[Cover photo credit to Andrew Labrow]
Mike Peters of The Alarm passed away on April 25th, 2025, following a 31-year battle with cancer and an inspiring life spent in music and charitable work on behalf of those who also suffered from cancer. The album he was working on at the time of his passing, Transformation, has been announced for release on May 29th, 2026, via Twenty First Century Recordings/Virgin Music Group. The single “Live Today”, and the final video in which he appears, have been released.
Jules Peters, his bandmate and wife shares:
Mike lived a life of beauty and never gave up right to the very end.
The video was filmed just days before Mike underwent the innovative CAR-T treatment with hopes of eradicating Richter’s Syndrome, an aggressive form of lymphoma.
Jules Peters, who is also a cancer survivor, says of the video:
As the sun rose, watching Mike perform this song with so much optimism and hope will live with me forever. It was a bittersweet day for me as we filmed this incredible joyous film on the beach in the North of England. After filming concluded, we climbed onto the tour bus and drove straight to the Christie Hospital in Manchester, U.K.. We were full of determination that the pioneering CAR-T would save Mike’s life but, at the same time, I was personally terrified as I couldn’t shake off a feeling that cancer had finally caught up with us both.
This video is such a difficult watch. It broke my heart… but it captures the eternal essence of Mike Peters that keeps us coming back to him and his incredible songs time after time.
The song is taken from the upcoming Transformation, whose recording sessions began spontaneously on October 7, 2024, and after various life-interventions, it was finally completed on the evening of January 15, 2025, the night before Mike Peters began his CAR-T therapy. While this may seem like the final chapter for The Alarm, Transformation “promises that the legacy of The Alarm will transform into something larger.”
Echoing the title of the new single, Jules Peters concludes:
Mike and the spirit of The Alarm will ‘Live Today,’ forever more. I invite you all to blast Transformation out loud. Imagine Mike in the room with you. Transformation is his battle cry, his resilient love of life. Right to the very end, Mike believed that he was going to live, to be totally free. My last memory is driving him open top along the North Wales coast road, playing Transformation at maximum volume. He was so happy. So full of life. Playing his air drums, bass guitar, already imagining himself on his next world tour.
So keep that positive spirit moving forwards. Imagine him as you all knew him best, striding out on to that stage, changing lives one concert at a time. This is an album of hope and a passionate celebration of a life well lived. Please do not be sad. Mike wouldn’t want that. He was so proud of this album and had the best time recording it during the last six months of his life. Blast it out loud like Mike did. Play along to the track list and most of all, be happy that we all had Mike in our lives and continue to do so. The music of Mike and The Alarm will always keep us strong.
