ROCK’N’ROLL
CONFIDENTIAL
Jake Burns
The Stiff Little Fingers frontman talks Belfast in ’77, old comrades and Inflammable Material.
Can you digit?: Stiff Little Fingers’ Jake Burns, 1980.
Eugene Adebari/Shutterstock
“WE NEVER really considered ourselves famous, which looking back is ridiculous,” muses Stiff Little Fingers firebrand Jake Burns. “Our albums were going Top 10, we were selling out shows around the country, playing around the world. After 48 years of doing this, I still get thrown when somebody recognises me.” The raspy-voiced singer is speaking from his home in the mountains of West Virginia – 3,000 miles and a lifetime away from SLF’s formative years in war-torn 1970s Belfast, a gnarly experience documented on their classic punk debut, Inflammable Material. Synth-pop and “needling” ended the first spell of the group, but since 1987 Burns has been the constant in reunion line-ups. “I guess I do this professionally now,” he chuckles.