It was November 19th, 1987, a date etched in my memory. Like many weeks before, I was tuned into “TopPop,” the Norwegian music chart show, hoping to discover a new musical gem amidst the usual pop fare. That evening, the show took an unexpected turn, offering something truly substantial.
Suddenly, a figure with long hair filled the screen. It was an interview, and the subject was passion in music and the unique identity of his band. This wasn’t the typical flashy, style-over-substance segment “TopPop” often delivered. This was real.
The man speaking with such fervor was Mike Peters of The Alarm, in Norway to promote their latest single. This was my first encounter with both Mike Peters and his band.
His deep connection to his Welsh homeland and the unmistakable pride he exuded while discussing it immediately resonated with me. “Many people hear folk influences in our music,” he explained. “That’s where the roots of The Alarm are, in vogue. We live in a country called Wales, and it’s a Celtic land. It’s a place that we go to and we draw from musically. Our album ‘Eye of the Hurricane’ was written there, and a lot of the songs have a subtitle on the album sleeve, and that is the place they were written.”
When the interviewer inquired, “In these synthesised times you’re still a guitar-based band. Why?” Mike simply grinned and responded, “Because that’s what rock’n’roll is about.”
A straightforward answer, perhaps, but it felt genuine. There was no hint of artifice, no sense of a manufactured persona. This was a man on a mission, with a clear vision and unwavering determination.
By the end of that interview, I was captivated. I was a fan of Mike Peters before even hearing a single note of his music! His mindset, his positivity, his palpable passion, his strong values, his love for Wales, his unapologetic embrace of Celtic and folk influences – it all struck a chord. He wore his heart on his sleeve, and it was compelling.
These qualities reminded me strongly of Big Country, one of my all-time favorite bands. Interestingly, Mike Peters would later front Big Country from 2010 to 2013, proving that this connection was more than just a feeling.
The interview concluded, and then came the music video for Rain In the Summertime. This was the first song by The Alarm I ever experienced. Instantaneously, I was hooked. The visuals, the song’s message, Mike’s impassioned vocals, the slick guitar riffs, the band’s overall sound – it was all incredibly appealing. And let’s not forget, they looked effortlessly cool in the video.
It was clear this was a single, a “hit” designed for radio play, and a strong representation of The Alarm’s musical identity. Liking their radio-friendly track so much definitely sparked my curiosity to explore the rock’n’roll and Celtic/folk fusion Mike had alluded to. I was eager to delve deeper into their music.
Soon after, I embarked on a journey through The Alarm’s back catalog. While I might have been a bit late to the party, it was certainly better late than never. I had a lot of catching up to do, and I was ready. That interview and the Rain In the Summertime video ignited a love affair with The Alarm that continues to this day.
Given the song’s upbeat and optimistic feel, it was surprising to discover that the album sessions that birthed it were fraught with tension and conflict. When The Alarm convened in early August 1986 to begin recording their third album, internal strife threatened to tear the band apart.
A key source of friction was the band’s divided songwriting structure. On one side, the prolific and creatively synergistic duo of Mike Peters (lead vocals/guitar) and Eddie Macdonald (bass/vocals) consistently generated songs, always prepared with a wealth of demos and ideas for recording sessions. Their collaborations formed the backbone of most Alarm albums.
On the other side, Dave Sharp (lead guitar/vocals) and Nigel Twist (drums) also contributed songs, but their output didn’t match the volume, or perhaps perceived consistency, of Peters and Macdonald.
From the band’s inception, the agreement was that the best material would be selected, regardless of authorship, with the producer acting as an impartial arbiter. However, producers frequently favored the Peters/Macdonald compositions, breeding resentment among Sharp and Twist.
The issue wasn’t primarily about finances. Early on, the band had established a 40% equal split of publishing income, aiming to prevent future financial disputes. In the liner notes for the 2000 remaster of the Eye of the Hurricane album, Mike Peters suggested the conflict was deeper, centered on creative direction.
“Dave and Nigel were mainly unhappy with the way we worked creatively,” Mike explained. “What Dave really wanted was not only parity from a publishing point of view, but much more creative control over the musical direction the band was going in. Dave hadn’t contributed any of the songs included on the previous ‘Strength’ album, apart from a co-writing credit on the title track. Instead of concentrating on writing the best songs and therefore influencing the direction of the band that way, he set about trying to create a power-base which would enable him to turn the band away from the MacDonald/Peters songwriting-led Alarm.”
