American journalist Greg Easterling caught up with the Welsh rock hitmaker MIKE PETERS.

Ironically, "Sold Me Down The River" was actually the final song written for Change. "We sat around the piano in the hall we were using to demo the album," says Peters. "It started out with a little riff ...one of those moments when it all came together very quickly. Actually, by then the rest of the guys had gone home so I did all the guitar on the demo. When we started playing it as a band, it really came together." While it's true that the theme is fairly generic, the passion with which it's delivered makes it a twin to the rest of "Change', which mirrors the upheavals happening not only in Wales but the whole of Europe as well. According to Peters, the kind of feelings The Alarm poured into the songs written for Change were inspired by the winds of change blowing across Europe.

"I felt this feeling in the air throughout Europe, of imminent change. But I thought the best way to regroup was to be in Wales. To get a feeling for what was going on through the experiences taking place in our own country. It happened quite naturally through bringing the band home to write and record. During the "Eye of the Hurricane' record, I travelled throughout the country, writing and observing the changes taking place between the old and the new. So everything came fairly naturally from there."

One song that flowed out of this period is the band's monolithic tribute to its homeland, "A New South Wales." It's not rock'n roll, it's really more of a hymn with patriotic overtones. "The future lies with the sons and daughters/South will meet with North/Say, say a prayer for the fair country/Great is the need for a new South Wales."

For Peters, writing and recording the song was an unforgettable experience. "We recorded with a choir and the Welsh symphony orchestra live in Wales. It did very well in the chart but radio was a little frightened by it." The changing face of Wales and its human consequences is a strong thread that runs throughout the rest of the songs on Change too. From "Devolution Workin' Man Blues" and "Hardland" to "Black Sun" and "Prison Without Prison Bars," there's a recurring concern over the plight of the Welsh worker, caught between the transition from an economy based on the mines and the mills to something hopefully more lasting. And there's also concern for a beautiful land, partially ravaged by over a century of strip mining and air pollution.

Another 'concession' to its heritage was The Alarms decision to record the album in Welsh as well as English. The sales of the Welsh language version, 'Newid', have been relatively modest but Peters feels the band has "been able to make a small contribution to promoting a more outward looking view from Welsh culture, mostly for Welsh speaking artists who record in the native tongue. There's a thriving Welsh rock'n roll scene but because it's conducted in Welsh, it's been ignored by the British media. Obviously, they don't get a lot of recognition because of that. Hopefully, we've shown them that music, poetry or whatever coming out of Wales can be conducted bilingually without selling itself in any way. Maybe more talent will be able to emerge from Wales."

Translating the English lyrics into Welsh called for an assist from outside the band. Peters reveals, "A lot of the translation was done by my wife and some of her friends. I'm not a fluent Welsh speaker although I can read the language and sing it as well. I have a rudimentary grasp ... I'm studying to become fluent."

In songs from 'Change', such as "The Rock" and "Rivers to Cross," The Alarm touches on some spiritual concerns. Peters' personal Christian convictions have been an omnipresent influence on much of the band's recorded output, either in terms of imagery or basic values. He has gone so far as to perform a solo acoustic set at the English Christian rock fest, Greenbelt, on the same bill as The Choir. But it's not a subject that he feels all that comfortable dissecting in the press. Peters says his own spiritual awakening happened "a few years ago really. You start looking for what life is all about... you start asking questions and looking for answers. I arrived at my own conclusions and it's been important that people find it in their own way without it being forced on them."

In its own quest for aesthetic fulfilment, The Alarm has crossed paths with another legendary seeker, Bob Dylan. The band eagerly accepted its mutual management company's invite to join Dylan on tour two years ago. Not surprisingly, Peters describes working with Dylan as "something we'll be able to take with us for the rest of our lives.

"We jammed with Dylan a few times towards the end of the tour and we had a little bit of contact with him. He was quite interested in Wales...He had taken his name from Dylan Thomas, the Welsh poet. We played "Bells of Rhymney" (a Pete Seeger song inspired by the Byrds) a lot on that tour and he used to come out to hear us play that. We felt honoured that he asked us to come play with him."

The prospect of returning to the States to continue the Change tour is not without appeal to Peters since he professes to "like the excitement of being on the road. It produces a lot of songwriting inspiration, musical as opposed to lyrical. I get homesick ... anything that goes on for a long time can be tough but it can be a very worthwhile experience travelling the world, seeing many different things. And sometimes you get to see major events from firsthand experience when they coincide with where you're going to be."

Peters would like to come back to the US to visit without being concerned with the rigours of touring. "I'd really like to travel across the country and write...wherever I find myself. It'd be interesting to do, y'know, travelling down Route 66."

Bands like The Alarm that write material dealing with the weightier issues sometimes come in for criticism that they're too humourless or obsessed with their own self-importance. It's an argument Peters understands although he feels it's something with which the band is dealing. "We don't expect to be taken seriously all the time, (laughs!) Some people don't really take a long enough look at the band to see that there are many sides to what we do. We take our music seriously but we can cut loose a lot now, especially in concert. We've learned to relax...I'm a lot more comfortable now with what I do. I hope to take some of the seriousness out of it especially since that can be taken too far."

Listening to Peters talk, you get the feeling that The Alarm will continue to display the kind of good sense they've put into recent albums and performances for quite awhile longer. Of course, in the volatile and trendy world of music, as with life in general, nothing's for certain. It is clear, however, that The Alarm has bought some time for itself with the success of Change. And anytime an honest bunch of rockers who make great records without the benefit of platinum lacquer are allowed to continue doing so, that's pretty significant.

Oh - and one more thing. So long as bands like The Alarm are around to carry the standard forward, you better believe you can leave that rockin1 chair in the closet and the Windham Hill CDs on the shelf 'cause we've still got a ways to go.

This article first appeared in the US magazine Harvest Rock Syndicate.