Blending working-class roots with a charged-up political sensibility, Welsh rock group The Alarm may at first glance appear to be just another U2 or Big Country, but their dynamic post-punk sound is anything but unoriginal.
The four-man band will be in town Tuesday, bringing their unique amalgam of what New York's Guardian magazine calls "punk's angry political defiance" and "folk music's utopian optimism."In a recent phone interview, bassist Eddie MacDonald admitted their music is "quite emotional," adding that it's also very personal, because "we just write from the self. Everything we do we keep pretty close to home."
"Home" is Rhyl, Wales - a tiny hamlet in the northern part of the country where the local scene is "musically incestuous," said MacDonald, since "all of us in the band grew up there together."
Thus their music, understandably, consistently hammers out a theme bred of a deep love for the homeland: Decrying the gradual erosion of Welsh culture and language, The Alarm sings with gut-level sincerity, exhorting their listeners to stand up to negative forces in the world and start the change within themselves.
"Our audience comes away feeling positive and energetic," said MacDonald. "Music tends to provoke a feeling toward that, toward making a change. Music is the first major language of the world."
Even as the band retains the lofty goal of being a social influence on their fans, hoping to provoke them to struggle through isolation and powerlessness, they also remain refreshingly down-to-earth and approachable.
"We arrive at a concert without hype or pretension," MacDonald said, "and wait for the audience to see us how we really are. Musicians start out thinking they're going to change the world, when really it's the people who make the change. The music just provokes the reaction."
Tuesday night's concert will be the first Salt Lake visit for The Alarm since early last year, which MacDonald remembered as "sensational." Tickets for the 8 p.m. show at Kingsbury Hall are available at all Smith's Tix outlets.