Blood Red

Blood Red is the first release from the highly anticipated new album series Blood Red Viral Black.

Blood Red features an Audiophile Red Vinyl LP and CD comprising of 11 Blood Red tracks mastered at Abbey Road Studios.

Blood Red Track listing and special editions are as follows:

Tomorrow
Coming Backwards
There Must Be A Way
Time
Love and Understanding
Brighter Than The Sun
Protection
Tear Apart [CD Only] / Prisoners [Audiophile Vinyl Only]
No Greater Love
Crowd Trouble

The recordings have been produced by George Williams whose credits also include The Alarm’s 2006 album ‘Under Attack’.

The Ultra Limited Art Edition features a one off and unique inner sleeve containing an original painting created individually by Mike Peters for each of the first 100 copies alongside a collectors 7″ Vinyl Single of ‘There Must Be A Way’.

A Limited Edition Promo Disc was also included and unique to this collection is the Blood Red In Session CD comprising of an in depth Mike Peters interview and intimate acoustic recordings of 10 of the songs from Blood Red.

“The idea for Blood Red Viral Black first took hold of my imagination during 2013 when I found myself writing masses of lyrics not directly linked to music in any way whatsoever” says Mike Peters. “This was unusual for me, and a turnaround from the way I have always worked before (apart from the odd exception). Whenever I found some time to spend in my writing studio, I would surround myself with (what had soon become), a mass of words and then try and put music to what I had written. At the same time, and to try and decipher some of the feeling behind what I had written down, I also began creating statement art, by either writing, painting or paint spraying some of the words that had caught my imagination onto paper materials. This random act became the conduit that would lead to the music and the unification of expression with melody. It enabled me to hear the kind of music I wanted to write, and by seeing emotion in the type of art created, I was then able to marry all the three components into one form. WORDS + ART + MUSIC = SONG. This process was integral to everything you will hear through the Blood Red Viral Black experience that will unfold between now and 2018.”

Mike Peters has been creating on and off stage art for all of his live projects since the birth of The Alarm, most notably for 1983’s video of The Stand, which featured a spray paint poppy and lyric representation that allowed the band’s MTV Cutting Edge performance to project beyond the TV screen. In fact, many pieces of one-off art have been drawn onto record sleeves, clothing, t-shirts and photos at stage doors throughout Mike Peters’ entire musical journey.

Because this process was so important to what you will eventually hear, I decided to carry the ritual into the heart of the actual recorded medium in as personal and direct way as possible. I wish I could have created a piece for every single LP and CD that will find it’s way into the world, but I have had to keep my enthusiasm in check and work to a limited edition of one hundred. I hope you enjoy what you receive and can feel the synergy I felt when writing and recording this project I have christened  Blood Red Viral Black.

Blood Red Viral Black was recorded in Wales between October 2016 and January 2017.

BLOOD RED ULTRA LIMITED EDITION ART VERSION [100 copies]

BLOOD RED VINYL LP
Limited Edition Red Vinyl LP with Die Cut Gatefold pressing with one-off original inner sleeve art created and signed by Mike Peters using acrylics, spray and other art materials.
10 songs including exclusive to Vinyl track ‘Prisoners’ and complete lyrics.

BLOOD RED CD
Die Cut Gatefold CD Pressing with Inner Sleeve and 12 page lyric booklet.
10 songs including exclusive to CD track ‘Tear Apart’.

BLOOD RED INTERVIEW & ACOUSTIC SESSION CD
Intimate interview and acoustic session disc with Mike Peters
An exclusive insight into the creative process behind Blood Red Viral Black
Contains 10 exclusive acoustic performances of the BLOOD RED songs [55.46]
[Acoustic Session CD Exclusive to the Art Limited Edition only]

There Must Be A Way 7″ VINYL SINGLE
Double A-Side Vinyl 7″ with live version of ‘There Must Be A Way’
Live Version taken from the BBC Television Programme 25th Anniversary Gathering 2017

There Must Be A Way Promo CD
Features There Must Be A Way and a previously unreleased edit version of The Scriptures.
Scriptures version taken from the Man In The Camo Jacket motion picture soundtrack.