Raw, introspective, emotional; these are words which do not apply to Irish speed metal band GAMA BOMB in any way. GAMA BOMB hail from the big smoke of Dublin (and the little smoke of Newry) Ireland, where members Philly Byrne (vocals), Domo Dixon (lead guitar), Luke Graham (rhythm guitar), Joe McGuigan (bass and vocals), and Paul Caffrey (drums) were weaned on video games, horror movies, comic books and the iconic first-wave thrash bands of the 1980s.
Shrinking from the increasingly commercial and posey metal scene of the early noughties, the group formed in 2002 with a mandate to ape the sonic attack of their heroes Megadeth, Anthrax and Nuclear Assault. In doing so, they accidentally rekindled the people’s love for a good old mosh which those bands had once stoked.
GAMA BOMB were independent and dogged from the off. They honed their sound on a pair of demos and countless live shows and were already old hands before debuting with 2005's self-explanatory Survival of the Fastest LP in 2006.
Self-financed and charmingly rough around the edges, it caught the attention of the already nascent thrash scene through then-blooming social media.
Without knowing it, GAMA BOMB had pre-empted a world wide thrash revival with their little album, and once it took hold across the globe the band were snapped up by Earache Records who unleashed their accomplished sophomore album Citizen Brain in 2008.
The band embarked on European tours and festivals that saw them slugging it out in Neo-Nazi bars, sleeping on the floors of haunted houses and narrowly avoiding death by alcohol poisoning in support of the album.
Mainstage slots at European metal festivals including Hellfest in France and Tuska Open Air in Finland and a 2009 award for best newcomer in a Terrorizer magazine readers' poll sharpened the band’s focus.
Citizen Brain’s wry, ironic lyrics, married to the band’s furious rhythms and stellar solos, marked GAMA BOMB out as plucky standard-bearers for the thrash revival, though it was their next album, 2010’s Tales from the Grave in Space, that established them as a serious proposition.
In a groundbreaking step by the band and label, GAMA BOMB and Earache released Tales from the Grave in Space as a completely free download, making them the first band ever to release a full studio album while signed to a record label.
Aside from garnering universally glowing reviews, The Tales… experiment proved the validity of a radical new business model for the music industry, outselling Citizen Brain upon physical release in 2010, a bold move that’s yet to be replicated by a band of any genre.
The statement propelled the fivesome through a hectic 2010, seeing them tour the US and Canada for the first time as well as returning to their homeland for a triumphant Irish tour.
Now in 2011 they’re turning their attention at last to a fourth , which promises to be as consistently thrashing as every lick they’ve ever committed to wax thus far.
Surrounded by meat-headed bros and grimacing art-metallers, GAMA BOMB are a unique and uniquely fun proposition in the world of metal; five self-confessed Irish geeks who have the chops to devastate and the wit to disarm even the most churlish critic.
Unconcerned with fashion, grand statement or notions of artistic integrity, GAMA BOMB worship at the Altar of the Riff – and they’re religious about having a good time. |
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Firstly, Please introduce each member, age and instrument.
Joe McGuigan is 25 and plays bass and backing vocals. Paul Caffrey is 19 andplays drums, Luke Graham is 24 and plays guitar, as does Domo Dixon (axe mansupreme) who’s 25. I’m Philly Byrne, I does the singings, and I’m 24. Nice round ages.
How is the Irish Thrash scene in general?
Better than ever! It’s crazy how international it is right now. Myspace has allowed us to check out thrash bands who’ve popped up all over the world over the last few years. There are kick-ass bands all over south America, the States and of course the UK and Ireland as well as mainland Europe. There are separate scenes in different countries, but there’s a realenthusiastic following no matter where you look and bands generally look out for each other and network really well. Every decent thrash band out there is reaching people, and that’s really exciting. If the scenes back in ‘86 had had MySpace, things would have been pretty different by the time 1992 rolled around…
You released one album already on small German label- witches brew- how did that come about?
Witches Brew contacted us and asked if we were interested in releasing an album, shortly after we’d gone ahead and recorded one off our own bat with a view to getting it released. |
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At the time we didn’t want to sit around making demos forever, waiting for a label to swing in on a chandelier with a deal in their teeth – we wanted to get on our feet and make a real album as soon as we were able, and it paid off. Witches Brew is a fantastic label; they have so many great underground bands, a DIY ethic, and they’re just great people too. They got us noticed in South America, too. Tons of respect for them.
You recently recorded a track "Zombi Brew" for the "Thrashing Like a Maniac" comp on Earache- how was the process, travelling to england to record one track?
It was both great craic and hard work, which is a good combination! We’re all best mates and it’s good to have a job to do because we can be productive while hanging out and having a laugh. |
It pissed rain all day and we were literally in the middle of nowhere, but we made the best of it and still had a great laugh. Plus, the track is amazing – better than we’ve ever sounded before. There was an insane night’s drinking done, too. Someone vomited through their nose I think, and the less said about what happened to the curtains the better....
What makes gama bomb different from the other new thrash hopefuls?
