In the rot-infested bowels of a boarded-up bunker, five brave soldiers are steeling themselves for an over-the-top assault against the plague ripping through the metal masses. As the brain-dead hordes claw and scratch at their fortified safehouse, Gama Bomb have armed themselves with an arsenal of razor fine riffs and rapier wits as they prepare to take on the brain-sucking musical dead..
Shielding themselves away from the infestation some years back, they’ve sustained their will on the torch-bearing rations of yesteryear’s thrash titans, sharpening their skills and perfecting their blistering attack in hundreds of field-tests and soundlab simulations. Early victories against the metal malaise sent legions of thrashers to their side, bolstering the unit’s already sub-nuclear powers.
Gama Bomb launched themselves on an unsuspecting public in 2002, spewing out tales of zombies, booze and brains that saw them immediately build up a loyal following in their native Ireland and the UK. Over the next few years the band independently released two short EPs before releasing their full-length debut, 'Survival Of The Fastest', through European music label Witches Brew in early 2006.
In September 2007, Gama Bomb signed a record deal with Earache Records. Shortly after, the band featured on Earache's 'Thrashing Like A Maniac' compilation with their song "Zombie Brew" and were also highlighted in NME's Guide to New Thrash. The band have since completed a successful UK tour with Exodus, played with the likes of Tankard, At War, Sabbat and Onslaught, and already have a sold out show with Machine Head at the Dublin Ambassador under their bullet belts.
All eyes are now looking forward to June 9th 2008, when the second full-length album from the Irish thrashers, 'Citizen Brain', is unleashed on the world. Produced by the fast-rising producer Scott Atkins at his Grindstone Studios in deepest Suffolk, 'Citizen Brain' oozes with frantic thrashing riffs mixed with high-pitched classic metal vocals. With song themes ranging from video games and movies to zombies, futuristic prisons and serial killers with oversized weapons, and even touching on real-world issues such as global warming, 'Citizen Brain' is seeping with enough retro 80's references to last a nuclear winter.
Mirroring Gama Bomb's vision of what modern day thrash metal is really about, the album cover art by Jeff Zornow (Day of the Dead comic book series) is a window into the demented, convoluted and brilliant mind of Gama Bomb, where zombies swill beer, thrashers reign and hammers are slammed by the thousand.
Vocalist Philly Byrne states "We wanted something hot and bright, that would catch the eye, something actually inked and pencilled and coloured by an artist, not tossed together on photoshop like so much crap these days. A bit of real art. Except with severed heads."
These battle-hardened desperadoes are now preparing a full-on thrash attack in 2008 with the ultimate weapon – 'Citizen Brain' – and sending out an automated message of blood-soaked hope to survivors: boils and ghouls, Gama Bomb are coming for you... |
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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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