Peters’ recent music is finding the frontman new fans.
Mike Peters doesn’t dwell on the past, but he does embrace it.
The frontman of The Alarm will never begrudge the band’s ’80s success, because of what it has given him and how early anthems such as “The Stand” and “68 Guns” unwittingly provided the soundtrack for his life. Yet newer fans are also finding his recent music, which has put the band back on the road playing festivals, not nostalgia tours.
This year has also seen the release of a film, Man in the Camo Jacket. It documents Peters’ 21 years as a cancer patient and work he’s done through his Love Hope Strength Foundation, a name taken from the lyrics of his 1985 song, “Strength.” But it’s also a great look at the band, pulled from footage Peters started collecting in its earliest days, much of which he shot once he could finally afford a video camera.
Isthmus talked to Peters from the road earlier this summer, between Vans Warped Tour dates and before The Alarm set off on its own to finish a U.S. tour, which was supposed to wrap up Aug. 30 at the Barrymore Theatre. But due to “unforeseen circumstances, “ according to promoter Live Nation, the concert has now been moved to Shank Hall in Milwaukee.
Every interviewer probably asks about your health, so how are you?
I’m feeling very good, very fit. I have leukemia, but I manage it with oral chemotherapy that I take on the road with me. I take it in the morning and I take it at night. When I was first diagnosed, the thought of living with cancer was a dream and now it’s a reality. The drugs are a miracle, and I’m so lucky to hopefully be an example that people don’t have to be as frightened of cancer anymore.
Who is coming to your shows? New fans or old fans?
We’ve always had a loyal audience that has stuck with me through new eras and lineups. But at the moment, we seem to be picking up a lot of new fans whose parents liked the band in the original era. The new fans are why we (were) on the Vans Warped Tour.
I never wanted The Alarm to be a nostalgia act in total. We’ll always play “68 Guns” or “The Stand” or “Strength” or “Rain in the Summertime.” That goes without saying. But there are other songs that have come since that our audience really likes. We end our set with a new song called “Two Rivers,” and the audience is singing along.
I hear of a lot of bands who don’t want to play the songs they’re known for because they think that’s a weight around their neck, but I’ve never felt that. If you’re going to feel that way, don’t record it at all. Once you’ve shared it with an audience, you’ve got to believe in it, because you’ve entrusted it to people who believe in it.
You wrote your lyrics about strength and hope when you were in your 20s. What were you writing about then that has carried over so well?
I look back on that so many times and think, “Why did I write, ‘Who will donate the lifeblood coursing through my veins?’” Why would I write that in 1985? You have to sometimes think the hand of fate is playing its part and it was meant to be.
What do you consider a bigger achievement — surviving cancer or surviving the music business?
They both have their challenges. I’m just proud of being a father, I’ve got my kids with me on the road, and my wife, Jules, just survived a year of breast cancer. Being in a band named after a timed instrument, I realize that time is the most valuable commodity any of us possess. I’m lucky to be alive, lucky to be a musician, lucky to a husband, lucky to be a father, lucky to be a human being on this day in 2017.
Tickets bought for the Madison show with a credit card at www.barrymorelive.com will be automatically refunded. For tickets purchased at the Barrymore, please call the theater weekdays, noon-5 p.m., at 241-8864, for a refund.
