DMZ REUNITE: We’ve been waiting for a reunion of DMZ — the punk-era band Jeff " Monoman " Conolly fronted just before he formed the Lyres — on several accounts. For one, their early recordings (in the mid ’70s, before they signed to Sire and got sandbagged by Flo & Eddie) are timeless blitzkrieg rock and roll, alluded to by in-the-know punks for going on a quarter of a century now. And then, we’ve been dying to show you this great photo of ’em back in the day: kinda look like a metal band, don’t they? Conolly takes a break from the Lyres to put together the first DMZ reunion since 1993 — and so the first in post-Rathskeller Boston — at Lilli’s on September 15. That’s at 608 Somerville Avenue in Somerville; for advance tickets, call (617) 931-2000.

" It’s what we do, " says Stiff Little Fingers’ Jake Burns from his home in Newcastle, explaining why his seminal punk band, a quarter-century after forming, will hit the road once again for a tour that kicks off at the Paradise next Thursday. " Admittedly, there is an ulterior motive to coming to America this time, " the singer/guitarist adds. " We’re on a label-shopping trip. We’ve got a bunch of new songs and we’re kind of hoping to get some record-company interest in them while we’re over there. "

Burns emphasizes that " I love playing Boston. And I’m particularly glad we’re back playing the Paradise, which I think is the first gig we ever did there, in 1980. "

Young punks today might know of Stiff Little Fingers from " Get Up, " the Dropkick Murphys’ rousing tribute to the band, or the scene from High Fidelity where a cute young hipster asks the record-store clerk for a Green Day album and is referred instead to a cut from Inflammable Material, SLF’s 1977 debut. Lately, Burns has noticed not only increased attendance at shows but a much younger crowd. He chalks it up to what he terms the " Iggy Pop effect. " " When we first started out, all the punk bands would namecheck Iggy and the Stooges as a big influence. As a consequence, his stock kind of rose. I think that we’ve been helped by bands like the Offspring and Rancid. Certainly we see a lot of Green Day T-shirts in the audience. "

Members of those bands were still in Doc Marten’s booties when SLF formed in bomb-ravaged Belfast in 1977. Inflammable Material was an excoriating blast of indignation, a 13-song indictment of the region’s bitter — and, to their minds, pointless — sectarian violence. " Suspect Device " and " Alternative Ulster " were heartfelt, angry pleas for sanity in a riven land. SLF’s politicization earned them the title the " Irish Clash. " Of course, when you live with continual bomb threats and mammoth armored trucks rumbling down your divided streets, the rage affected by London punk bands might look a little precious. Did SLF ever feel they had more of a right to be angry young men?

" To be completely honest, and I’m talking now removed of some 23 years, it just felt like ordinary life to us, " Burns says. " We’d never experienced anything else. I was 11 years old when the Troubles actually started. It all seemed like some sort of bizarre game that was being played on the streets. That was all I ever knew. And so I don’t think we ever saw it in those terms. We were just sort of describing life as we saw it, which is one reason, I think, we were able to avoid taking sides. Because the whole thing seemed ludicrous, no matter which side you were on. " Composed of Catholics and Protestants, SLF were in fact on both sides. But, says Burns, " we never told anybody who was who, because it wasn’t bloody important. "

Although the violence in Ulster has subsided somewhat and Burns has since moved to England, he still has strong feelings about the goings-on in his home town. " I think the saddest thing about what’s happened in Northern Ireland for so long is that one of the main character traits of the Northern Irish people — and I’m as guilty of it as anybody — is sheer bloody-minded intransigence. Unfortunately, the whole not-give-an-inch culture pervades right up to the top of the political tree. "

But if lasting peace ever is achieved there, will SLF have to retire anthems like " Wasted Life, " and " Barbed Wire Love " ? Burns doesn’t think so. " I’d like to think they’ll become like folksongs, y’know? Songs that were written about conflict that happened long ago and far away. And the quicker that day arrives, the better, as far as I’m concerned. "

BY MIKE MILIARD