THE SHEER ACTION OF FINI TRIBE: 1982-1987 is a retrospective of the band’s material focusing on the years 1982 to 1987. It was a long time in the making, a labour of love for the band, showcasing their most productive years as a six piece with members CHRIS CONNELLY, ANDY MCGREGOR, DAVID MILLER, SIMON MCGLYNN, PHILIP PINSKY, and JOHN VICK.
Fini Tribe in 1986, photo by Peter Ross
The compilation of tracks — including the legendary JOHN PEEL session from 1985, the original 12” singles including DETESTIMONY and the WAXTRAX! singles, and unreleased live tracks –- gives as broad a spectrum of the breadth of the band’s creativity during those five important years from 1982 to 1987. The whole package was lovingly remastered and the album and art was produced by members of the band.
This project will be released as a three-CD digipak with 24-page booklet, a vinyl LP in a gatefold sleeve with insert, and digital download on October 10th 2025 via SHIPWRECKED INDUSTRIES and distributed by VIRTUAL LABEL. Full track listings and other album details are below.
The three-CD digipack includes a 24-page booklet with:
A short essay by SHIRLEY MANSON of GARBAGE
A short essay by ALASTAIR MCKAY, author of Alternatives To Valium: How Punk Rock Saved a Shy Boy’s Life
A long essay by ANDY MCGREGOR
50+ photos and other art
DISC ONE: SINGLES & COMPILATION TRACKS
1. Cathedral (from Curling & Stretching 12”)
2. Backwards and Forwards We Lean (from Curling & Stretching 12”)
3. Curling Theme (from Curling & Stretching 12”)
4. All Fours (From compilation You Bet We’ve Got Something Against You)
5. Detestimony (from Let the Tribe Grow EP)
6. Throttlehearts (Rising Mix) (from Let the Tribe Grow EP)
7. Adults Absolved (from Let the Tribe Grow EP)
8. Monimail (from Let the Tribe Grow EP)
9. I Want More (from The Sheer Action of Fini Tribe EP)
10. Idiot Strength (from The Sheer Action of Fini Tribe EP)
11. Make It Internal (from Make it Internal 12” EP)
12. Little Visitors (from Make it Internal 12” EP)
13. All Fours (Remix) (from Censorship Sucks compilation)
14. I Want More (7” Mix) (from The Sheer Action of Fini Tribe EP)
15. Make It Internal (Integrity Mix) (from Make it Internal 12” EP)
DISC TWO: SESSIONS & DEMOS
1. Splash Care (John Peel Session)
2. Goose Duplicates (John Peel Session)
3. An Evening with Clavichords (John Peel Session)
4. We’re Interested (John Peel Session)
5. Paperself
6. Me and My Shadow
7. Goose Duplicates (Instrumental)
8. Splash Care
9. An Evening with Clavichords
10. Goose Duplicates (Vocal Mix)
11. We’re Interested (Instrumental)
12. Big Jug / Wet Steel Rail
13. We’re Interested (Vox)
14. Restless
15. The Cure for Madness
16. Bye Bye to the October Sky
17. The Constant
18. Throttlehearts (vocal version)
DISC THREE: LIVE+
1. Dirty Harry
2. Do We Understand Each Other
3. I Want More
4. Idiot Strength
5. Bye Bye to the October Sky
6. Backwards and Forwards We Lean
7. Cure For Madness
8. Restless
9. Paperself
10. Backwards and Forwards We Lean (Instrumental)
11. Monimail II
12. City on a Fence
13. Torch/Distance
14. Choke
Vinyl LP (SHIP004LP) Track Listing
The vinyl release is a single LP in a gatefold sleeve including:
A short essay by SHIRLEY MANSON of GARBAGE
A short essay by ALASTAIR MCKAY, author of Alternatives To Valium: How Punk Rock Saved a Shy Boy’s Life
A long essay by ANDY MCGREGOR
A special insert with an eye-witness account of the ‘Absolution’ performance by INNES REEKIE
A dozen photos and other art
SIDE ONE
1. Splash Care (Peel Session)
2. We’re Interested (Peel Session)
3. Goose Duplicates (Peel Session)
4. An Evening with Clavichords (Peel Session)
5. Detestimony
SIDE TWO
1. I Want More (7” Edit)
2. Me and My Shadow
3. Paperself (Live at Pleasance)
4. Do We Understand Each Other (Live at Calton Studios)
Album Information
All tracks composed by: CHRIS CONNELLY
ANDY MCGREGOR
DAVID MILLER
SIMON MCGLYNN
PHILIP PINSKY
JOHN VICK
Except for “I WANT MORE” written by KAROLI/CZUKAY/SCHMIDT/LEIBEZEIT/GILMOUR
Album Credits:
Design & art direction: Andy McGregor remixing 1980’s Fini art
Cover art: high school printed t-shirt by Simon McGlynn
Engineering, production, and mixing for each track listed in the metadata document
Album mastered by James Scott, Populist Recording & Mastering
Ahead of the release of THE SHEER ACTION OF FINI TRIBE: 1982-1987, the band re-release the single “I WANT MORE” as well as the video, both originally released in October 1987 by WaxTrax! Records.
