Mike Peters

Early in their run, the Alarm leaned on 19th-century cavalry outfits and excessive hairspray as visual trademarks while converting sturdy, folk-tinged rock anthems into an eight-year span that yielded five albums. With Mike Peters at the helm, the band broke through decisively via 1984’s Declaration and then extended that momentum through Strength and Eye Of The Hurricane, a pair of releases widely regarded as standout mid-’80s artifacts of the “alternative” rock era. By 1987 the group stood alongside U2, INXS, and R.E.M. on the cusp of major stardom, yet the later efforts Change and Raw never rekindled the same interest among their expansive global following, prompting Peters to step away in 1991.

Four years after the Alarm disbanded, Peters issued his debut solo record, Breathe, though distribution remained limited to the UK. He next assembled Second Generation, a set of Alarm B-sides and previously unreleased material that he re-recorded exclusively for the band’s fan club. During the making of his second solo album, 1996’s Feel Free, Peters received an erroneous cancer diagnosis.

Peters completed Rise in autumn 1997, marking the first of three solo projects to secure broad release across the United States. Consistent with its two predecessors, the album delivers hopeful, uplifting material in the vein of the Alarm’s signature work. Ex-Cult guitarist Billy Duffy contributed to several sessions, and the pair subsequently launched the band Colorsound, scheduling initial recordings for early 1999.