The Alarm talk ahead of Birmingham gig

But in recent years, the band has more than made up for that fallow period. The albums Blood Red and Viral Black were released last year and the band’s latest long player, Equals, has followed this. There have also been deluxe reissues of their debut album, Eponymous, and their breakthrough, Declaration, this year.

They play Birmingham O2 Academy on December 2.

The band’s new album, Equals, is the record that gets Mike going. “It had quite a long incubation period,” he says, ever the master of understatement. “Twenty four or 25 songs were created and pared down to make 10-11 for the record.

“I think the output has been down to a few things. We had significant Alarm anniversaries such as the 30th anniversary of Declaration and Strength and the first gigs that we played on a band. I felt the focus on our history would dominate in that period so I didn’t want to release new music.

“Then there was almost no need for a record because of the reissues and I wanted to take part in those anniversaries, reflect, learn and look back. In the Peters’ family, my wife was diagnosed with breast cancer and I had leukaemia – you couldn’t write the script. So the process of healing informed the record. We were challenged on many levels. But The Alarm has always taken a positive step into the world and that’s what the new record does. We never have a morbid way of looking at things, there is always positive.”

Mike and his wife needed time to heal, to document and to renew. And now, they are back and firing on all cylinders. His wifes, Jules, has been given the all-clear and Mike has also enjoyed positive news following regular reviews of his blood.

“We can’t really believe it. There were two BBC documentaries about the struggles we’d faced. The second was focused on Jules. It featured Rachael Bland from the BBC who sadly passed away. She was diagnosed after Jules and their stories collided.”

broadcast

The June release of The Alarm’s acclaimed new album Equals put the band back in the charts on both sides of the Atlantic. And since then, The Alarm have been performing non-stop, including an impromptu Beatles-style rooftop concert from Live Nation’s New York City HQ in August that was broadcast live on Facebook and attracted over 100,000 views.

During the broadcast, Mike announced that The Alarm would be taking part in the Love Hope Strength Foundation’s Rock The Canyons event this October 14th-21st, performing at a concert deep inside the Grand Canyon with special guests Billy Duffy (The Cult) and Robin Wilson (Gin Blossoms).

He’s great mates with Billy and they’ve been hanging around for years.

“I love Billy. We worked together in the late 90s when both our bands were around. We learned a lot about the roles of our opposites by climbing in the mountains in Wales and hanging out. We used to talk things through. Neither of us had an agenda to have to get on. We just enjoyed each other’s company. I idolised him as a guitarist and learned a lot about the guitarist’s role from talking to him. I like to think he learned a lot about the singer’s role too.”

They worked together in the band Coloursound, alongside Billy’s former Cult bandmate Scott Garret and Craig Adams, formerly of The Mission. Mike is hopefully that they’ll play together again. “Hopefully Coloursound will come back into being. But that band really gave birth to the modern day Cult and The Alarm. The boys from both bands were there in attendance when we gigged as Coloursound and the next day the phones were ringing. Sometimes you have to come home. To come home, you have to go away. Both bands are now on the upward curve.”

While being respectful of their past, The Alarm have avowedly rejected the nostalgia market that so many others mine. He continues to push forward, creating new music, while also keeping his feet on the ground. It was ever thus. In 1986, at the height of The Alarm’s fame, Mike was based in London during the week but was still living with his parents in Rhyl. He met his future wife, Jules, after hitchhiking home one weekend. She was then an under-graduate student at Bangor University studying English, and the couple were engaged two weeks later. They have stayed together through thick and thin.

“We’ve had to face life and death challenges and the music has moved with our lives. I’ve always been in tune with the lyrics because I have to sing those songs and mean them. The meaning of the songs changes as you go through life but they’re still just as strong.”