As mentioned on the History page, Colin McClelland has given me some great information on the beginnings of Stiff Little Fingers as well as some unbelievable artifacts included on the History page. With his very kind permission, I have put together some notes of his. But first, an introduction...

Colin McClelland is a 53 year old Belfast-born journalist who's been living in Dublin for almost 20 years, and was the person whom Stiff Little Fingers first contacted when they were trying to achieve recognition in Belfast. He introduced the young band to Gordon Ogilvie, and Colin and Gordon co-managed them right up to the time of the Inflammable Material album release and the subsequent recording contract with Chrysalis. Their ways parted when the band moved to London, and Colin moved to Dublin. Gordon, the band, and Colin have remained in irregular contact ever since.

"I am the invisible man of the Stiff Little Fingers story. As the years have gone by, my part in their rise to fame has gradually faded from the history books. Let me explain: when Jake Burns fronted the original band back in the 1970's, he used to write to me at the newspaper in Belfast for which I was then working. I was a reporter and columnist, and occasionally wrote about the rock bands around Northern Ireland at the time. Jake worked as a clerk in an engineering works in those days, and used to send me these amazing letters saying that he had "the best rock'n'roll band in the world", and that I should come to see them. We started to correspond by letter. Gordon Ogilvie worked in Belfast for the Daily Express at the time, and was a very good friend of mine ( still is ). He said to me that if punk rock had a natural home it should be Northern Ireland. I told him that I thought I might have found what he was talking about. Jake had invited me to a gig in the stables ( actually had been stables, converted into performance/dance areas ) at the Glenmachan Tower Hotel, which is just on the outskirts of Belfast. As I recall, the band had to bring some of their amplification equipment on the bus ( public transport ), because they had no other way of getting there. Gordon and I turned up, and although things kept breaking down on stage ( their equipment was woeful ), there was no doubting the magic that they were transmitting. We met them after the gig, said that we would like to get involved, but as we were both professional journalists, all we could do was help them with publicity. Of course, as the weeks went by, this turned into management, and we signed a deal where the six of us ( four band members, Gordon, and myself ) would form a company called Rigid Digits, and this was based at my home at 12 Sharman Road, Belfast. We managed them for the first year, which was full of disappointments. As I was the only one with any recording experience ( I had managed a band before ), I set up studios and got them gigs around Ulster. Gordon looked after the finance and started to co-write songs with Jake. Finally we recorded Suspect Device. I got them time at a local radio station, and we recorded the single in the studio where the station usually made advertising jingles. I also found a guy who could arrange for records to be pressed. Gordon and I played the acetate of Suspect Device twelve times in my front room at Sharman Road, just to re-assure ourselves that what we were hearing was as incredible as we had first thought. The rest is history, of course. By the time Inflammable Material was released, I had received a job offer in Dublin which was was a big step-up in my journalistic career, and as I had a wife and child to support ( Gordon didn't ), I decided to do the reliable thing and take the job. In any case, by choosing to remain in Ireland I was actually becoming redundant to their needs. They were now based full-time in London, and Gordon had also been transferred to London by his newspaper, so I had to fly over every time there was a meeting or a problem, and it just wasn't working. In London, I sold my sixth share of Rigid Digits back to the band for what was then a considerable amount of money. The recording deal with Chrysalis had been set up, and I felt happy that I had done my part of the job - which was to get them into the charts. Gordon and I still meet from time to time, and talk to one another on the phone every month or so. I had lunch with Jake in Dublin a year or so ago, and until recently was in regular contact with Ali McMordie. I don't know why my name has gradually disappeared from their story. I suppose it just complicated the narrative. You might check a 'thanks' credit to me on, I think, the back of the second album. This was made just after I had left the group."

Colin McClelland; 03 October, 1997