LIVE REVIEW: Inflammatory, nostalgic and still relevant - Stiff Little Fingers blast the past with superb supporting cast

WHEN the term 'heyday' is thrown around willy nilly, usually by those who choose not to stay up-to-date with a groups current status. But fans know that strong bands are always in their heyday; and when it comes to Stiff Little Fingers today they are more relevant than ever.

When SLF and a mighty clatter of supporting acts blasted a balmy night at Custom House Square, Belfast (Saturday, 26th August) the mix of nostalgia and inflammatory music proved that the counter-culture labelled punk still packs a punch.

Young and old packed a sold out square, and those lucky to have apartments over-looking the stage, rocked, sang and partied.

True - the bands have noticeably aged, but the music still sounds fresh.

Opening where local snarlsters The Outcasts, who delivered wit with a wry grin as they pounded out 'classics' with verve. There were few who could claim they were 'Just Another Teenage Rebel' but that mattered not.

Closing with 'The Cops Are Comin' and 'You're A Disease' this was a set that had the entire place singing, and smiling.

Relaxed, but still packing a punch, Ruts DC rallied the counter-culture refugees showcasing tracks that have been stuck in the collective consciousness. Yes, 'Music Must Destroy' and it did on Saturday night.

The evocative 'In A Rut' and singalong 'Babylon's Burning' may have been the best known, but Ruts DC had no fillers in their set.

The Stranglers have also a catalogue of songs that are guaranteed to be greeted by people greedy for the melody, and they didn't disappoint.

Sure, 'Always The Sun' and 'Golden Brown' were the tracks best known, along with 'Nice 'n' Sleazy', but the likes of 'Bear Cage'  and 'Relentless were beasts live.

If the line-up of The Outcasts, Ruts DC and The Stranglers were to play Belfast it would be enough to attract a healthy crowd. To have them opening for Stiff Little Fingers was an added bonus for what is a special occasion in its own right.

40 years ago a legend was born, a legend that has resonated for decades, spoken to the hearts of people, rallied against injustice, and fought for what is right both in music and in words.

Still proving the doubters wrong at every turn Stiff Little Fingers electrify every time they take to the stage, but this homecoming gig exceeded all.

As the strains of 'Go For It' had the venue humming and yelling before a fast and furious 'Wasted Life' struck Belfast like a hurricane.

Jake was in fine form between tracks, but he could have remained mute between each song and it would have been no less impressive. There is such a wealth of material that the range of emotions are taken for a roller coaster.

Tackling the issue of depression on 'My Dark Places', the futility of violence on 'Johnny Was' and stifling domesticity on 'Safe As Houses', the messages have not been weakened by the familiarity of the songs.

The angst of youth as expressed by' At The Edge' and 'Gotta Getaway' may be messages penned yonks ago, but for every teenager still feeling that way there were thousands of middle-aged people in Custom House Square who still reflect on that period and reflect on their lives right now.

And, to a certain extent that was displayed on 'When We Were Young', a cry to keep pushing, never stop striving for our dreams, and never mind those who doubt us.

This wasn't just a Belfast audience - the momentousness of a 40th Anniversary show in the birthplace of SLF drew fans from across the UK, all dedicated to raise their rigid digits aloft.

To hear songs like 'Breakout' and 'Straw Dogs' on stage was a treat for all, but every SLF knows that the trio of 'Nobody's Hero', Tin Soldiers' and 'Suspect Device' close the main set at such a pace that the break for the encore is needed for a few minutes by band and audience.

Exhausted, but delighted...And, then the closing songs. 'Johnny Was', Gotta Getaway', and the national anthem of the disaffected populace of Northern Ireland, 'Alternative Ulster'.

While mainstream media largely looks on punk, hard rock and metal with a patronising wee pat on the head, indulgence before turned to auto-tuned shite and praising people playing their lap tops the cadre who gathered at Custom House Square still scream their disaffection to the skies.

Yes, punk is still relevant. A little older and a lot more cynical, but the ethos still holds true.

Stiff Little Fingers may be 40, but they still speak for many, and their songs are as relevant as ever; and may be more relevant than ever in this post-reality life. SLF is the antidote to complacency, the antibiotic for the bacteria of bastards in power.

