The Alarm return with new album Equals - watch video for first single Beautiful

The Alarm have announced details of their first album of new material in eight years.

The follow-up to 2010’s Direct Action is titled Equals and it will launch on June 29 via The Twenty First Century Recording Company.

Equals was written after frontman Mike Peters was diagnosed with a rare form of leukaemia in 2005. After an initial recovery, he suffered a relapse in 2015, and, shortly after his diagnosis, his wife Jules – who plays piano and provides backing vocals in the band – discovered she had breast cancer.

Peters says: “The songs were built out of what I had become. I learnt a lot about myself and my relationship with Jules, and it's all there in the music. 

“I didn't set out to write about what we were going through. All I had were these incredibly strong feelings that I found myself putting into words and writing down on to my phone without even thinking they might form the basis for songs.”

The album was produced by George Williams and features Joe Strummer & The Mescaleros drummer Smiley and guitarist James Stevenson, while The Cult guitarist Billy Duffy guests on the track Coming Backwards.

To mark news of the album, The Alarm have today launched a video for the first single from Equals in the shape of Beautiful which can be seen below. 

Now, with Peters’ health “back on an even keel” and Jules in remission, The Alarm will head out on the road across the UK and Europe from tomorrow (April 27).

Peters says: “The endgame of any creative period is always to share the results with an audience. The turbulence of the last few years has shaken The Alarm’s world to its core but we have survived the challenges and are now ready for the next steps, which is performing the music live with our fans adding to the experience. 

“Myself and the band are primed and ready to give everything we have to.”

Mike and Jules are the driving force behind the Love Hope Strength foundation, which promotes innovative, music related, outreach and awareness programmes for leukemia and cancer sufferers, survivors and their families.

The Alarm 2018 tour dates

Apr 27: Dublin The Academy, Ireland
Apr 28: Belfast The Limelight, UK
May 04: Glasgow O2 ABC, UK
May 05: Holmfirth The Picturedrome, UK
May 10: New York Bowery Electric, NY
May 11: New York Gramercy Theatre, NY
May 12: Huntington Beach Like Totally Festival , CA
May 13: Los Angeles James Bridges Theater, CA
May 26: London O2 Forum Kentish Town, UK
May 27: Merthyr Tydfil Merthyr Rising, UK
Jun 13: Amsterdam Melkweg, Netherlands
Jun 14: Hasselt Muziekodroom, Belgium
Jun 16: Berlin Franz, Germany
Jun 18: Cologne Die Kantine, Germany
Jun 20: Dortmund Musiktheater Piano, Germany
Jun 23: Snowdonia Rock Love Hope Strength, UK