June 2003: Phil Hendriks (Stiffs) and Dave Philp (Automatics) collaborated  on a new recording of  Dave Philp`s song "Radio blaring from a burning car". The track was part-recorded in England and part in Los Angeles.

Phil`s revised Stiffs line-up were among the headliners  at the 'Antifest' event in the Czech Republic on August 1st.

October saw the inclusion of the newly re-mastered version of The Stiffs "Goodbye My Love" on the 'Blitz Records'/Pickwick compilation of  Stiff Records rarities, "Raiding the Vaults ( Stiff Rarities and Oddities - VOLUME 2 )". Despite the low retail price of £6.99, this is the only available CD to feature the Stiffs track from a genuine 'master', rather than the usual vinyl source.

Phil Hendriks and Jimmy D.  both contributed solo performances to Orlando/USA
based record label 'Gulcher Records' Christmas album "Xmas Snertz", released in December.
Phil`s track was a 100mph version of the 1966 Elvis hit "If Every day was like Christmas",
penned by Presley`s bodyguard Red West, whilst Jimmy D.  provided his own
"Coming Home for Christmas" under his 'Monsterpop' alias.

Phil Hendriks and Dave Philp of The Automatics were interviewed together in Los Angeles
on 13th Feb 2004 by Lucien Ballard, for his 'Back Street Crawler' music show,
which was screened in early March on the Adelphia Cable TV channel in California.
A few days later, Phil was in Fourth Street studios, Santa Monica, playing guest guitar
and backing vocals on some new Automatics demos.

A previously unseen 1980 publicity shot of The Stiffs took up half a page in the March issue
of 'Classic Rock' magazine. Unfortunately however, it was in an article about SLF,
and the photo came complete with caption 'SLF circa 1979' !!
It seems that the editors mistook The Stiffs for Stiff Little Fingers, despite stressing in the
editorial..."S.L.F., not to be confused with The Stiffs, Little and Large or Badfinger".

The Stiffs had their version of 'Goodbye my love' featured on the EMI Gold compilation album,
'Guitar Anthems', released March 1st 2004, rubbing shoulders with the likes of
Saxon, Black Sabbath, Deep Purple and more. Strange but true !!!

"Goodbye my love" cropped up yet again on the EMI Gold  3xCD box set
"Greatest Hits of Punk and New Wave", released Oct. 2004.

Meanwhile, Phil worked as consultant on the EMI Glam Rock series "A`s, B`s and Rarities",
compiling the track selections and sleevenotes for the albums by Suzi Quatro, The Arrows and
Hot Chocolate, and compiling the track selection for the Mud album in that same series.
The "A`s,B`s and Rarities" series was released in Nov.2004.

In December 2004, various original members of The STIFFS and The Automatics gathered together
in the unlikely location of Blackburn`s Imperial Mill to film a promotional video
for "Radio blaring out from a burning car".....with lead vocals shared between Stiffs lead
singer Phil Hendriks and Automatics frontman Dave Philp.
The 2-drummer line-up features original Stiffs drummer Tommy O`Kane,
alongside former Automatics (and Sham 69) sticksman Ricky 'Rocket' Goldstein.
The track remains unreleased as yet.

Left to Right:
Ricky 'Rocket' Goldstein, Michelle Hendriks, Phil Hendriks, Chris Johnson (partially obscured),
Dave Philp, Tommy O`Kane, Steve Johnson
Photo copyright - Pete Eastwood Dec. 2004