We are pleased to announce that Joe Silva, who supported Mike Peters on every date of his UK Red Poppy Tour, will be playing at this years Gathering.
Joe gained many fans on his journey on the Red Poppy Tour and it’s a pleasure to welcome him back.
Joe has sent us this message
RED POPPY DREAMS…
Halfway through Mike Peters’ Red Poppy Tour, on which I was the support artist, an “old” Alarm fan (and new fan of mine) came up to me and asked “Do you know how lucky you are?!”… My quick response was “ABSOLUTELY!!”…
I had been blessed in so many ways throughout 2012… I entered the year straight from a dream wedding to my soul-mate in Los Angeles and headed to Wales (via Jamaica) to perform at The Alarm’s Gathering. From there, I had the honor of singing the USA National Anthem at Gillette Stadium (home of the New England Patriots) and at Fenway Park during a Boston Red Sox game. 2012 also had me crossing the United States 3-times to play concerts on both coasts, releasing a new CD produced by Anton Fig (legendary drummer of ‘The Late Show w/David Letterman’), shooting a music video for the CD’s title-song ‘Blue’ in the California desert, touring Dublin, Ireland, while raising funds for Ireland’s Make-A-Wish Foundation, and spending an evening with a Beatle (Ringo Starr)!
Prior to ending 2012 with a home-coming concert at a 1,900-seat theater in Providence, Rhode Island, I realized a dream of mine, which took me to 20 UK cities and towns via Mike Peters’ ‘Red Poppy Tour’ throughout October & November. What a fantastic experience it was to dart back-and-forth between England, Wales & Scotland as I opened for Mike’s concerts, give BBC interviews, and visit landmarks along the way (I logged-in 7,014 miles on my rental van!)… I can confirm, first-hand, that Mike Peters certainly IS the hardest working man in the music industry today, as I hardly saw him come up for air in-between shows, recording sessions, photo shoots, and re-mixing/mastering the Poppy Fields Collection in dressing rooms before & after each and every concert on the tour. Finally, on our last night of the tour in Newcastle, Mike finally took a breather and we chatted in a private pub until 4:00am the next day before I flew back to the USA. For me, that was one of the highlights of the tour. One of the other highlights was meeting SO many new friends and fans along the way in each and every city that I visited and performed in… So much so that it made me sad to leave the UK after spending almost 2-months of the Red Poppy Tour, which is why I am elated to be returning to Wales to perform at The Gathering once again, and to re-connect with so many members of The Alarm Nation that I now call friends…
During my performance at this year’s Gathering, I will acoustically play the songs that I sang on the Red Poppy Tour, along with some new tunes that I will be recording at Abbey Road Studios a few days before I arrive at The Gathering. I look forward to making many more friends at this year’s Gathering before heading back to The United States for which is shaping-up to be a very busy musical New Year for me…
Joe Silva