∑ Strength Oral History

On Saturday, April 12th 1986 The Alarm made history by headlining ‘The Spirit Of ‘86 Concert’ – the first ever live satellite globalcast, performing live to an audience of 26,000 fans from the campus of University College of Los Angeles (U.C.L.A.) and watched by an audience of millions who had tuned in to the concert via MTV. The concert was a triumph. “In an atmosphere suggesting either a pep rally [read more]

Strength – An Oral History [Part Fourteen – The Alarm Live Around The World] While the band take a well earned break following the completion of the Pat Benatar tour with some time off in Los Angeles, ‘Absolute Reality’ (The Mike Howlett produced US album version), was released by IRS Records as a radio only promotional single in the USA. The 3rd single off of “Strength,” released in the USA only, was [read more]

March 9th 1986 The Alarm Amherst, Ma. “The Alarm which also includes guitarist Dave Sharp and bass player Eddie Macdonald is on the road with Benatar for a select number of dates through the beginning of next month. The group is also playing some solo concerts, including a Tuesday night show at Rutgers University in New Brunswick. “Certain places, where the [Benatar] tour was offered, all the tickets were gone,’ says Peters. [read more]

February 15th 1986 The Alarm arrive in the USA for the ‘Seven The Hard Way Tour’ as special guests of the Pat Benatar Band along with some select headline dates in between. The tour with Pat Benatar was designed to expose The Alarm to a more “classic rock” audience and help support the the single Spirit Of ’76.  The band found that Pat Benatar’s audience was not exactly the same [read more]

The Alarm live in concert from Marseille filmed during the band’s European Strength Tour on the 5th of February 1986. With The Alarm back in the UK charts, ‘Spirit Of ‘76’ is about to be released in the U.S. with the full backing of IRS/MCA in an a move designed to expose The Alarm to a more mainstream audience, the band fly straight from the European dates to America to begin a [read more]

January 23rd 1986 The Alarm Rotation in Hanover, Germany. Top Of The Pops Broadcast in UK. January 25th 1986 The Alarm Quartier Latin in Berlin, Germany January 26th 1986 The Alarm Alter Wartesaal in Koln, Germany January 27th 1986 The Alarm Music Hall in Frankfurt, Germany January 28th 1986 The Alarm Alabamahalle in Munich, Germany January 29th 1986 The Alarm Day Off Switzerland January 30th 1986 The Alarm Zurich, Switzerland January 31st 1986 The Alarm Teatro Tenda in Bologna, Italy February 1st [read more]

January 13th 1986 The Alarm – Spirit Of ’76 released as a single in the UK and also at Radio in the USA. “The Alarm asked their fans to choose their next single, and overwhelmingly so, they chose “Spirit Of ’76,” a song written by Mike Peters about his teenage friends. The 7 minute song was the obvious standout on the Strength album. It’s quiet beginning, punctuated with harmonica, exploded with full- force [read more]

The Alarm – Strength – An Oral History [Part EightThe Spirit Of ’76 in ’86] “‘In January of 1986, word came back from MCA that they realised they had made a mistake with The Alarm and ‘Strength’, and so in conjunction with IRS, they decided to release ‘Spirit of ’76’ as the follow up single. Mainly, because they thought it would appeal to the huge post ‘Born In the USA’ Bruce [read more]

The Alarm Strength – An Oral History [Part Seven – The Strength Tour Continues in the UK] Dec 08, 1985 The Alarm Royal Court Theatre, Liverpool “While we were in the dressing room, we became aware that Gary Glitter was in the royal box of the venue lording it over the crowd who were in turn giving him plenty of stick. He had been due to play at Liverpool University the [read more]

The Alarm Strength – An Oral History [Part Six – The Strength Tour Begins] Oct 16, 1985 The Alarm The Marquee, London “This was supposed to be a secret gig. In fact it was so secret, that hardly anyone turned up! The one person who did was DJ Mike Reid from the BBC who loved the show and announced on his Radio One Breakfast show the next morning that he had [read more]

The Alarm Strength – An Oral History [Part Five – Strength Unleashed] IRS Records had signed a new distribution deal with MCA while The Alarm were recording Strength and just before the release dates, manager – Ian Wilson and IRS Records CEO Jay Boberg went to MCA’s headquarters in Los Angeles and made a presentation of the ‘Strength’ single to the head of the MCA Record Division – Irvine Azoff and [read more]

The Alarm Strength – An Oral History [Part Four – Finding Strength, Hope and Love In The Studio]  “We are on our own now, we’re not part of a movement nor are we a band that will turn round and have an out-and-out pop career. We don’t write music for the sake of it. I like to think we write because we’ve got something to say.” – Mike Peters 1985 After [read more]

The Alarm Strength : An Oral History [Part Three – Europe A Go Go] On May 23rd the day after The Alarm closed the Absolute Tour at Guildford Civic, they found themselves in London (and on the south coast of England), with respected Manchester based photographer Kevin Cummins for a photo session that would yield the shots used for the reverse and inside cover of the as yet untitled second Alarm [read more]

The Alarm Strength : An Oral History [Part Two – The Absolute Reality Of Beginning a Second Album 1985] Studio sessions were booked for January 1985 and a huge British Tour was penciled in for April / May 1985,  to go with the release of The Alarm’s (to be recorded), new album.  All systems were “go” in The Alarm camp. The roller-coaster ride ride that 1984 wrought was safely behind them, while the promise of [read more]