The Alarm
Play Radio
Listen to The Alarm Radio,
featuring artists like Big Country, The Call, Mike Peters, The Icicle Works and more…
-
Search on Spotify
Yes, it scrobbles! Learn more
439,375 plays (58,973 listeners)
Rhyl, Wales (1978 – 1991, 2001 – present)
The Alarm is an alternative rock band which formed in 1978 in Rhyl, Wales. For most of their career the band consisted of Mike Peters (vocals, guitar), Dave Sharp (guitar), Eddie Macdonald (bass) and Nigel Twist (drums). The band split in 1991, but reunited in 2001.
The band began in 1978 in the North-Wales town of Rhyl, under the name of ‘Seventeen’. Its 4 members were Mike Peters, Dave Sharp, Eddie Macdonald and Nigel Twist. They knocked around the music scene for a while with little success and reformed as ‘Alarm Alarm’ (taken from one of Seventeen’s songs) in 1981. Then revered BBC DJ John Peel compared them to Duran Duran and Talk Talk and they quickly changed their name to ‘The Alarm’. With the change of their name, came a change of location. The Alarm moved to London and shared a small flat in the city to save money for their first single, ‘Unsafe Building’ b/w ‘Up For Murder’. They came to the attention of U2 in ‘82 and toured with them as their support band (they frequently reprised that role). In 1983, ‘Sixty-eight Guns’ was released. It became their biggest hit, propelling them to #17 in the charts, and they appeared on Top of The Pops for the first and last time. Throughout the decade, the band made more albums, including ‘Strength’ and ‘Eye Of The Hurricane’; but by the late 80’s The Alarm had begun to drift apart, with Dave Sharp feeling isolated and left out of the song writing process. The relationships within the band were deteriorating. Their last album, ‘Raw’, was fragmented and the group were breaking apart. On June 30th 1991 at the Brixton Academy, Mike Peters announced on stage that he was leaving ‘The Alarm’ without telling the rest of the band. And thus The Alarm ended.
The band began in 1978 in the North-Wales town of Rhyl, under the name of ‘Seventeen’. Its 4 members were Mike Peters, Dave Sharp, Eddie Macdonald and Nigel Twist. They knocked around the music scene for a while with little success and reformed as ‘Alarm Alarm’ (taken from one of Seventeen’s songs) in 1981. Then revered BBC DJ John Peel compared them to Duran Duran and Talk Talk and they quickly changed their name to ‘The Alarm’. With the change of their name, came a change of location. The Alarm moved to London and shared a small flat in the city to save money for their first single, ‘
Unsafe Building’ b/w ‘Up For Murder’. They came to the attention of U2 in ‘82 and toured with them as their support band (they frequently reprised that role). In 1983, ‘Sixty-eight Guns’ was released. It became their biggest hit, propelling them to #17 in the charts, and they appeared on Top of The Pops for the first and last time. Throughout the decade, the band made more albums, including ‘Strength’ and ‘Eye Of The Hurricane’; but by the late 80’s The Alarm had begun to drift apart, with Dave Sharp feeling isolated and left out of the song writing process. The relationships within the band were deteriorating. Their last album, ‘Raw’, was fragmented and the group were breaking apart. On June 30th 1991 at the Brixton Academy, Mike Peters announced on stage that he was leaving ‘The Alarm’ without telling the rest of the band. And thus The Alarm ended.
Shouts:
43 shouts
Top Albums
-
Standards
The Alarm
Buy- Download Album
- Amazon MP3 $9.49
- 7digital $8.99
- iTunes $9.99
- Buy Album
- Amazon $4.95
- eBay Search
-
The Best Of...
The Alarm Buy- Download Album
- Amazon MP3 Search
- 7digital Search
- iTunes Search
- Buy Album
- Amazon Search
- eBay Search
-
The Best Of The Alarm
The Alarm Buy- Download Album
- Amazon MP3 $9.49
- 7digital $11.99
- iTunes $11.99
- Buy Album
- Amazon $10.06
- eBay Search
-
Declaration
The Alarm Buy- Download Album
- Amazon MP3 Search
- 7digital Search
- iTunes Search
- Buy Album
- Amazon $99.95
- eBay Search
Shoutbox
-
prominence_la wrote:
U2? That's just silly. Reminds me more of the Skids or New Model Army. Solid band, with plenty of gusto.
