Still Burning: SLF's Jake Burns

Irish punk band Stiff Little Fingers are still touring and recording, 30 years after getting together in Belfast.

From early singles Suspect Device - sent to record companies packaged as a cassette bomb - and Alternative Ulster, to later songs such as Beirut Moon, the band’s lyrics have continued to deal with contentious political issues, delivered with a fierce yet melodic punk sound.

I spoke to singer and guitarist Jake Burns on the eve of the premier of their DVD Still Burning. He is pleased with the documentary.

“The whole thing was designed to reflect 30 years of the band. Luckily we managed to do it without a load of archive footage because there’s nothing more distressing than seeing yourself at 19 when you’re nearly 50! It was a thrill for us to do it, particularly working with Don Letts was great.”

The DVD combines unique concert footage and interviews with the band and their peers. The film is directed by Grammy Award-winner and punk icon Don Letts. The title, Still Burning, is also the title of a song from SLF’s last album, and is an apt expression of how strong the band’s feelings remain.

“The song was written to reflect the thought that people expect you to be angry young men when you’re 18 or 19, and when you get to middle age you’re supposed to calm down and just accept life as it comes, because you’ve taken all the knocks you’re going to and there’s nothing you can do about it. I didn’t see how that made any sense - just because I was older didn’t mean that I had to accept everything that was being thrown at us. The point of it was saying, ok, we may be older and more settled in life, but that doesn’t necessarily mean that we’re any less angry than we were aged 19.”

I wondered how growing older had affected the group’s music.

“We play better now - you’d like to think you did after touring for thirty years! At age 19-20 we were pretty much just railing against the world, and now with the experience that we’ve had and the life experience that anybody would have growing up, our anger’s a bit more directed. Perhaps our subject matter is more considered, rather than ‘I hate the bloody lot of you’, where we were coming from in the early days.”

Jake hopes that the band’s initial attitude to writing songs hasn’t changed.

“Certainly it hasn’t from my point of view. So far I still haven’t been able to sit down and write an ‘I love her and she loves me and everything in the garden’s rosy’ song because it doesn’t appeal to me, it’s been done a million times and probably better than I could do it anyway. Anytime I try to write a song like that it always comes out like bad sixth form poetry. When it comes to writing and approaching a song the subject matter has to be something that offends my sense of justice. That’s probably why we’ve retained that edge of anger.”

SLF have always had something important to sing about, from The Troubles in 1970s Ireland to the current situation in Iraq.

“Even when I was growing up, before I started writing songs, I was always more of a fan of somebody like Bob Dylan than bubblegum pop music. I could see the value in pop music in so much as people can write a catchy tune and you find yourself whistling it all day till it drives you round the bend, but I think it was called bubblegum for a reason. It was fun while it lasted but ultimately it was disposable and I wanted to do something more worthwhile that lasted longer.”

Jake believes offering such an alternative to manufactured pop has helped the band keep its fans.

“I think one of the main reasons that people have stuck with us for such a long time is because they see a voice in the songs and hopefully it reflects their own concerns. Even if it doesn’t, but just makes them stop and think about something, then that’s better than walking along singing the latest Justin Timberlake song. Not that I’ve got anything against Justin, I’m sure he’s a very nice bloke!”

He may be angry but Jake is far from a vitriolic punk stereotype. Although SLF’s approach might seem the antithesis of pop, in fact Jake has never thought they are mutually exclusive.

“When punk started I didn’t see it as the narrow thing it’s become. It was a very broad canvas at the time, if you consider that people like Elvis Costello, Blondie or Talking Heads as well as folk like the Ramones and the Sex Pistols were considered a punk rock artist. So there were a lot of different styles. It was more about the attitude than the actual style of music and that’s what really appealed to me. It was as if the shackles of ‘we are a rock band’ or ‘we are a pop band’ had been thrown out of the window, you could do whatever you wanted.”

Jake was clearly disappointed when punk became nothing more than a trend.

“Once what’s understood as punk rock today came about you were always defined as a punk band more by what you looked liked than what you were trying to say or what you sounded like, it was ‘If you don’t have a blue Mohawk and six studs on your forehead tenyou’re not a punk rocker.’ It turned into this horrible, nasty, restricted thing, and was completely devalued because it became a minor fashion statement and just part of the entertainment business again. That’s when I lost all interest in it.”

