views
Sound And The Fury Tour 2011 - Soundchecking thealarm 1,219 views A glimpse of the band soundchecking during the May 2011 Sound And The Fury Tour of the UK
Unbreak The Promise thealarm 5,276 views
Gathering 2011 - Mikes opening comments thealarm 1,021 views

About The Alarm

One of the most underrated bands in the history of Rock music. They brought acoustic guitars back to rock, and helped inspire an Americana-roots movement around the world. Their original "big hair and cowboy attire" (a look they had ditched by 1985) was stolen by every hair-metal band of the late 80's. They were one of the original bands to continue the punk DIY spirit by pressing their own single in
1981, had over almost 20 top-40 singles
through the 80's and in the 21st century.
Famous songs: The Stand, 68 Guns, Strength, Rain In The Summertime, Sold Me Down The River, 45 RPM, Superchannel.

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thealarm.com

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thealarm

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Dec 24, 2011

Date Joined

Jun 23, 2006

About this user

THE ALARM - Biography
As The Alarm continues into it's 25th year, the band still commands worldwide attention since being formed in 1981, by lead singer and guitarist, Mike Peters. The Alarm have scored hit records in each of the three decades since, 16 Top 50 UK singles, a host of successful albums and over 5 million sales worldwide. The band's most most recent chart success of 2004 was the controversial hit single '45 R.P.M.'.
'45 R.P.M.', originally released by 'The Poppy Fields' [a psuedonym for The Alarm], entered the UK charts at number 27 and immediately became the subject of an international news story. The furore centered around the fact that The Alarm's identity had been kept hidden from the media and instead a stand-in group of 18 year old musicians appeared in the video. '45 R.P.M.' was played extensively throughout the UK and was championed by unsuspecting DJ's and critics as the first release by a brand new band. It was only after the song entered the charts that Mike Peters and The Alarm revealed the true identity of 'The Poppy Fields', thus causing a storm of worldwide media speculation. This raised the band's profile higher than it had been for many years. The band even featured on prime time America's CBS News with Dan Rather.
The story of how The Alarm fooled the British Music Industry has also become the inspiration for a major motion picture which will be shot in the U.K. during the summer of 2006 by 'Shrek ' producer, John H. Williams and British film director Sara Sugarman.

The follow up to 'In The Poppy Fields' - 'Under Attack' began in Peters' converted Chapel Studio in North Wales. "The writing of this album is much more organic than any other album The Alarm ever made" says Peters. Having worked alone as a songwriter for most of the history of the original Alarm, Peters decided to let his lyrics be inspired by the music the band set about creating together. "At first, I had no lyrics to begin with, only music, I wanted the content to form during the rehearsal sessions with the band. I then spent hours transcribing recordings of the songs to find the lyrical direction". The first single 'Superchannel' is powerful evidence for the effectiveness of the process; the arrangement on the album was captured during the very first run-through.

Circumstances began to affect the outcome of the record. 'Something's Got To Give' was created on the day the world gathered to 'make poverty history' at the Live 8 events. The London bombings of 7/7 affected the writing of 'My Town' and 'This Is The Way We Are" was inspired by a film Mike Peters had made of his hometown, Rhyl, North Wales (The footage had been shot to highlight ideas for the 45 R.P.M. movie soundtrack the band will be recording when the film goes into full production this summer). "When I looked back at the rushes, I was shocked by how much the place where I had grown up had changed. I'd seen change before and had always embraced it; this was the first time I had seen change that unnerved me...it made me feel uncertain, unsafe, scared..." said Peters.

Another more shocking dimension was added to the album's title when Peters was diagnosed on December 8th last year with Chronic Lymphacytic Leukaemia (CLL). Mike Peters (who broke the news to the world via www.thealarm.com website), said "The doctors have said to me that I may have been carrying my cancer for the last twelve months at least. My body must have known what I did not. Now I know why my instinct led me to title the album 'Under Attack'.

Returning to EMI, the Alarm are making 'Under Attack' available as an audio-visual release with a performance-based promo clip for each track on an accompanying DVD. 'It's a different way of presenting the album, and I think that's how they're going to be made in the future.' Produced by George Wiliams [Babyshambles], Martin Wilding [Poppy Fields, Doves] and the band themselves 'Under Attack' will also be preceded on Monday February 6th by the release of the first single 'Superchannel'. 'Superchannel' was mixed by Charlie Pakkarri at Capitol Studios in Los Angeles.

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Hometown

Rhyl, Wales

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United Kingdom

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61 videos Play all(61) Uploaded videos by The Alarm

5 videos Play all(5) Release The Pressure - Cambridge - 22-04-2010 by The Alarm

14 videos Play all(14) Release The Pressure - Liverpool - 02-05-2010 by The Alarm

10 videos Play all(10) Release The Pressure Tour - Cardiff - 14-04-2010 by The Alarm

3 videos Play all(3) Release The Pressure - Edinburgh - 01-05-2010 by The Alarm

2 videos Play all(2) Release The Pressure - Glasgow - 30-04-2010 by The Alarm