Chris Connelly recalls the early years of Edinburgh’s most combustible post-punk unit

Transmission 346: Interview with Chris Connelly/Fini Tribe

Fini Tribe formed in Edinburgh in 1980 as a three-piece with no drummer, assembled by a group of teenagers with no formal training and little interest in acquiring any. The lineup expanded to six: Chris Connelly, Simon McGlynn, Andy McGregor, Davie Miller, Philip Pinsky, and John Vick, rehearsing in the damp, unheated warrens of Niddry Street and Blair Street in the Old Town. Their frame of reference pulled from Throbbing Gristle, CAN, Wire, Captain Beefheart, and the angular post-punk bands rotating through the John Peel Show, alongside Edinburgh’s festival-city surplus of film, writing, and visual art. A self-released debut EP on their own Finiflex label led to a Peel Session in 1985, produced by Dale Griffin.

Title: The Sheer Action of Fini Tribe
Artist: Fini Tribe
Release Date: 2026-02-20
Genres: New Wave, No Wave, Post-punk
Label: Shipwrecked Industries
Description: Chris Connelly interview on Fini Tribe's 1980;1988 years, Wax Trax! Records, John Peel, and The Sheer Action of Fini Tribe retrospective.

By 1986 sampling had reconfigured their approach; the Let the Tribe Grow EP and its church-bell-driven Detestimony marked the shift toward experimental dance music. In 1987 they signed to Wax Trax! Records, releasing a percussion-driven cover of CAN’s I Want More. After a reworked Detestimony and a few more events, including a night at the Third Eye Centre in Glasgow that ended in flames, this incarnation dissolved. Connelly left for Chicago to join The Revolting Cocks and later Ministry, as well as several other seminal post-punk and industrial bands such as Pigface (read our interview with Martin Atkins), The Damage Manual (read our interview with Jah Wobble), and Front Line Assembly. The Sheer Action of Fini Tribe is the first retrospective of the band’s early period, curated and designed by its members, with essays by Shirley Manson and Alastair McKay out now via Shipwrecked Industries.

Fini Tribe lit things on fire, sprayed audiences with paint, and recorded a John Peel Session so fast they could barely keep up with themselves; four decades later, the tapes finally surface on The Sheer Action of Fini Tribe, out now via Shipwrecked Industries.

How did the Fini Tribe come together in 1980?

It was a group of friends, initially I was the impetus. I was a huge fan of Throbbing Gristle and wanted to work with sound, tapes, and words. Eventually I gathered a few of my friends and we started experimenting in my bedroom; we were 14 or 15. After punk, there was a definite move towards experimenting outwith traditional “rock” instruments and sounds. We did not know how to play; we, of course, did not care about that. It was all about exploring sound and seeing what we could do.

What were the Niddry Street and Blair Street rehearsal rooms like?

They were dark, damp and cold!! Even in the summer. But they were vibrant and alive with people playing music 24 hours a day; there was a good community, there was a great pub next door.

How did the Edinburgh environment shape you?

The environment of Edinburgh was important; it’s a beautiful place. We would walk all the time; there are hills to climb, there is noise, but also places of incredible silence. There was also a lot of amazing culture to soak up, amazing art exhibitions.

What were the influences, musical and otherwise, that made you want to pick up instruments and start a band?

There was a couple of local bands, Visitors and Explode Your Heart, who were not traditional rock bands; their music was indescribably unique. We would watch them, play concerts with them; they showed us that there was no formula you had to follow. We also loved CAN, Wire, 23 Skidoo, A Certain Ratio, Rip Rig & Panic, Pop Group, to name a few.

“Me and My Shadow” was written during a library period at school. How much of the early material came together in unexpected moments like that?

Yes, I wrote the lyrics in library period. I had little interest in studying, but I wrote and drew all the time. I still write all the time; it’s my favorite thing to do, and it always has been.

How important was the use of unconventional instruments and found objects to your sound?

