Giving your band the name The Toilets is probably not the first step toward mainstream success, but that was the way British New Wave rockers The Alarm started out in the late 1970s, when frontman Mike Peters put together the first incarnation. Several name changes later, The Alarm emerged with a much more audience-friendly moniker, and in the ’80s, The Alarm had a string of U.K. hits, including “Sixty Eight Guns,” “Absolute Reality,” “Spirit of ’76” and “Rain in the Summertime.” The band’s success in the U.S. was less extensive, with 1989 single “Sold Me Down the River” their only song to hit the Billboard 100 singles chart.
Although the original band members went their separate ways in 1991, Peters revived The Alarm in 2000 with new members, and has steadily toured and released new material since then (the band’s latest album is June’s Sigma). He even conceived an elaborate stunt in 2004, releasing a new Alarm song (“45 RPM”) under the guise of an unknown band of younger musicians, scoring a new chart hit and even inspiring a movie. Not bad for a band initially named after a bathroom fixture.
House of Blues at Mandalay Bay, 7 p.m. July 24, starting at $29.50 plus tax and fee, 18+. 702.632.7600