Fuck the 'Fake News' narrative and join the legions of the angry - and "Question everything you're told".

Review by Jonathan Traynor
Pictures by Darren McVeigh

Served loud, and served with intent, - Stiff Little Fingers' tour de force release No Going Back

IN the darkest days of Northern Ireland's Troubles the many attempts by movements such as the Peace People to bring it to an end to the fighting proved futile, but punk rock became a unifying force amongst young people.

And, one band in particular articulated the frustration and anger at a land dominated by bigoted politicians and murderous paramilitaries of all shades - Stiff Little Fingers, with their overtly political lyrics and inflammable music.

But 33 years later, are Stiff Little Fingers still relevant? Is the lyrical anger and musical fury still present?  Yes, and much, much more.

No Going Back, their first new release in more than six years, is an honest punk rampage, delivered with panache that touches raw nerves, deals with the current world economic crises and is a rallying cry for young and old.

While the first movement of punk was quickly hijacked by the fashionistas, the voice of political punk such as SLF has never really been silenced, despite the best attempts to keep it quiet by the mainstream twaddle on TV sets across the world. When we interviewed Jake and Ali before the band's triumphant returned to Belfast they spoke about how punk was more about attitude than a specific packaging. And attitude is delivered here in spades.

Nor have SLF ever been one chord wonders so prevalent in some of the more inane 'punk' acts. As in previous releases the music is rock music.

And, this album is also something very personal. In SLF's previous appearance in the Ulster Hall Jake Burns spoke openly on stage about suffering from depression. The totemic track on No Going Back - My Dark Places Burns tells the story of that time of pain in his life. It is furious musical tour de force, which deals sensitively with the issue of depression. It is a triumph and it is something that anyone who has, or is, suffering from depression can relate to, and hopefully draw strength from.

That song also relates back to the final concluding track 'When We Were Young'. As young men SLF were often told to literally 'wise up' and not bother with a musical career. They defied that, and despite line-up changes since then the ignorance of musical media towards them means that SLF are still proving themselves to doubters. The reprise of one line of 'At The Edge' is a nice coda for the album and a rigid digit pointed at those who ever wished ill on the band.

However, these personal messages are only one fraction of the strength of this album. Contemporary themes are throughout, with the politicians firmly in the sights, as are bankers on 'Full Steam Backwards' and 'I Just Care About Me'.

No Going Back also reflects the mounting musical maturity of SLF. 'Guilty As Sin' is delivered as a traditional Irish tune, its haunting subtlety making the lyrical theme - institutional child abuse at the hands of the church - a more potent thrust at the hearts of those who scoured the innocence from the young in their care.

Jake Burns personal love of Thin Lizzy is reflected on 'Trail of Tears' a song which harkens to the time of the Troubles but looks towards the future.

Production of the album by the band, with engineering and mix at the hands of Jason Donaghy, keeps the spikiness of SLF's sound but also allows breath for Ali's bass to roam, McCallum's rhythm guitar to maintain momentum and Grantley's drums to anchor but not overbear.

While the music still keeps the Stiff Little Fingers sound alive it serves the lyrics well, such as on 'One Man Island', which deals with newspapers and network TV's penchant to find targets to provoke a nation's ire, often without facts. It is a reflection of the band's often used challenge to young and old: "assume nothing, question everything'.

There is no doubt that this is a fantastic album, but as Jake sings at one point of his worry about being a lone voice in the crowd, are such overt challenges against the tides of corruption, greed and feeding the masses a diet of mediocrity a mere tilting at windmills?

The penultimate track 'Since Yesterday Was Here' answers that by assuring protestors and those that refuse to accept the dogma of the norm that their voices are still to be heard and will always be joined by those that are willing to - in the title of another SLF song - to 'Stand Up And Shout'.

This is an album that, perhaps more than others, placed more pressure on Stiff Little Fingers. Jake has reflected on this when he said that the Pledge campaign meant fans were paying for music the band had still to deliver. That pressure has merged with a sheer force of will to produce a masterclass in what punk should be, and what good rock music must be.

