THE Alarm are celebrating their 30th anniversary, performing songs through the years at Fibbers in York tonight.

“I remember playing the college there in 1983/84 and we’ve had some great times in York over the years in all sorts of shapes and guises,” says frontman Mike Peters, who retains the original spirit of his buccaneering Welsh band.

“For me, it goes right back to the beginning. When people say, ‘How long will you keep The Alarm going?’, I say, ‘As long as it’s enjoyable’, and I think we’ve been lucky to keep that element of freshness.”

How do you do that, Mike?

“You have to take risks, put things to bed, spot signs of when they need shaking up, and take a course of action that not everyone wants to take at that time,” he says. “You have to make difficult choices and sometimes everyone agrees it’s time to change, sometimes not.”

Years of experience sharpen the instinct, he reckons. “When you’ve been around, you read the signs and can sense when change is coming and be prepared to react to it,” says Mike.

“When success came to us, we’d already been playing together for five years and that was an advantage in some ways because we really wanted it and had been working for it, but then our friendships became tested.

“The hard part came when we started having things happen beyond the band, when two of the members went to live in the States after we had the first flush of success, and it becomes impractical.

“All of a sudden it’s harder as a band to react to what’s happening around you – society changing around you – when two of you are living in a different culture.”

The Alarm went into mothballs for a decade, Mike concentrating instead on his own career, but now he finds time for everything: The Alarm, his solo work and his latest project as the new vocalist of the revived Big Country.

The Alarm play Fibbers, York, tonight, supported by Marbled; doors 7.30pm. Tickets: £15 online at fibbers.co.uk