METALTALK • OCTOBER 2021
Stiff Little Fingers
Stiff Little Fingers are important. Formed in 1977 at the peak of The Troubles in Northern Ireland, SLF reflected the feelings of youth from ‘The North’, and cities throughout the rest of the UK. Speaking about the growing disenchantment , singer and guitarist Jake Burns told The Guardian in 2003: “Because that was the overriding reality of life in Belfast for a teenager in the mid-70s. Not the fear of riots or bombs or whatever. It was the sheer tedium of having nowhere to go and nothing to do.” One of their greatest songs, Alternative Ulster, is mostly about being bored. Numerous other punk classics had that very sentiment at their core. Burns was joined by guitarist Henry Cluney, Ali McMordie on bass and drummer Brian Faloon. Stiff Little Fingers had developed from a covers band called Highway Star, named after the Deep Purple track, with the new name purloined from a song by the London-based punks The Vibrators. Their big break came in 1978, courtesy
of BBC Radio 1 DJ John Peel, whose repeated playing of the first single, Suspect Device, would lead to the first album, Inflammable Material, released through Rough Trade. The album hit number 14 in the UK album charts, prompting a relocation to London. However, this led to drummer Faloon leaving the band. Although their home gave some source material for songs, SLF remained famously non-aligned. Burns told The Vice, “We were either adopted equally by both sides or just ignored equally by both sides. “The band was made up of both Catholics and Protestants, and we were always very open about that. “We never made a point of taking sides. It’s a style of writing that I’ve adopted, where I will point out problems”. The direct, fierce, unafraid songs from 10
albums like Nobody’s Heroes and Now Then, about conflict and social injustice, continued until the band split in 1983. At the time, Burns stated that Now
