Stiff Little Fingers ‘Inflammable Material’ Exclusively numbered run of 500 on red vinyl!

Stiff Little Fingers

‘Inflammable Material’

Exclusively numbered run of 500 on red vinyl + 7”

Friday 11th October 2019 on Rhino.co.uk

 

Legendary Irish punk band, Stiff Little Fingers will be reissuing their debut album ‘Inflammable Material’ on 11th October. An exclusive limited edition numbered run of 500 will be cut on red vinyl and will be available exclusively through www.Rhino.co.uk that will also include a bonus copy of ‘Suspect Device’on 7″ single. A black vinyl version of the album will be available from all retailers.

 

Stiff Little Fingers formed at school in 1977, originally a rock covers band, it wasn’t until guitarist Henry Cluney discovered punk, and in conjunction with a change of drummers, they decided that ‘Highway Star’ (their original name) wasn’t a punk enough, and after a brief flirtation with the name ‘The Fast’, decided to call themselves Stiff Little Fingers, after the Vibrators song of the same name.

 

Shortly after, a journalist (Colin McClelland) arranged recording time for them at a radio station which was normally used to record jingles, they recorded ‘Suspect Device’. A copy of the single was sent to John Peel who played it repeatedly leading to a distribution deal through Rough Trade. The single was released on the band’s own Rigid Digits label and sold over 30,000 copies.

 

Naturally, this bought a lot of attention to the band, and in 1979, following a tour with the Tom Robinson Band, they released their debut album ‘Inflammable Material’ through independent record label Rough Trade. The album was written at the height of the Northern Ireland Conflict, most of the album’s tracks are about the grim reality of life in Northern Ireland at the time, with the songs containing themes of teenage boredom, sectarian violence, RUC (police) oppression and more and urged people to “grab it and change it, it’s yours” in what became their signature song ‘Alternative Ulster’. It reached number 14 in the UK Albums Chart selling over 100,000 copies and it was the first album distributed by Rough Trade records, and was the first independent album to chart in the UK.

 

Vinyl + 7” Track List

LP1 Side One

  1. Suspect Device
  2. State Of Emergency
  3. Here We Are Nowhere
  4. Wasted Life
  5. No More of That
  6. Barbed Wire Love
  7. White Noise
  8. Breakout

 

LP1 Side Two

  1. Law and Order
  2. Rough Trade
  3. Johnny Was
  4. Alternative Ulster
  5. Closed Groove

 

Suspect Device 7″

  1. Suspect Device (Single Version)
  2. 78 R.P.M.

 

About Louise Swift

I first went to a gig in 1981, Gillan at Leeds University. I've been a regular gig goer ever since. I haven't kept count of how many gigs I've been to over the intervening years, but it's a lot! My favourite bands are AC/DC then, in no particular order, Anti-Nowhere League, Slaughter and the Dogs, Towers of London and Dirt Box Disco. I tend to like Glam/Punk and rude offensive lyrics, not sure what that says about me but as Animal would say 'So What!' The question was recently put to me - did I write for any online publications? My reply - No, but I'd like to! Planetmosh was suggested and I found myself offering to review Aces High Festival. Easy peasy I thought! Well not quite, if a jobs worth doing it's worth doing well! I had sixteen bands to research. I found I actually enjoyed that and it kept me too busy to be making lunatic comments on Facebook! ;) Then I felt a bit inadequately qualified. I mean, who am I to comment on others, when my musical expertise extends to being able to play a mean Greensleeves on the recorder and a passable Annie's song on the flute! Haven't picked up either instrument for years! What I do have, however, is over 30 years of experience as a gig goer, so I can comment on what I like and what I don't! It's only my opinion and, if I don't like a band it doesn't mean they are bad, just not to my own liking. I admire anyone who has the guts to get up on that stage and have a go!