Alternative Ulster may be the unofficial national anthem for Northern Ireland;  No Going Back should be the rallying call for all who refuse to toe the line peddled by bankers, politicians, media and those prepared to accept a beige, vanilla, mediocre life. Put it on the national curriculum and see what resonance the music and words will have on the young, and the old, who refuse to accept the so-called 'music' of today.

In short - buy this album. Stiff Little Fingers. As relevant now as they were 33 years ago.

Stiff Little Fingers and The Defects - proof that punk is still relevant and fine rock performances exist

THERE is something vital, visceral and filled with a love of life that sits askance with the perceived image of punk rock. But those at Belfast's Ulster Hall on Friday (March 14th) saw Stiff Little Fingers and The Defects explode preconceptions and delighted a crowd ranging from teenagers to fifty-somethings.

Unlike the more modern purveyors of so-called pop punk SLF and The Defects understand the brutal roots that gave birth to punk in the UK and in particular in Belfast - that a song must consist of both tight music and lyrics that are more than about some daft guy and dewy eyed girl; songs must speak to the lives of the band and the experiences of the audience.

The rejuvenation of The Defects has matured with a sense of real energy; and, just over four years since they took to the stage once again this is a band as relevant now as in the past.

Charisma is something you either have or you haven't - and Buck Defect and co have it in bucketloads, with that fine 'laid-back but deadly serious' only Northern Ireland bands can truly encapsulate - although having their set introduced by bagpipes...well it was unique.

From Revelator to Brutality this was a tight set - all of which was being filmed for a forthcoming DVD on the band.

Hill Street and Head On Collision were stand-outs in the set; and such is the growing popularity of The Defects that young people who were barely out of nappies when the PSNI were formed joined in the chant of "SS RUC" during Brutality.

The Defects have a long future ahead, and one which we can all hope will continue to deliver fine albums and fine shows.

With the strains of Go For It provoking synchronised clapping and chanting, Stiff Little Fingers quite literally hit the stage running with a high tempo version of Straw Dogs.

But for those hoping to see just a greatest hits set there was much more to this performance: with new album No Going Back about to hit the racks thanks to a wildly successful Pledge Music campaign this was a heartfelt set of well played songs, amusing chat and fine music.

While Suspect Device, Silver Lining, Wasted Life, Just Fade Away and Roots, Radicals all played to an audience familiar with every word it was as lively a set as if SLF were closing a tour.

Many of the tracks were worthy of SLF's recent t-shirt legend "Putting the 'fast' in Belfast" but that would suggest they were one-dimensional. The cover of The Specials "Doesn't Make It All Right" has long since been an SLF standard; its anti-rascist, anti-violence and tolerant sentiments still resonating in 2014 and finding a home in the hearts of fans young and old.

But with the new album coming out in a matter of weeks it was also an opportunity to showcase new tracks. While we are all awaiting its release some tracks are now familiar with live audiences.

However, it is Jake Burns explanations of the back stories of the songs that are revelatory: from his own battles with depression through to chatting with Phil Lynott about getting bands back together there is always an edge to the entertainment SLF provides.

We also had another song led by Ian McCallum which is set for the new platter.

From there it was a mad rush to the end of the set: mad in the sense of speed and intensity.

Codology with Ali McMordie's mic being only used for one song (Barbed Wire Love) and Strummerville dedicated, as usual to the late, great Joe Strummer this was a heads-down performance par excellence.

Fly The Flag, Tin Soldiers and Suspect Device wrapped the main proportion of the set, before a double encore - Johnny Was quickly followed up by a full-tilt At The Edge and then the National Anthem of Northern Ireland, Alternative Ulster.

That SLF can still pack the venerable Bedford Street venue some 37 years after they first kicked out their jams is remarkable in itself; but this is not some tribute to the past.

From young people enjoying their first taste of the Fingers, through to those who were there 'back in the day'; from the metalheads through to those with mohawks; from those there for a unique Belfast event through to die-hard fans, this was rock and this was punk at its finest.

The late Rory Gallagher once described how rock music had grown from the pubs to the concert halls where he said he liked to think "it still had a wee bit of anarchy".

In these health and safety days the anarchy now is not in stage invasions (even mosh pits were being frowned upon on Friday) nor in the mad sway of an over-sold venue: it is instead an anarchy of the mind, where bands like The Defects and Stiff Little Fingers give those attending the free rein to think, enjoy and open minds. That surely is what punk really is - a movement of music and the mind.

