Known early on for their 19th century cavalry garb and ridiculous amounts of hairspray, the Alarm parlayed robust, folk-inspired rock anthems into an eight-year, five-album career. Fronted by Mike Peters, the Alarm hit hard with Declaration in 1984, and built upon that album's success with Strength and Eye Of The Hurricane, easily two of the most popular albums of the mid-'80s "alternative" rock movement. Like their peers U2, INXS and R.E.M., the Alarm found themselves poised for superstardom by 1987. But subsequent albums Change and Raw failed to capture the imagination of the Welsh band's huge worldwide audience, and Peters ultimately bowed out in 1991.

Four years after the breakup of the Alarm, Mike Peters finally put out his first solo album--in the UK only--1995's Breathe. That was soon followed by Second Generation, a collection of Alarm B-sides and unreleased tracks which Peters rerecorded and released to the Alarm fan club. Then, while he was making 1996's Feel Free, his second solo album, Peters was misdiagnosed with cancer.

In the fall of 1997, Mike Peters made Rise, the first of his three solo outings to receive widespread US distribution. As with his previous two albums, Rise contains optimistic songs of hope and freedom, much like the ones Peters made famous in the Alarm. Joining him in the studio for a few of the sessions was ex-Cult guitarist Billy Duffy; now, they've formed a new band, Colorsound, with plans to record their first album in early 1999. ~ Jim Nelson, Rovi