Chris recalls:
“I Want More” is a cover of a song by CAN, a firm favourite of the band since even before its inception! We had a great time re-arranging the song and working on its percussion-driven framework. When we approached WaxTrax!, Jim Nash told us that the single by CAN was in heavy rotation always at the WaxTrax! store in Chicago, so we knew we had come to the right place.
The compilation, THE SHEER ACTION OF FINI TRIBE: 1982-1987 was a long time in the making: a labour of love for the band, showcasing our most productive years as a six piece. The compilation of tracks – from professional BBC recordings to live performance and rehearsal room demos – gives as broad a spectrum of the breadth of the band’s creativity during those five important years from 1982 to 1987.
Listen to Chris talk about Fini Tribe, the compilation, and much more in this interview with Industrial Amputation.
Full details for THE SHEER ACTION OF FINI TRIBE coming soon!
Julia Nash and her family have begun the process to designate the original WaxTrax Chicago storefront landmark status with the city of Chicago. Chris lends his support to the effort and remembers 2449 N. Lincoln Ave. fondly:
Walking into the WAXTRAX! store on North Lincoln was PARADISE for any music fan, music collector, record nerd, fashion fanatic, manic panic manipulator, a haven for the shaven, a shelter for the shaggy, LGBTQ… it was all there for you, from the eccentric staff (myself included) to the latest TUXEDOMOON import, or maybe a MARTHA & THE VANDELLAS greatest hits album. On any given day, the often belligerent (but loveable) staff might play the most awkwardly terrifying NURSE WITH WOUND album whilst smoking and downing a six pack of St. Pauli Girl lager behind the counter, studiously ignoring the customers.
Posters from DEPECHE MODE to SID VICIOUS hung around, and upstairs you could maybe try on an asymmetrical dress while Robert Plant sat in a chair studying the latest British Rock magazine…
Those were loud, rhythmic, creative and hedonistic times, in a beautifully inclusive setting…
Yes, it’s true that I coincidentally turned 50 this year—considered by many to be power outage, so I COULD not notice it as it was DARK, enough senses working to reach out and pour from a bottle of single malt in a freezing dark room—so, in other words, little changed… ho hum…
What was remarkable this year was, how busy with music I was—busy to the point of confusion: The year started with an avalanche of light and sound when SONS OF THE SILENT AGE brought in 2014 with a New Year’s show, hotly followed two days later with a scaled down version of same at the club Berlin on Chicago’s north side…
A couple of days after THAT, I was in the studio recording the lead vocals and guitar for what will eventually become my 15th solo album… more on that later…
That month also saw the release of the first EP by the mighty COCKSURE as well as the 25th anniversary remix/reissue of the 1985 monster “DETESTIMONY” by FINI TRIBE (not technically a 25th anniversary, more like 28th). AND, at the end of that month the first ever gig by COCKSURE…
The middle of the year was a schizophrenic affair with me vacillating and oscillating between my own solo album and working hard on the debut album and another single by COCKSURE. Almost in the same breath we signed to the recently revived WAXTRAX! label for a one-off EP and we signed to METROPOLIS for the debut full length—girding my industrial rock loins whilst keeping it REAL and on the modern tip, whilst I salivated over TYLER THE CREATOR mixtapes, I managed to become the petty Scottish tyrant that I always knew I could.
The new COCKSURE EP, “TKO MINDFUCK”, came out in the summer and we played to celebrate it at some dark disco bar in the sweltering June heat… Then, all of a sudden, SONS OF THE SILENT AGE were back taking another lick of the BOWIE catalogue…
Summer stretched on, and the COCKSURE album, “TVMALSV”, was there, in your face, like Tarantino adrift in the highlands of Scotland with a bag of bath salts and the burning remains of a Porsche belching black smoke into the sky… and then, and then… before you have time to take this in, SONS hit again outdoors at DALEY PLAZA in Chicago for the opening of DAVID BOWIE IS… at the Museum of Contemporary Art. I ran offstage with full Bowie make up on to make my flight to NEW YORK to play with Cocksure, opening for the legendary FRONT 242. I was confused and tired, and I flew back to do THE SAME THING at Metro in Chicago…
It is time to regroup, or not: “World Fair” by the amazing HUMAN GREED comes out featuring my performance of “Black is the Colour of My True Love’s Hair”. An album of strange sonic experiments I must have made in the 80s comes out on the prestigious Vinyl On Demand label… and then COCKSURE fucks off to Antwerp to play the Belgian Independent Music festival. It is almost Christmas, and on the 24th, the new solo album is DONE, MASTERED, TITLED, COVER ART ASSEMBLED and there you have it…
There’s clearly much to look forward to in 2015—including this rebooted web site! Happy new year, everyone!
On Friday, July 8, Chris and Paul Barker will be guests on Sound Opinions as they look back on the legacy of WaxTrax Records. Check the web site to find out when the show airs in your region. The show will also be online to listen to on the 11th!
