It was 1984, Christian Brothers Secondary School, Wexford, South East Ireland. I was at a 24 hour Table Tennis Marathon at school to raise funds for a football trip to London.
It was about 1.30 in the morning after our shift of playing tennis had finished and we retired to the classroom that acted as our dorm for the night.
The cider that had been smuggled into school was broken out and someone started playing a few tapes on a ghetto blaster.
Now, being Ireland in 1984, this mainly consisted of the latest offerings by U2, Simple Minds or Big Country - I can probably only recall listening to The Crossing by Big Country, until that is, someone put on a taped from radio version of 68 Guns…
"Holy Jesus! Lads who is that? - it's great - play it again". So it was played again and so my love affair with The Alarm started.
Little did I know that night back in '84, that I would still be as big a fan of The Alarm 18 years later.
Let me describe the town of Wexford of 1984 to you…a small town in the south east of Ireland right opposite Fishguard of Wales. One record shop that stocked only the top ten albums - (remember albums?) or failing that, the pride and joy of Irish music - 1 - Makem & Clancy, 2 - Johnny McEvoy 3 - Brendan Shine
For 1,2 and 3 above you can easily substitute the word "shite". So finding out about The Alarm and 68 Guns was gonna be a bit difficult.
The radio was listened to almost every hour of the day with the fingers ready at the Play & Record buttons. I became a pseudo-arty type and started to buy Sounds and NME for any mention of the band.
Eventually a lad at school filled me in with some details - there is an album called Declaration and the next single is called something about a Storm breaking.
Cool! All I needed was a bus fare to Dublin and £10 to spend - £7.99 for the album and £1.99 for the single (Oh God be with the days when albums were £7.99) I'd bring sambos and crisps to eat for the day.
"Never gonna happen". Well she said something like that anyway - my mother you see was not about to let her 14 year old take off to the capital of the country on his tod with ten whole pounds in his pocket. She was going the following week anyway and would get the record for me - notice the singular use of record - if the single was on the album there was no need to buy both of them.
In the ensuing 7 days, I noticed that some of the lads from that fateful illicit drinking group at the table tennis marathon had now some sort of marking on the sleeve of their army issue parka jackets. Not the parka type that Liam Gallagher wears with fur and all that but a real green canvas army coat.
Our school resembled an army base camp what with the army jackets that we all wore as a symbol of rebellion against school uniform - they covered most of the uniform - very punk eh!
Anyway this marking on their sleeve I remember looked like a target or a splattering of paint from a distance. When I enquired I was told it was a poppy and that Hammy (one of the lads) had got his hands on a copy of Declaration and proceeded to wear his heart on his sleeve or at least his poppy on his sleeve as a bona fide Alarm fan. Good enough for me then so I went home and did the very same thing. I kept my school yard cred intact by saying that my copy of Declaration was being delivered in the next day of two.
The night my mother got back from Dublin all I was looking for was that 12 inches of heaven! Ooh err!
I nabbed the album and retired to the bedroom and played it from start to finish - well that’s I lie I probably played 68 Guns three or four times first.
Anyway I loved it and remember saying to my self "look at the fucking state of them with all that hair". Okay the first thing to do was ascertain who was who and what they did in the band. Mike Peters vocals, Eddie MacDonald bass, Dave Sharp Guitar and Twist Drums. Twist! what kind of a fucking name is that - Twist? Big glasses though.
Stand out songs from that first listening were 68 Guns, Blaze of Glory, Marching On and Howling Wind- Where were You grew on me rather than being an instant hit.
But I loved it, loved it all and I finally had a band to call my own.
Mags had The Cure, Bun had Ultravox, Pee had Simple Minds and I had The Alarm - sorted!
Within a month there was a whole 5 of us out of 350 school kids with poppies on our parkas - this could catch on you know.
It had its drawbacks though, as it marked us out to the teachers as some kind of subversive militant group and we were easily identified as the ones being over at the girls Presentation convent at lunch times. "Oh you know those fellas with that red splodge on their jackets"
Where were you hiding was released and the Alarm were to appear on Top of the Pops - man life was good! I still have that recording which you have to admit the performance was a little dodgy and Dave - where did you get that shirt. But I had some stuff to look at now as well as listen to.
