The lead singer and main songwriter for The Alarm emerges from a leukemia battle with a new album, Forwards.
Mike Peters has never had time to look back. As the lead singer and main songwriter of The Alarm, he led the Welsh unit through a decade of hits in the 1980s that included: “Sixty Eight Guns,” “Rain in the Summertime,” “The Stand,” “Strength” and more.
After departing the band—and then eventually reclaiming the name with a new lineup—Peters faced a new personal and public challenge: leukemia. He had the cancer under control for a while until 2022, when he faced a serious relapse that most would not have rebounded from. Somehow, through pure determination, Mike once again cheated the odds and came through—and what’s more, he used his time in the hospital to write a new album, Forwards.
HUSTLERMagazine.com caught up with Peters backstage in Los Angeles at the Wild Honey autism benefit concert to discuss his health, the difference between writing songs and writing anthems and whether the original Alarm lineup will ever write new material.
HUSTLERMagazine.com: You do a lot of interviews. Are there any questions you wish you’d never have to answer again?
Mike Peters: No. I’m just grateful that people are asking questions. “How ya doing?” is the main one they ask, after all I went through the last year.
You have always been very public with your health battles.