-
Jpnylonmag wrote:
Hate the U2 comparisons, these guys are sooo much better! (2)
-
BadKittyRocks wrote:
<3 LIFE IZ CRUEL & SO UNKIND <3 OH OH <3 WHERE'S IT GONE <3 THE SPIRIT OF '76 <3
-
trad-goth wrote:
The eye of the Hurricane is one hell of a fine album the best thing to come out of rhyl (wales) ever :P
-
KurtBell wrote:
These lot were funking great last night in Whitehaven!
-
heres_mez wrote:
Ironic that Mike Peters actually taught the edge some chords when The Alarm were supporting u2 !!
-
glsjawtomatica wrote:
To think these guys are playing bars while U2 (who blow imo) are playing stadiums is a travesty.
-
Mod7Psyche wrote:
they are't german.from wales,metal,punk.
-
wildflowersmr wrote:
Hate the U2 comparisons, these guys are sooo much better!
-
diezeitgeist wrote:
It still eludes me how few plays this band has...
-
jfon605 wrote:
"Guilty pleasures"? It really is unbelievable how nearly every 80s pop/rock band winds up with this tag. I have to wonder what these pretentious morons listen to that they consider more so much more "legitimate" in comparison.
-
MajorTomNbg wrote:
Very british, sorry very goody welsh. Great Band.
-
IonaEnglish wrote:
my mum dated David for god ages lol, didn't think i'd find them on here
-
ashdinosaur wrote:
Mike Peters is a really lovely guy :)
-
inmate1571 wrote:
Saw them in '84' when i was 15 travelled to Rhyl from Birmingham and they put on a great show, always puzzles me how many great tunes they've had but how underrated they still are.
-
niall2910 wrote:
Best Alarm song ' Absolute Reality ' & maybe The Rock .
-
queenie_sweet wrote:
iiii met mike peters in november <3 it was a week before my birthday and i was loving it! what a nice guy. love the alarm, best band to ever come out of wales lol.
-
briantravis wrote:
Great effing group here!
-
Richey_James wrote:
Post-Punk Society
-
shaunneary wrote:
Seeing as i couldn't find an event listing for Gathering 17, i created this, so if you're going, add it to your calender. Enjoy. http://www.last.fm/event/890666
Videos
See more
News
Happy Birthday James Stevenson and Willie Nile Tour
12 Oct 2011 | from blog.myspace.com/thealarm
On behalf of all at The Alarm and the MPO, A very Happy
Birthday today to our own James Stevenson!! In addition to the
upcoming Gene Loves Jezebel gigs supporting The Mission, James will
…
-
Happy Birthday James Stevenson and Willie Nile Tour
12 Oct 2011 | from blog.myspace.com/thealarm -
11 Oct 2011 | from blog.myspace.com/thealarm -
11 Oct 2011 | from blog.myspace.com/thealarm
Listening Now
Top Listeners
-
JeremyAce4
Top Listener
-
TGlyptic
Top Listener
-
DareDerkaut
Top Listener
-
johnpaulweller
Top Listener
Recent Activity
-
NigelBond66, scottmf91, angioletto61 and 27 other people added The Alarm to their libraries. Sunday evening
-
Vfrbiker45 tagged The Alarm with ‘seen live’. last month
-
effet-de-nuit tagged The Alarm with ‘rock’. last month
-
mrsongbird, wpundt, Alanhenson and 10 other people added The Alarm to their libraries. last month
-
kot-tik tagged The Alarm with new wave, rock and 80s. December 2011
-
Guirur, megagrauer and kev24935 added The Alarm to their libraries. December 2011
-
Liturgies tagged The Alarm with post-punk, british, welsh and 5 other tags. December 2011
-
und1955, jamnetters, MANIACPC and 7 other people added The Alarm to their libraries. December 2011
-
wilte01 tagged The Alarm with ‘alternative’. December 2011
-
Liturgies and malloyal added The Alarm to their libraries. December 2011
Related Journals
-
Concert List
by immi505 |
29 May 2011
-
Seen Live
by Brandnewbrendan |
16 Nov 2010
-
100 Summer Songs
by Shasolace |
10 Jun 2010
| 1 comment
Groups (14)
-
The Alarm
41 members
-
Extensive Musical Taste
33,456 members
-
New Wave
4,386 members
-
The Eighties Habit
1,649 members
-
Vh1
495 members
More Information
- Links
- Band Members
- Labels