No Going Back for Stiff Little Fingers

OKAY fellow rockers - we hope you are all sitting comfortably, and relaxed as we tell you a tale, a tale of a rock band, a punk band, a political force and global influencers all rolled into one.

Now, let us begin, back in the 70s a group of people gathered in north Belfast, when the Troubles were burning streets and leaving a trail of broken people and thousands of graves. Playing rock with covers of Thin Lizzy, Rory Gallagher and Deep Purple, these musicians went by the name of Highway Star...so far so good, another covers band set to entertain.

Then punk exploded, and in particular one band left a profound mark on the singer, one Mr Jake Burns. The band was called The Clash, and the world changed.

Jake and colleagues re-named themselves Stiff Little Fingers and unleashed a fury on the world in the shape of an incendiary album, Inflammable Material. It was an album that ranted against the violence and terror that back then blighted Northern Ireland.

Songs like Suspect Device, Wasted Life, and the real rock and metal national anthem of Northern Ireland - Alternative Ulster spoke to a disaffected youth who did not fit into the tribal life of the country.

The album also broke records when it became the first independently released album to smash its way into the Top 20, and was a favourite of the late John Peel.

Each album since has displayed the same lyrical awareness and the musical sensibility that made them a crossover band - cited by everyone from Duff McKagan, Rancid, Green Day etc etc. They have managed a global reach that few bands can boast.

After a roller coaster career and personal travails Stiff Little Fingers have toured extensively, but there was no sign of a new release. At SLFs most recent gig at the Ulster Hall Jake spoke openly on stage about his issues with depression and how that had hit the recording. The support of the crowd and the roar of support for this courageous statement was moving for all present.

Now, after years of writing, and a pledge campaign that is already 300% over its target, the new album - No Going Back -  is set for a release in April. Before then SLF will be once again playing the Ulster Hall this coming Friday (March 14th)

This is a story - a tale - that has not ended; there is more to tell; more music and more passion. Whatever has happened in the past this is the beginning for SLF - there's No Going Back and frankly we can't wait for the privilege of hearing SLF live again and hearing the new album.

North Belfast is once again rocking the music world.

You can’t fake greatness

THE thriller writer Christopher Brookmyre* has the protagonist of one his fine novels utter the lines: “Irresistible allure of nostalgia for the aging male who’s pining for lost youth. How the hell else could SLF and The Buzzcocks sell out venues in the late 80s?”

Back then the jaded, backcombed fashionistas would never have forseen the enduring appeal of SLF. The Buzzcocks may still be knocking around, but I neither know nor care – Belfast’s finest seem to be enduring.

Equally Brookmyre’s lines tell the lie that there the audience for SLF will be eternally on the wane as audiences’ age and styles move on.

If you were among the fortunate to be in the sell-out crowd on Saturday night (12th March) you will know that the age of the fans means that Stiff Little Fingers can have no doubt that a new generation of fans is developing and maturing in its taste for Rigid Digit fury.

For them each old tune was greeted as much like a new track, with the same verve as if it had been a hotly tipped track of some young outfit caught on a sampler CD.

For those of us of – ahem – a certain age the old and not-so-old tracks are greeted like old friends, friends to share a drink, a laugh and gale of not so restrained chants.

Even more unexpected was the excellent set from The Defects.

For those who missed out on the late 70s and early 80s Belfast punk scene, The Defects were amongst the motley crew of oiks like Rufrex, Rudi and the Outcasts who were born amid conflict, from the wombs of the Harp Bar, The Pound, The Labour Club and other even less salubrious venues.

For them – like SLF – the authority of the police and the pseudo-authority of bastard paramilitaries was to snubbed, ignored and generally taken the piss out of.

For each three-minute blast of fury on Saturday it was like punk never left – and it never really did. Tunes like Dance (Til You Drop) and Brutality have an elegance that those who slagged off the surface idiocy never understood, nor took the time to see them in context. But by scabs of history were well and truly ripped off to see the bleeding, pulsing sore that created Belfast punk newly exposed to the slightly stale air of the Ulster Hall.

