Suspect Device - The Incendiary Stiff Little Fingers

Founded in Belfast in 1977 out of the ashes of a heavy metal covers band, Stiff Little Fingers and their manager, Gordon Ogilvie, wrote hard-hitting, scathing songs about The Troubles in Northern Ireland. This was in stark contrast to their contemporaries like The Undertones who chose to ignore The Troubles to sing about teenage angst and chocolate bars.

Stiff Little Fingers was championed by the legendary John Peel and released the iconic Inflammable Material album, which became the first independently released album to chart in the UK, reaching number 14 and achieving silver-selling status.

The band changed its style over the next two albums which lost them a lot of fans and, due to the popularity of synthesiser-based pop music over guitar-driven bands in the 1980s, Stiff Little Fingers broke up in 1983.

A cynical, money-spinning reunion tour in 1987 saw the band enjoy better attended shows than ever and so they decided to give it another go. To this day Stiff Little Fingers continues to tour the world as well as recording and releasing albums - the latest of which became the band's first number one on the BBC Rock Albums Chart. 

Join me as I tell the (somewhat expletive filled) story of a 45-year-old band that is arguably more popular now than ever!

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