The group split in 1983, then after playing some gigs in 1987 they reunited in 1990 and have been performing and making albums ever since.

“We’re still having fun and there’s still a large audience out there that wants us to do it. If any of those things went away then we would have to seriously consider whether it was worth doing. I wouldn’t want to if it was miserable and just a job purely because 2000 people were going to turn up in Glasgow to see us play, but equally if I was having the greatest time in the world on stage and nobody turned up there’s not a lot of point in that either. As long as both of those factors stay in place then we’ll carry on - either that or until my knees give out, one of the two!”

Playing live is what Jake loves.

“It’s a crazy thing to say but if I could get away without making records I would. Being in the studio can be the most soul destroying thing in the world simply because of my impatience - you have to wait while things are set up, they have to get the sounds right, then you have to try and deliver the right performance that’s good enough to become the record. Though it’s a lot faster now than it used to be.”

Jake quotes Charlie Watts, who said at the Rolling Stones’ 25th anniversary that the previous 25 years had been 5 years of playing and 20 years of hanging around.

“That’s pretty much exactly what it’s like. In front of a live audience it’s instantaneous and you don’t need to wait for some producer to tell you whether it’s good, bad or indifferent - the audience will soon let you know. That’s much more fun.”

Life on the road is as enjoyable as it was when SLF began.

“It sounds slightly juvenile to say, considering I turn 50 next year, but I still enjoy the ‘all boys together’ gang mentality that you have in a band. It is an incredible way to make a living - what was my hobby and something I did for fun when I was at school has been my job for the last thirty years. There aren’t many people who are so lucky that they get to do something they love and it puts bread on the table.”

The group has embraced many new members over its life. Jake and bassist Ali McMordie were part of the original 1977 line-up, though Bruce Foxton took Ali’s place between 1990 and 2006. After original guitarist Henry Cluney was asked to leave in 1993, Dave Sharp shared guitar duties with Ian McCallum until Ian joined permanently in 1996. Current drummer Steve Grantley follows Brian Faloon, Jim Reilly and Dolphin Taylor. Jake is positive about the changes, and believes the band has managed to integrate newcomers and retain its spirit.

“In a lot of ways it’s actually a good thing because you’re bringing in new blood and fresh enthusiasm, but obviously there’s also a period of upheaval. You settle into a comfortable pattern and a way of doing things, then the new person has their own ideas of how things should be done and how we move forward, so a certain amount of accommodation has to go on. I think that sort of change has generally been for the good. There are ways of doing things that you learn over years which work and which don’t so you tend to stick with the things that work.”

SLF have experienced just as many changes in their audience over the years, and say their fanbase runs from 14 to 40.

“A lot of people have grown with us, we have fans as old as us who’ve been there since the start, but bizarrely our audience has got younger even though we’ve got older. Younger bands like Green Day have name-checked us as an influence, so their audience comes to see what we’re like and find out exactly why Green Day said that, and they’ve become fans themselves which is great.”

Jake is happy that SLF have influenced modern bands.

“Green Day are one of the most successful bands on the planet and for them to say that without us they wouldn’t be doing it is very flattering.”

SLF themselves were influenced initially by The Clash.

“We were very influenced by not just what they were doing but the way they were doing it - the fact that they were writing songs about their own lives as opposed to the ‘I love her and she loves me’ sort of song, and even further than that how we saw them treat their audience.”

Jake recalls how most groups didn’t mix with the audience.

“Back in the day rock stars were sort of aristocratic and aloof. For some reason Led Zeppelin pop into my mind, although I know that’s not true because I’ve met a couple of the guys and they’re really nice people.”

The Clash, however, broke down that barrier between band and fans.

“The likes of The Clash came along and we saw them cheerfully signing autographs and being friendly. It proved that ok, this is what I do for a living and just because you work for the post office it doesn’t make me a better person than you, I happen to be lucky to be doing what I am, and it’s thanks to people who work for the post office and buy my records that I can afford to do that.”

It’s clear that SLF are passionate about what they do, and their continuing enthusiasm should ensure the band please their fans for years yet.

“Let’s write some more songs, let’s get into the studio and record them, let’s get out on the road and play them.”

You can purchase Still Burning from all good record stores or online at Amazon.

More information including SLF’s tour schedule can be found at: www.slf.com

By Cherry Butler

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