On the phone from a tour marking the 40th anniversary of first LP Inflammable Material, which also counts U.S. punk contemporaries the Avengers, Belfast-born Stiff Little Fingers nucleus Jake Burns, 61, thinks too much is made of the Irish punkers’ evolution from teen rockers Highway Star.: “We had aspirations of being a heavy metal band, but we weren’t good enough,” he laughs. “If we played six gigs in those two years we were together, I’d be amazed.”: That background came in handy nonetheless when SLF went into a Belfast jingle studio to record explosive debut single “Suspect Device,” with an opening riff (ahem) borrowed from Montrose’s “Space Station No. 5.”: “It’s a direct steal,” he chortles. “I never denied it for a second! We stole that intro, but the rest of the song was mine and [original manager and co-songwriter] Gordon [Ogilvie]’s work. Luckily, Ronnie Montrose never showed up to get his cut!”: Once the quartet of Burns, guitarist Henry Cluney, bassist Ali McMordie, and drummer Brian Faloon entered the studio with Rough Trade chief Geoff Travis and Houston psychedelic hero Mayo Thompson of Red Crayola in November 1978, SLF became an incendiary device all its own. Taking the Clash as a blueprint, the group – which still includes McMordie – armed itself with 12 pogo bombs informed by life on an Emerald Isle split by sectarian violence.: “The Clash were writing songs about their reality, and so were we,” says Burns. “That’s all you can do, if you’re going to be honest to yourself as an artist. They were our biggest inspiration. They inspired us to write those songs.”