Alarm sounds call
FOR STRENGTH & HOPE
A few weeks ago, Alarm frontman Mike Peters was watching The Killers play at Cardiff Castle near his home in Wales. They started playing something familiar, and it took Peters a few bars to realize they were covering the Alarm’s 1987 hit “Rain in the Summertime.”
“(Killers frontman) Brandon Flowers didn’t introduce it, he just started singing the lyrics,” Peters said this week. “I didn’t realize it myself, and I was at the gig. Then the next day it got dropped like an Exocet missile on the internet. And I think that shows the connection that people still have to The Alarm.”
There’s a few good reasons why Peters is one of the more admired figures in alternative rock. A threetime cancer survivor, he also saw his wife, Jules (currently the Alarm’s keyboard player), through a breast cancer battle two years ago. The couple has spearheaded numerous charitable drives through the Love Hope Strength foundation, including a concert he played atop Mount Everest in 2007. Through it all, he’s continued making the rousing, anthemic rock that’s been The Alarm’s calling card since they first toured America with U2 in 1983.
“At the end of the day, when you’re a musician you’re only trying to serve yourself in the outset,” he said. “But in that process, if you can create a set of words that touches someone else, that’s the blessing that music bestows on all of us. Sometimes life places you in a challenge where you’re lucky to come out the other end, and I’m lucky to have the support of our audience. We’ve taken our fans up mountains, we’ve sung our songs in the wilderness, and in hospitals where people are fighting to stay alive. Whether we like it or understand it or not, those experiences go back into what we do as a band.”
One result was that Peters received a Member of the British Empire award last December. “To be very honest, I received it on behalf of a lot of people, not just me. But it was a proud day for our family. Prince Charles was very gracious, he made us laugh at the ceremony, and it turns out his secretary is an Alarm fan.”
The couple’s recent struggles informed two new Alarm albums, last year’s “Equals” and the current “Sigma,” which will be featured at the Paradise next week.
“Making the records actually helped keep us alive. It was a tough situation in the Alarm family — we put the band on hold while I was relapsed with leukemia and Jules was diagnosed with breast cancer. I felt pretty helpless in that situation, so all I could do was write my feelings into the phone. And when Jules saw them she said, ‘Mike, I think you’re looking at your next record here.’ Once there was less fear in the air, I could put the ideas into songs. I thought we had a story that was compelling and would connect with our audience. It became a cathartic thing for all of us, and helped us reach out and take back the life that we craved.”
Joining The Alarm on this tour are two more bands with ’80s roots, Gene Loves Jezebel (with whom the band shares guitarist James Stevenson) and Modern English. “If they call this an ’80s thing, that sounds like we’re celebrating the end of something. But we still exist, we’re making new music and we’re still moving forward.”