Throughout the next twelve months I was rationed to the odd appearance on the Whistle Test, some BBC Wales News program that did an article on the band which gave me my first hearing of Absolute Reality where Mike was wearing a decidedly dodgy full length leather coat. A Saturday morning radio show again from Wales where I heard a song called Dawn Chorus.
The Deceiver and The Chant did zip in Ireland so I wasn't even aware that they had been released until I saw them in the charts in NME. One of the lads in school however had laid his hands on a 12" of The Chant, which I borrowed and taped.
I eventually made him an offer he couldn't refuse and got the 12" for myself.
The offer if you're interested was a Zerra One album, 2 U2 singles and a Sex Pistols badge my cousin had given me.
An album 2 singles and a badge for a 12" -Good business eh! Not to worry my collection was growing.
Another friend of mine from that time drew my attention to a mail order crowd in London - Adrians - who dealt in good records. We scoured the list and saw that they had a 7" of Where were you Hiding and a 7" The Deceiver so we scraped together the money - isn't postage and packing a bugger when you're 14 years old. Three weeks later a parcel arrived, a pristine 7" version of Where… but no Deceiver - out of stock - nevermind. I played it all night long and remember how impressed I was with Pavilion Steps.
All this time I looked with great envy at the tours that the band were playing throughout the UK - would they EVER play Ireland I wondered.
At this stage we were into 1985 and The Alarm had a modest following in Ireland from what I could ascertain from TV and radio. A new album was soon to be released and I caught them on Saturday Superstore performing Strength. I admit I wasn't that impressed. It was not like Declaration stuff at all and this was even after several replays of the video recording. Maybe the album would be better.A few weeks passed before the release of the album and I read several reviews that claimed it was a so-so album - with the one stand out track being "Spirit of '76".
On this occasion I did manage to get to Dublin with a friend and bought Strength. I remember Q magazine or NME doing a worst album cover item around this time and was dissapointed to see Strength mentioned but it is a fairly boring cover. Anyway I read the sleeve notes all the way home on the bus from Dublin over and over again. Here's where I get a bit controversial - I didn't like the album at all and I still don't. At the time, only Spirit and Deeside could compare to Declaration material. On the odd occasion that I listen to it now it's only Spirit of 76 that excites me.
Now don't get me wrong I didn't want Declaration 2 but I thought the band would have stayed closer to the style and sound of Declaration. This is a common problem with bands that I like which I will go into later. Anyway it was new material and more collecting to do as the singles were released. Ironically as it is the album I like least it is also the album I have the most copies of - UK Vinyl version, picture disc version, cassette version and Japanese CD version with Absolute Reality included.
Into the summer of 1985 and U2 had announced a "homecoming" gig at Croke Park Dublin to coincide with the Unforgettable Fire album. All the lads from school were going but I was not overly interested in seeing U2 even though I was a fan. The week before the gig the line up was as follows
In
Tua Nua
REM
Squeeze
U2
My friend Dommo accosted me in the street that week with a copy of The Irish Independent and pointed out a tiny article that confirmed "Welsh punk cowboys The Alarm, as the final support slot for U2"s homecoming gig at Croker" - Nuff said. I was off with my £12.50 to buy a ticket. I was going to see The Alarm live at last.
They were slotted in between REM & Squeeze which backfired on the day as they whipped the crowd up into a frenzy and then Squeeze came on and everyone fell asleep basically. I like to think that it was a shrewd move on the part of U2 as they could quite possibly have been upstaged had they gone on after The Alarm.
The set list that day was;
Where Were You Hiding
Marching On
Dawn Chorus
Absolute Reality
Strength
Knifedge
68 Guns
I had died and gone to heaven - I got badges, a t-shirt and had seen them live - and they were great.
During '85 I added to my collection with the 12" 5 Track Double Pack of Spirit of 76, and the Knifedge 12" & 7".(Just what is that wet pink thing coming out of Mikes mouth??? :-) A trip to London with my parents saw me pick up a Deceiver 12", the eponymous album, and a tour program with a flexi single which includes Alarm Alarm and Up for Murder. My reputation at school for being a sucker for Alarm gear grew and I carried out more ludicrous deals to secure the 7" & 12" versions of 68 Guns I can't remember what I gave in exchange but it was probably my bike or something like that or even my soul...
