Mike Peters, former front man with Welsh punk rock band The Alarm, will be performing all the songs from the band’s most successful album, Declaration, at Keighley’s Gassienda club next month.

Upon release in February 1984, Declaration debuted at number six in the UK charts, achieving gold record status before becoming a top 40 hit in the US.

The Alarm’s sound was powered by unique electro-acoustic guitars that no one had seen before, at the time prompting Rolling Stone Magazine to write: “One of the best new live bands..., and they’ve put a lot of that power into their first album.”

Two-time cancer survivor Mike Peters is emerging as one of the most visible advocates and activists for those living with and beating cancer around the world, says the Gassienda’s Johnny Gow.

“Over the past three years, his Love Hope Strength organisation has found over 600 bone marrow donor and peripheral blood stem cell matches; built the first-ever children’s cancer centre in Tanzania; supported the Bhaktapur Cancer Centre in Nepal with life-saving equipment; and registered over 40,000 new donors through its Get On the List! programme in the US.

“More than 9,000 international recording artists including Robert Plant, of Led Zeppelin, Frank Turner and The Levellers now support the charity by holding marrow and blood stem cell registries at their concerts.”

Although Peters is once again facing the illness he first contracted in 1995, he recently performed for three months across the US with his other adopted band Big Country.

The idea to climb mountains and perform concerts came when Mike was in the hospital in Wales going through his second battle with cancer.

Mike said: “I could see Mount Snowdon from my hospital window and thought to myself, ‘When I recover, I’m going to march up that mountain as my symbolic climb back from cancer and raise money with my fans to support the cancer centre and nurses that helped save my life’.

“Thousands of people from around the world die every year simply because they can’t find a match. The match is out there for everyone; they just have not been found. That is our life mission – seeing that everyone that needs a donor has one.

“It’s that simple. Equally simple is the process – a simple cotton swab of the cheek – to get on the registry. In most cases, it is similar to donating platelets or plasma, but most don’t know this and it is our job to get the message out to as many people as possible.”

Achieving more than 15 Top 40 UK singles and over five million album sales worldwide along the way, Mike Peters’ musical journey has seen him sing with some of history’s greatest performers such as Bob Dylan, Neil Young and Bono.

He has also taken his trusty acoustic guitar to some of the world’s highest elevations performing at The Highest Ever Concert On Land at 18,500 feet on Mount Everest in 2007, and only this summer at the Highest Concert in Britain on the summit of Ben Nevis at 4,409 ft in Scotland.

He remains as passionate as ever about his music, Wales and his charity. Go to lovehopestrength. co.uk for more information.

  •  Mike Peters is at the Gassienda club, Russell Street, on Thursday, February 20. Tickets are on sale from Jumbo Records and Crash Records, Leeds, Keighley Musicians Centre or by calling 07792 164481.