When the band reunited to work on their third album, Dave Sharp presented an ultimatum: all songs on the upcoming album must be collective band compositions. This demand blindsided Macdonald and Peters, who had already amassed a substantial collection of demos and song ideas.
The proposed shift in creative approach sparked considerable debate, but the band couldn’t reach a consensus on altering their established workflow. Deadlocked, the two factions retreated to separate studios, a self-imposed time-out to reflect, but the fundamental disagreement was so entrenched that the band’s future hung in the balance.
During this period of uncertainty, rumors of The Alarm’s breakup surfaced in the press, even reaching national newspapers like the Daily Mirror. The band’s status was genuinely precarious. For a time, they were effectively split. No one was certain of what the future held.
After a period of separation, they reconvened for a business meeting at their accountant’s office. Mike Peters delivered a passionate plea, urging them not to squander their hard-earned progress. Sharp and Twist responded by presenting a formal document accusing their manager, Ian Wilson, of fraud. The situation was escalating, not improving.
It was agreed to launch an investigation into Ian Wilson to address the allegations, but the band’s internal divisions remained, with the two factions continuing to work independently.
This stalemate persisted until December 1986, when Miles Copeland, head of their record label IRS, intervened. Copeland, eager for the band to complete their third album, called a meeting to address each issue systematically. The investigation into Ian Wilson had concluded, clearing him of any wrongdoing.
A compromise was reached regarding the creative process. Steve Tannett, who had initially signed The Alarm to IRS in 1982, was tasked with reviewing all demos and selecting songs for the album. All band members agreed to abide by Tannett’s decisions.
The band resumed work as a quartet in January 1987, but the initial sessions were disastrous. Steve Tannett had chosen three songs for these sessions, all Peters/Macdonald compositions. The writers had presented demos deemed near-finished, and they were rigid in their arrangements and guitar parts.
There was little room, or perceived need, for creative input from Sharp and Twist, who felt relegated to playing carbon copies of the demos. From their perspective, this was a step backward. Even when songs were primarily written by one duo, the band had always collaboratively developed arrangements. Now, they felt like session musicians. Tensions flared quickly, and after a few unproductive attempts, the sessions were abandoned.
The band regrouped again in February, agreeing to revert to their original collaborative approach: songs would be brought in and then collectively developed, arranged, and finalized as a band. This approach proved far more fruitful, and they successfully demoed a substantial amount of new material.
Rain In the Summertime emerged as the final song from these sessions. Mike Peters fondly recalls its organic creation, a truly collaborative effort: “Nigel Twist had got himself a drum machine to experiment with rhythms. He turned it on and started messing around with a groove. Eddie Macdonald liked Nigel’s pattern and used it as a basis to introduce a chord sequence for a new song he’d been working on. Dave joined in on guitar, and Eddie heard something in Dave’s playing and had him repeat a small section over and over. I joined in and improvised some vocals. This was the genesis of Rain In the Summertime.”
The song was still in its nascent stage, a 20-minute jam based on spontaneous ideas. But they had captured it on tape, a foundation to build upon.
The search for a producer began. Among the candidates was John Porter, renowned for his production work with The Smiths and his past as Roxy Music’s bassist. Crucially, Porter was known for his calm and mellow demeanor, a valuable asset given The Alarm’s internal dynamics. He also possessed deep technical expertise, a vast guitar knowledge, and a knack for achieving specific sounds. The band was impressed and eager to collaborate.
They reviewed all their song ideas, but before recording commenced, Porter inquired about any other material. Mike presented the tape containing the embryonic Rain In the Summertime jam.
“It was a bit of a jam and it lasted for about 20 minutes,” Peters later recounted to Songfacts. “I played it for John, and he said, ‘There’s something in that. Leave it with me.’ In his producer’s suite, he had original Atari computers that came into music-making in the mid-’80s. And he laid out the song arrangement from the best parts of the tape. All of a sudden, he had me singing a guide vocal in the studio, and I thought, ‘Wow, this is something really special here!’”
The band was uncertain about the song’s direction, but Porter was enthusiastic, assuring them the outcome would be remarkable. Twist and Macdonald joined Porter in the control room, crafting a backing track brimming with electronic beats, bass guitar samples, and sweeping synthesizer textures. “It was the first time I had ever seen an entire backing track created on a computer,” Peters later remarked.