Mainly, we’re different because we’re not new! We’ve invested our time and ideas in GAMA BOMB for five years now, so we kinda feel like old hands by this point – even though there’s a lot to learn about being a signed act, and we spent a lot of that time maturing into a serious prospect. |
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Aside from that, we’re pushing it in a direction that’s totally different to everyone else: we’re delivering fun, on-the-ball, really old-school thrash like nobody else. Vocally and lyrically we’re very different – we’re not afraid to have fun with the music and ideas of the songs. We know that being po-faced and stern isn’t always the most credible or cool option. Plus, you can hear Agent Steel and Nuclear Assault in our sound, which nobody else has chased.
Has anyone in the band ever had a brush with the law?
Actually, no! This comes as a bit of a surprise as we’re all about the goat-slaughtering and the crack-selling and the arms-dealing... Actually we’re nice lads, we don’t nick stuff or get into fights or anything. That’s for communists.
What can fans expect on the Earache debut- Citizen Brain?
We think it’s gonna to be the GAMA BOMB record everyone has been waiting for. When we’re let loose in a great studio with a professional producer and given the time to get it perfect, people aren’t going to believe the shit we’ll be pulling off. The material we have ready pushes the boat out so much; more aggressive, more intense, faster, funnier and more acrobatic vocally and guitar-ally. There’ll be no denying that it’s a total brain-melter of an album, wait and see!
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If gama bomb were a cocktail- what would it be?
Good question, but luckily we’ve already thought of this. The ingredients would be:
1 x bottle of non-medicinal tonic wine
6 x tins of export-strength reinforced lager
1 x 3 litre bottle of maximum refreshment dry cider from Lidl
1 x beef stock cube (for vitamins)
1 x cube pool cue chalk (for fancy colour)
It’s not so much a cocktail as a load of sick, but it sums us up: sharp, dangerously alcoholic and a bit thick.
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What do you think makes this new generation of Thrash bands different from the 80 originals?
Well, there’s the same youthful enthusiasm as you could see in young bands of the 80s, but there’s also perspective. You can see where bands went wrong back in the day. For our own part, we can look back at albums like Souls Of Black, Quatro, Force Of Habit, Youthanasia, all that Black Album-inspired shit, and say ‘okay, that’s the line, that’s where thrash ends and dross begins, let’s stay clear’. We’ve always done that, and it keeps us more focused on our style. No acoustic intros, no synths and no ballads!
Is anyone in the band into skateboarding ?
Apart from Paul, who’s young and well, we’re all decrepit and stiff-necked old farts who can’t even run the length of ourselves, let alone whiz about on a plank. Even a brief go on a Nintendo Wii nearly killed us recently. We never graduated to skateboarding because of these deficiencies.
Whats the fascination with Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles?- did you know LA thrashers Bonded BY Blood recently released their version as a bonus on their EP?
We love what BBB did with the Turtles theme song, they made it sound so much thrashier, the way it was meant to be played. We’ve got a lot in common with those lads, by the look of things! Ninja Turtles was just a childhood thing for us (which shows our age pretty well), and you can’t just turn your back on that shit when you’re older. We’re still totally into collecting the Eastman and Laird comics and watching the cartoons, by the way – turtle power!
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There seems to be a definite image with Thrash music- like jean jacket with patches etc. Is this important?
That’s an old argument isn’t it? Every style of music comes with a dress code, and people always go for or against adopting it. Personally I think the thrash ‘uniform’ is really cool, and if it makes people feel cool it’s not a bad thing. Cut-offs and hi-tops and stuff aren’t mandatory – you can really know your shit about thrash and wear a diving suit for all we care – but it’s the way we dress every day, so we can’t put it down!
What did you think of 'thrash is back' feature in NME- were you surprised they mentioned Gama Bomb?
We’ve been lucky with the press so far; people took notice of the things we did and liked our style before we were signed, they got what we did really. We’d already made appearances in a few of the mags when the NME thing came up, so it was exciting – but being in NME was the biggest shock. It’s a mag that gets a lot of stick, even from the bands they promote, and thrash is not their stock in trade. They were making an effort to reach out to a sort of new scene and that’s pretty cool of them. We’re hardly the next bloody Oasis though, are we?
Lastly- pls each of you list your TOP 5 thrash albums of all time.
 Philly:
1. Megadeth Rust in Peace
2. Anthrax Among The Living
3. Nuclear Assault Survive
4. Agent Steel Unstoppable Force\
5. Sepultura – Arise
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 Joe:
1. Rust In Peace
2. Unstoppable Force
3. No Place For Disgrace
4. Persecution Mania by Sodom
5. After The Fall From Grace by Savage Grace
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 Paul:
1. Tankard – hair of the dog
2. Agent orange
3. Agent steel - Skeptics apocalypse
4. Exodus – bonded by blood
5. Vio-lence – Eternal Nightmare
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 Domo:
1. Sceptic’s apocalypse
2. Rust in Peace
3. Doomsday For The Deceiver
4. Toxik – world circus
5. Testament – the new order
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