INFLAMMABLE MATERIAL, THE incendiary 1979 debut album from Northern Irish punks Stiff Little Fingers, is one of only a handful of truly essential albums from the era. Packed full of instant classics, it features many songs that still appear in the band’s live set, including the anthemic “Alternative Ulster,” plus “Suspect Device” and “Wasted Life.”
We asked singer/guitarist Jake Burns — the only constant member of the band’s lineup since their formation (although original bass player Ali McMordie is now back on board) — to give us the lowdown on how the album was made. It went a bit like this…
Did you have a lot of songs on hand when you went in to record Inflammable Material?
No, we literally went into the studio and recorded our live set. We didn’t have anything else on hand at all except one song that we didn’t like. The whole thing was done in 10 days — mostly live with just a couple of overdubs. We’d been playing the songs live for] That’s how green we were in the studio.