At this stage things went quiet even to the extent that The Mirror ran a piece about a possible break up of the band stating that there were 2 distinct camps in the band Mike & Eddie and Dave & Twist. They said Dave wanted to break the band up. No No No No please No.......for a while Dave became a hated figure for me.
Still no new releases but there were signs that the band were still together when they appeared on the video for Ferry Aid charity single which I then had to buy!
1986 saw me on another football trip to London so I immediatly hit HMV in Oxford Street and got some more vinyl - Strength 7 & 12" , 12" of Where Were You Hiding, 7" Absolute Reality plus 2 more t-shirts. I was now officially Mr.Alarm among my peers.
The BBC showed the free live gig from L.A one night with Anne Nightingale and yes I still have it taped as well as buying the video release of the concert too. It's a great video and really captures the band at their best. You should get it if you haven't already seen it.
The disappointment of Strength was countered by adding stuff to my collection. As I said, the two years between Strength and the next album were very quiet. I was doing exams and college wasa looming on the horizon. I drifted from Alarm material back to listening to Stiff Little Fingers, The Clash, The Ramones and other punk sfuff. Early days in college marked me out as "punk" though definitely not to look at - it was just from the music that I listened to. It was here that I met my best mate and he introduced me to heavy/rock/metal .....NO ! don't stop reading I am coming back to the Alarm I promise. In return for imposing AC/DC and Metallica on me I made him listen to Declaration and a few SLF albums. He loved my stuff just as much as I liked AC/DC and Metallica and subsequently Anthrax. A good deal then.
But then we were watching MTV one day and up pops the Rain in the Summertime video! Oh God - could this be the same band that released Declaration, Spirit of 76, Absolute Reality et al? My feelings were mixed - delighted that the bandwas back but disappointment at the sound and style they seemd to have taken. I was friends with another Alarm fan at this stage too who's reaction was "Fuck it - it's crap but it's good that they're back - they may tour again". Hmmmm I wasn't convinced - maybe I did want Declaration 2 or 3.
Listen to SLF's Inflammable Material, then listen to Nobodys Heroes & Go For It - 3 cracking top albums all in the same vein and then listen to Now Then - their "maturing" album and it still has kicking songs like "Is that why you fought the War" "Bits of Kids" and "Price of Admission". Why couldn't The Alarm do this?. Despite my dislike for the direction they were taking I was still loyal and went out and bought the stuff. I then got Eye of the Hurricane and was delighted to see that "One Step Closer to Home" was on it - the first time I was going to hear the song - wahey! Boy was I not disappointed what a track, surprising to hear Dave sing and he did it great - but what was it doing amongst all the other stuff. To this day I still believe it is that albums one redeeming feature.
Electric Folklore restored my belief in the band and also showed that some of the later material was working well live - Things were on the up again and the band were getting more coverage on radio and TV in Ireland - the new MTV friendly material was winning fans over here too.But how I wished for an Irish tour - even one date in Dublin.
1989 saw me leave Ireland for London - the Celtic Tiger had yet to be conceived so the amount of jobs in Ireland was approximately...let me see...ah yes....zip!
Here endeth the economics lesson! - shortly after I arrived in London, Change was released and at last I had an album to put up there with Declaration. I loved all the songs almost immediately and I remember thinking that this was more like the Alarm that I loved. I particularly loved the title track, Prison without Prison Bars, Black Sun,Love Don't Come Easy- oh to hell with it all of them!. But the best of all was still to come - NME advertised the tour dates and Brixton Academy was there - 4 years later I was going to see the band again!
I was at Brixton in loads of time - feeling like a child in a toy shop again. The atmosphere was excellent - far better even than Croke Park 4 years previous. The band came on and Mike broke into Change - "it's been a long time coming but it's good to be back" - you took the words right out of my mouth Mike - how apt 4 years and waiting....the gig was great - but truth be told, I was too wrapped up in the excitement of hearing all the songs I used to play at home on the record player - to remember much about it. But I'm sure I loved 68, Where were you, Rescue Me and every last minute of it despite my misgivings about some of the songs on vinyl.
To be continued...
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