Kicking Up a Racket

As one of Belfast's most important and influential bands a biography on Stiff Little Fingers' original career was long overdue. Kicking Up A Racket fills that gap admirably.

Combining a wealth of contemporaneous source material with over eighty all new, in-depth interviews with the band members and managers from the time period, friends, fans, musical contemporaries and music journalists Kicking Up A Racket sets out to chart the high-octane story of Stiff Little Fingers initial incarnation.

From their beginnings as a blisteringly ferocious, late Seventies Belfast punk rock combo right through to the granite hard guitar pop/rock offerings of the early Eighties: it's all here. Combined with a plethora of photographs, most previously unseen, Kicking Up A Racket is the last word on Stiff Little Fingers' original time together.

From punk rock to biting guitar pop this first period of the band's existence provided a fine body of work, which continues to inspire, enthuse and motivate to this day. Kicking Up A Racket is a must for all Stiff Little Fingers devotees and fans of punk rock and guitar music in general.

Based on a desire to read a book on his favourite band author, Ro Link, spent seven years researching a new biography of Stiff Little Fingers, along the way linking up with like-minded long time SLF fan, Ian Templeton. Ian spoke with Adam and Edge about the band's early records, their live performances and the influence they had.

Both recall seeing the band in 1978 at Moran's and McGonagles in Dublin.'I remember most definitely the first time I saw Stiff Little Fingers,' recalls Adam. 'The reason I recall the show was because it was so mind expanding. They were just so incredibly powerful, they were the equivalent, I guess, of an English person seeing the Clash at the 100 Club or something.'

'In Dublin, ' he adds. 'Certainly within our circle, those shows kick-started a hundred Irish bands across the city'.

Edge recalls the 'great punk anthem' that was 'Suspect Device'. 'It had everything really, it was an incredible three-and-a-half-minutes. So much venom in the lyrics and the sound was so messed up. It was perfect in its imperfection. These guys just really meant it. It meant everything. It was life or death, that's what I remember from the show.'

The title of the book is a nod to SLF guitarist, Henry Cluney, and Edge recalled his whirlwind style. 'I just remember being blown away by the intensity of the band's playing, particularly actually Henry. Just the way he would attack the guitar, he was gone, he was so lost in it. Just the total commitment to the playing, there was not a hint of holding back or posing.'

'Kicking Up A Racket The Story of Stiff Little Fingers 1977 - 1983' is published by Belfast-based Appletree Press and available from here.


source:www.u2.com//www.kickinguparacket.com/