There are many bands that made the ‘80s memorable and one of them has a brand new album on the way. Welsh rockers The Alarm – who gave us “Absolute Reality,” “Sold Me Down the River,” “Sixty Eight Guns,” “Rescue Me,” and one of my personal faves, “Rain in the Summertime” – will deliver “Forwards” on June 2nd.
Front-man Mike Peters is headed to the States for a few acoustic shows in New York and will be chatting with OC Music News as well. We are incredibly pleased by this news as Peters has had a rough go of it lately. When I say “rough go,” I mean Peters was hospitalized with pneumonia and a relapse of leukemia, but in addition to kicking butt through all of his treatments, he wrote music to get through it.
“I literally took my guitar into [the] hospital with me,” Peters explained. “I was on the ward for such a long time, I started writing these songs in between IV sessions and the first people to hear the music were the very people who were trying to keep me alive.”
He continued, “I’ve been to places only deep suffering can take the human spirit and, in the darkness, I clung onto every piece of light I could find to work my way back to life. This was the energy that drove me to write and record Forwards.”
When he was not in the hospital, Peters and the band headed to the recording studio and, despite being weak from his treatments, he was able to record 10 new, “life affirming Alarm songs.” The band has already released three singles off the upcoming album: “Next,” “Forwards,” and “Whatever.”
“It was literally life or death making this record,” Peters said. “I’ve already taken so much from life, that when I was in the hospital stricken with chronic illness, I wasn’t sure if I was going to be spared another opportunity to live. Fortunately for me, I was granted more time on earth and the challenge remains as ever, to make the most of every single second – forwards.”
Now we all get to celebrate his recovery with “Forwards,” which is being released on CD and vinyl (with two different record sleeves and colored vinyl configurations), plus all digital formats.
Watch for The Alarm’s new album and future tour plans – coming soon!
