GuilFest 2005. The Guildford Music Festival on 15th, 16th and 17th July 2005

About the bands
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Artist: The Alarm
Genre: Rock
Performing: 17th July 2004 / BBC Radio 2 Main Stage
Website Address: [www.thealarm.com]

“deserves a place in the history books - as a caustic commentary on the youth-worshiping state of current rock-and-roll.” Tom Moon, Philadelphia Inquirer

“Twenty years after [their first hit], group is back on the charts . . . but nobody knew it” Rolling Stone

Proving that music quality should trump image obsession, they’ve struck a blow for all long-running career artists… & managed to have a new chart hit in the process now, boasting the new hit single “45 RPM”, The multi-million selling Welsh rockers THE ALARM return with the April 20th release of new album In The Poppyfields & an upcoming U.S. Tour with The Psychedelic Furs In the past month, The Alarm have pulled off an amazing chart comeback by entering the UK top 30 for the first time since 1989 with the single ‘45RPM’.

However, this is a story that goes beyond just a successful career resurrection, and shows that quality music should still trump the industry’s pre-occupation with youthful imaging. With an industry growing obsessed with young retro-punk outfits revisiting the sound that gave rise to The Alarm’s formation, the band took the unusual step of releasing their new hit single under the assumed band name The Poppyfields – complete with a video of 18-year old stand in musicians.

Many might have considered the move to be commercial suicide, but the reason behind the decision to release the ‘45RPM’ single under a pseudonym came about while the band were recording demos for the new album, In The Poppyfields. The Alarm’s lead singer, Mike Peters, explains,

“We thought we’d send the demo for ‘45RPM’ to a few radio stations, but made out it was a new band so we could get some honest feedback. The reaction was so good that we were blown away! However, we were sure the reaction wouldn’t have been so positive if they knew it was The Alarm, so we wanted to make sure that we were are judged purely on the strength of the music, and not by our old hairstyles!”

When ‘45RPM’ subsequently entered the Top 30 Mike decided to come clean,

“We’ve proved a point to both ourselves and the industry that older artists can still produce chart worthy music.”

As impressive as the single’s initial radio and video reception has been, it was quickly dwarfed by the broader media reaction to the Alarm’s subsequent unmasking. The story was quickly picked up by media outlets across the U.K. such as BBC Breakfast News, Reuters, Sky News, The Sun, The Daily Mirror, The Guardian, The Independent, The Daily Mail, The Telegraph, NME and many more. But the story did not die at the water’s edge, as the tale of the single’s accomplishment quickly made its way to numerous countries, including the United States- where it has been reported by Dan Rather’s CBS Evening News, Rolling Stone, Fox News, and numerous daily newspapers.

Now, with career album sales of over 5 Million copies already under their belt, and on the strength of their newly minted 15th hit single, Mike Peters & The Alarm are again returning to the shores of America twenty years after their first U.S hit. With a still fervent fan base still highly active in America, The Alarm will release In The Poppyfields on April 20th. In conjunction with the album’s upcoming release, The Alarm will tour along with The Psychedelic Furs at numerous U.S. dates in April.