Even more heartwarming was to hear kids chanting along to the words of Brutality who were still in primary school when the RUC became the PSNI, and an abbreviation that produced a less musical chant than the time-honoured “SS RUC”. That did earn the frowns of at least one bouncer who would have been graduating into the big school at around the same time.

If The Defects produced a set to warm up the Ulster Hall Stiff Little Fingers set the temperature dial to inferno: the teasing strains of Go For It coaxed every single soul to readiness before a storming, frantic ‘Roots, Radicals, Rocker’ blistered into action.

It was apparent that the pace was being upped, as each and every song seemed to have a tempo designed to either sweat the crowd into submission, or pack as many tunes as possible into the time span.

‘Just Fade Away’, ‘Tin Soldiers,’, ‘Wasted Life’, ‘Fly the Flag’ were among the tracks given a heart-stopping treatment. But the sheer speed of delivery didn’t diminish the playing, or the crowd’s response.

As alluded to, it was a crowd that spanned generations – from kids barely into their teens (and at least one on the balcony not yet to reach that milestone) to those about to end their fraternising with the 40s as the 50s looms – and it is a testimony to SLF that they can engage such a wide age bracket.

And there was also a sense that the political agenda of Jake Burns lyrical stance has come full circle. A majority of tracks aired where written when Thatcher’s Tories were waging war on the working class. Now the ConDem Coalition Government’s mantra of cuts is slashing working men and women’s wages and prospects, SLF aired a new song about how the bankers are basking in bonuses while public services are slashed and burned out of existence.

SLF will never, by themselves, make a change in the political landscape, but part of the enduring power is that Jake reminds us that there can be a sense of fairness that we can aspire to, there can be an alternative view outside the mainstream zombie inducing media, and there can be independent thinking.

But, as yer man also pointed out, just because ther're "miserable gits", doesn’t mean they can’t have a laugh at themselves – hence a rousing Barbed Wire Love.

And in each track from ‘Suspect Device’ through to lesser known sings such as ‘Harp’ [and by my bleeding wee fingers I love that song!] the mikes on stage were picking up the crowd’s singing. At a vantage point close to the stage right PA system the crowd’s response was a counterpoint, an enhancement, to every chorus, and every chant – all produced without a prompt, or poser’s preening for crowd response. SLF had an audible backing group of 1,000+ and the onstage directional mikes weren't pointed at the audience...

Encores produced one surprise, one not-so-surprise and a lot of sweaty burling about and pogoing.

Jake has always spoken and sang about how Joe Strummer’s influence on him – I paraphrase here, but Rory Gallagher gave Mr Burns a reason to pick up a guitar, and Joe gave him the passion to keep on playing.

Thus, when ‘I Fought The Law’ burst out it was an almost state of ecstasy that swept the crowd. Welcoming Ricky Warwick on to stage we were invited to “Please be upstanding for the National Anthem” and ‘Alternative Ulster’ seemed for some to round off the evening.

But checking out your standard SLF resumé there was the small matter of ‘Johnny Was’ that was an inevitable second encore – and the Ulster Hall was working harmonies along to the pathos of the Bob Marley song.

SLF will never be great in terms of the shallow measures of Pop Idol or X-Factor (Take ‘Guitar and Drum’ and shove it up Cowell’s superannuated arse if you ever meet him!). Nor will mere accountants’ figures of sales or cashflow measure or account for the longevity of SLF; or why street kids, metalheads, hard rockers, ska types, old skinheads, thrashers, and, of course, aging punks turn out to see the ‘Fingers.  For all the banter, all the self-deprecation, SLF are a band that will never be accorded accolades, but will always, always have a measure of greatness that few can aspire to.

And that greatness was bursting through in the Ulster Hall in what in this humble reviewer’s gigs was one of the most electric gigs I have seen SLF play since the tension filled fury of the Go For It tour gig in the same venue. In fact it was much better.

Stiff Little Fingers – the punk band that could play; the rock band with punk sensibilities; the pop punk progenitors; but most of all, Belfast’s finest bar none.

ENDS

PS – I am fuckin’ biased but I don’t care, because there are a lot of us biased towards SLF too!

* - Country of the Blind: Christopher Brrokmyre P121 Abacus 2002 paperback