Lunch with The Alarm this afternoon – recorded at The Marquee Club in London on January 30, 1983.
Formed in 1977 as a punk band originally called the Toilets, the Alarm went on to success in the early ‘80s, opening for U2, a band whom they were often compared to, with their stadium-ready rock anthems and uplifting lyrical themes.
Signed to the I.R.S. Records label, which was also home to the Go-Go’s and R.E.M., the Alarm soon became college radio favorites in the U.S. with songs like “The Stand,” “Sixty Eight Guns” and “Rain in the Summertime.” The band went on to headline its own tours as well as open for other acts, including Bob Dylan and Bruce Springsteen.
The band toured extensively through the United States and Europe through the 1980s into 1991. They gained much popularity in 1983 when they were the opening act for U2, a band to whom they often were compared musically. On 13 March 1988, the Alarm performed at The Fillmore in San Francisco with The 77s and House of Freaks.
1989’s Change was an homage to the group’s native Wales, and was accompanied by an alternate Welsh-language version Newid. Produced by Tony Visconti, Change spawned the group’s biggest Modern Rock hit in America, “Sold Me Down the River”, which also put them in the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 Top 50 for the first and only time. “Devolution Working Man Blues” and “Love Don’t Come Easy” also earned radio airplay, and the track “A New South Wales” had an appearance by the Welsh Symphony Orchestra and the Morriston Orpheus Male Voice Choir.[6] Although it was popular in Wales, it did not sell as well as the group’s earlier works, and internal band dissension, exacerbated by deaths in both Peters’ and Twist’s families, made 1991’s Raw the original Alarm’s final effort.
After the release of Raw in 1991, despite their success and relative longevity, Peters announced on stage at the Brixton Academy that he was leaving the band.
Peters, the frontman of the Alarm, may have died on April 29th of this year from cancer, but there will be more new music coming from the beloved Welsh rockers.
The band announced on the bandsintown platform over the weekend that Peters’ final album with the Alarm will be released in 2026 and there will also be some Alarm-related live performances.
So for those not familiar, here’s a taste of what they were all about in the early 80s.
Of course, famliar or not, crank this one up – you earned it, no matter what you’re doing.