While Mike Peters worked on lyrics for many album tracks, the lyrical concept for Summertime was conceived early on. Peters later revealed the song’s core message, embodied in the key lyrics:
If I run fast enough
I can leave all the pain and the sadness behind.
“That’s really what that song is trying to communicate,” he affirmed.
With the backing track and a scat vocal recorded, it was time for guitars. Sharp hadn’t played the song since the initial jam, so it was played back to refresh his memory and get a feel for it. Once he had a rough idea, Sharp signaled to record. He explored, found a rhythm, discovered a way to incorporate harmonics in the intro, and circled back to the main riff.
Sharp’s recording session was exploratory and improvisational, but he settled into the song, delivering tasty bluesy breaks and a distinctive, innovative part that elevated the track. Everyone was thrilled; it sounded fantastic!
Then, they asked Sharp to refine a few sections, only to discover he had no intention of doing so.
In the 2000 album remaster liner notes, Mike Peters recalled the collective disbelief as they grasped what was happening: “John said to Dave, ‘Right Dave, let’s go back to the top of the song and play the correct guitar riff before the vocals come in.’ Dave replied, ‘No way man, that’s a piece of rock’n’roll history right there. The fact that I’m tuning up at the start is part of it dude.’ None of us could believe it. He just put down his guitar and walked out of the control room and headed for the pub.”
The Alarm performing their song 'Rain In The Summertime' live, a popular summertime song from the 1980s.
Mike was not going to let it slide. “I went ballistic. I stormed after him and tried to get him to come back and finish the track, he refused again. That’s when the red mist descended. I picked Dave up by the scruff of the neck, held him up against a wall outside the studio and I had to totally restrain myself from hitting him. I couldn’t make Dave come back and so I went back to the studio. In the control room I found John Porter unperturbed by what had gone on. He said he had ‘techniques’ for moments like this. What he did was record Dave Sharp’s correct riff from the end of the song on to a piece of ¼” tape on another recorder and ‘fly’ it into the beginning of the song. It took a lot of attempts and required a lot of patience, but by the time Dave Sharp came back from the pub, Rain In the Summertime sounded like Rain In the Summertime.”
Episodes like this did nothing to improve the band’s morale. Dave Sharp grew increasingly disillusioned with the album’s direction. He resisted direction on guitar parts, insisting on single “live” takes and refusing to do overdubs. This led Mike Peters and even John Porter to contribute additional guitar parts, including on the album’s title track, where Sharp is absent entirely.
Despite the internal friction, the album, along with the usual b-sides, was eventually completed. However, another challenge arose when IRS requested a remix, feeling the original mix was too guitar-heavy. While the band took a brief break before touring, Miles Copeland commissioned a new, guitar-lighter mix. Ironically, this external intervention had the unintended consequence of uniting the band, as they collectively disliked the new mix.
Ultimately, eight album tracks, including Rain In the Summertime, were released in the new mix, while two retained their original mixes. All original mixes were eventually released on the 2000 album remaster.
The 7-inch vinyl single record label for 'Rain In The Summertime' by The Alarm, a hit song released in the late 1980s.
The album was finished, but it had taken a heavy toll on the band. “We had a huge battle and it tore us apart,” Peters later told Songfacts. “To get to the end of the record and have the Rain In the Summertime song, it felt like we’d weathered a massive storm. We’d come through the eye of the hurricane, and here was the rain at the end of this intense period just to wash away all the ill feeling and bad experiences that we had, to bring us together.”
Summertime rain can indeed bring welcome relief from intense heat, much like the song itself can be interpreted as a metaphor for The Alarm’s internal struggles and their eventual resolution, finding solace after conflict.
Promotional photograph of the band The Alarm, known for their hit song 'Rain In The Summertime', a classic summertime anthem.
Rain in the Summertime was the lead single from the Eye of the Hurricane album. Released ahead of the album, it climbed to number 18 on the UK singles chart.
Ideally, a Song Summertime themed like this would have been released during the summer months to capitalize on its topicality and become a quintessential summer hit. However, it was released in late autumn, October 1987. Despite the less-than-ideal timing, it still reached number 18 in the UK charts, becoming their second-highest charting single. In the US, it peaked at number 71 in January 1988.
RELATED ARTICLE: The Alarm at the Wang Centre for the Performing Arts in Boston MA, 26 April 1988
The song also received a 12” extended mix release.