I think they helped shape our sound. We did not pick them up to be specifically “unconventional,” but if something was there, or we could borrow it to try it, be it a xylophone or a clarinet, we would do that. Sometimes it would work, sometimes not.

What do you remember about recording your debut EP on the Finiflex label?

We recorded at a studio called Pierhouse, which was by the sea. I remember being very nervous; it was always nerve-racking to go into the studio. We had all just left school; we were about 18.

How did the John Peel Session in 1985 come about, and what did it mean for the band at the time?

It was SUCH a big deal for us, but John Peel liked us. We LOVED him, and we had all been listening since the mid 70’s; he was so important to independent music. So we rehearsed a lot, and again, we were so nervous when we did it, because you only get a certain amount of time to finish everything. We played so fast! But we did it, and we could not have been more proud; it was a major thing to get back then.

How did the arrival of sampling change the way you wrote and performed?

It opened up a whole new dimension for us. We were still very much a live band; we played everything that we could play, but now we could have sounds onstage that otherwise would have been really hard to replicate live; church bells, machines, choirs, etc… So I think we used it to expand our sound, rather than substitute our sound with machines. By that point we were so tight as a band; we just used sampling to challenge ourselves even more.

The Assembly Rooms performance involved sculpture, film, suspended bin bags full of poster paint sprayed over the audience. Where did that impulse toward performance art come from?

Because we did not want to be just “a band on stage playing”; not that we thought we were boring, but we were a very visual group. We loved art, we loved performance, so why not use the opportunity of being onstage to expand the visual aspect in the same way that sampling had expanded our sound.

How did the connection with Wax Trax! Records happen?

They had released a few records I liked a lot and I just approached them. They were so nice, so enthusiastic, unlike most other labels we had tried to get on.

What was your relationship with “I Want More”, and why did it feel right to cover it?

I have been obsessed with the band CAN since the single I Want More came out in 1976 and I saw them do it on the tv show Top of the Pops. It was a lot more radical to me than the Sex Pistols, whose Anarchy in the UK came out about the same time (although I loved that too! Very much!!). It was catchy as fuck, but very non-traditional sounding; not rock, not prog rock, not disco. About a week later I found their Tago Mago album and bought it; for an 11 year old, that was mind blowing. Doing I Want More with the Fini Tribe seemed like a great idea; we all loved CAN, and I think we brought a lot of original ideas to it.

The night at the Third Eye Centre in Glasgow reportedly ended in flames. What happened?

Oh, we had a huge metal shovel from a digger that we covered in cotton balls and flammable glue, and we lit it…..

What was the dynamic between the six of you creatively? How did decisions get made?

We would play together, just start with a rhythm, and see where it went. We would eventually stop and talk about what was good or bad about it, take some of the good bits and work with them. I would work on vocal melodies and then lyrics; sometimes maybe 2 or 3 of us would get together and work and then bring it to the band. It was really good fun; it’s how we learned to listen.

Were there political or social currents in 1980s Scotland that fed directly into the music?

Of course. We played a lot of anti-nuclear benefits, we played for the striking miners; it was all around us, it was in us, our friends and our parents. We were angry about Thatcher and the general situation that had grown out of the mid to late 70’s; we wanted change.

What was it like revisiting all of this archival material for The Sheer Action of Fini Tribe?

It was amazing! I am very proud of what we did as a band. I can hear how hard we worked and how inventive we were, and how focused.

The release includes previously unreleased live tracks. Were there any surprises in the tapes when you went back to them?

YES! The live material; I had NEVER heard it, and I was so excited about it. I thought we sounded great!

What comes next for Fini Tribe?

That I do not know….this material is over 40 years old; who knows what will come next? Should we open a cafe????

Photos courtesy of Fini Tribe

Matteo Damiani

Matteo Damiani is an Italian photographer and author. Curator of the sites Retrofuturista.com; weirditaly.com; china-underground.com and others