Just A Quickie with...The Alarm's Mike Peters, who plays whatever you want on Sunday at Fibbers, York.

What will be the format of Sunday's show?

"It's an acoustic solo show, where I'll do two sets and I'll be showing The Gathering film from The Alarm's box set. The show is interactive, and all the songs are chosen by the audience. They're each given a form to fill in, saying which song from my back catalogue they want me to do and why they want it.

"It's good to hear why they like particular songs, and it gives the shows quite a lot of light and shade because of their choices - and if they buy the box set, they can have their song filmed at the gig."

Which song is regularly requested?

"By My Side, which people like to play at weddings. I've only done it once live at a wedding for a very close personal friend...and at my own wedding, but it augurs well for a future career singing at weddings, funerals and bar mitzvahs!

"The other night, there was one guy who requested In The Poppy Fields and said he'd named his son Joshua after his favourite U2 record but he really wanted to name him after his favourite Alarm album, but Raw wouldn't have sounded right!"

What are the benefits of presenting shows in this interactive way?

"It's helped to make the shows very informal. It's an idea that I came up with a few years ago and it's a really good way to touch base with what our fans are listening to; sometimes the choices they make push you to play songs that maybe you weren't keen to play and you start to discover things about those songs.

"Doing these shows is an immersion in our music: I've got maybe 300 songs to remember, but because you've written them, they're ingrained in your psyche and you find that rediscovering things in your old material can propel your new music forward. Some nice happy accidents come up that way; you're reminded of a chord change and you start writing something new."

Last year you gate-crashed the charts when The Alarm masqueraded as a new band, The Poppy Fields, to garner an honest reaction to your work. It worked; the single 45RPM made number 28. Did you feel vindicated?

"It opened up a lot of doors for us again, and that's why we're excited to be making the next album. It's raised the stakes because we know people are going to give us a shot again and that's all you can ask for. We're starting to cut the album next month in North Wales, where we're working on it in a converted chapel that we've had for a few years.

"In the past I've always used it to write songs there, and we've never really recorded there before. It's got a pub next door, so that's an attractive prospect to the band!"

You have become a father for the first time at the age of 45. How does that feel?

"It's an amazing experience; the best thing that's happened in my life...being creative and creating. Can't speak yet, but he's already my best mate, and you learn so much from them. Even if he is waking me up at five o'clock, he's there with that smile, ready to play, and that's so special."

Mike Peters, Fibbers, York, Sunday evening; tickets £10 advance, £12 door.

Updated: 16:18 Thursday, April 14, 2005