“We just tuned to whoever’s guitar sounded most in tune. That’s how green we were in the studio!”: Jake Burns on Wilko Johnson, mistranslations, and Stiff Little Fingers’ punk classic, Inflammable Material

Stiff Little Fingers perform onstage.

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 has since returned to the fold) – to give us the lowdown on how the album was made. It went a bit like this…