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Having followed The Alarm since 1983 I set my sights to trying to get Smiley, Jules and James from the band to be in The Record. Over the course of about two years I managed to get them for the bowel cancer charity book, which is dedicated to the memory of my mum who died of this awful disease in 2016.

First up was Smiley at his Sunshine Recording Studios. It was third time lucky for me having failed at The Gathering in Llandudno when he went to watch Chelsea instead! Our second attempt was also a disaster as I arrived to meet him, but no-one was home as he’d taken the family to Brighton for the day! Thankfully the next time all went to plan and I spent over an hour with him chatting all things music, and a nicer man you couldn’t wish to meet. His first record is an absolute belter.

We spoke at length about The Alarm and his career in music, and in fact he’d just received his advanced copy of the ‘Blood Red’ album that very day. Sadly there was to be no sneak preview for me.. What came across was the deep affection that he has for Mike and Jules, so without giving too much away it’s a chapter well worth reading.

I met James before The Alarm’s gig in Oxford in 2017. Fans will remember this for not only being a terrific gig, but also as the pink gig in support of breast cancer awareness. James took me into the venue while things were being set up before the sound-check, and Andi Badgeman shone some extra light for us to get some photos, which earned me a telling off from Mark Warden… James not surprisingly oozed guitar pedigree, with a great first record, and he gave me a fascinating insight into his musical influences.

Just when I thought that I was going to miss out on Jules, after two years of trying to make it happen, we had a long and fascinating chat just a couple of months before The Record was published. Her first record is a classic… Jules was extremely open about her breast cancer, and talked at length about her whole journey, and in some ways the chapter compliments the two television documentaries on her life with cancer. She naturally spoke at length about The Alarm, and it was interesting to hear her talk about the band pre the 1991 Brixton gig, and also about her now being part of the band and how that came about. It became the longest chapter in the book.

I don’t want to give too much away here, as I’d love as many fans of The Alarm to buy The Record as possible. I can’t thank Smiley, James and Jules enough for their support for the book. There are some more Alarm related chapters in the book as I also got to meet Gareth Jones, who was lovely before the band’s London gig in May 2018. There is also fellow Alarm fan and bowel cancer Gillian Wood, who I was so pleased to finally meet at the 2019 Gathering. Finally the legend, and friend of the band that is Rupert Moon, who gave me a guided tour of the Principality Stadium in Cardiff when we met up.

So I’m hoping that there is enough there for fans of The Alarm to get their teeth into and enjoy, and if I get anything like the support from fans I had for my previous book Lives & Times I’ll be extremely grateful. I’ve made no secret that the friendships I’ve made in recent years with fellow fans in recent times has been life changing…

The Record was written in memory of my mum who died of bowel cancer in August 2016. All profits are donated to Bowel Cancer UK, and over £870 has been raised to date. I am hoping to reach £1000 during 2020. 

Click here to see all the ways to order a copy of the book.

Bowel cancer claims 16,000 lives in the UK, and is the second biggest cancer killer. However if caught early at stage 1 it is very treatable, and the five year survival rate is over 90%. When detected at the late stage 4 the five year survival rate drops dramatically to 7%. This shows how crucial early diagnosis is to getting a better outcome. Knowing the symptoms is so important.