Boom At The Top

“The plan at the start was to play outside of Newry, make a demo and maybe get a gig in Belfast... or, sky’s the limit, Dublin!” laughs Gama Bomb frontman Philly Byrne. The metal troupe are gearing up for their tenth anniversary celebrations at the end of the month and the time is ripe for reminiscing.

Over the years the thrash combo have released three albums, performed at most of the major European rock festivals, toured the globe and supported metal royalty such as Sepultura and Overkill. They were also one of the first bands to release an album as a free download whilst signed to a major label (second outing Citizen Brain on Earache).
“It wasn’t a brave idea, it was the only idea!” smiles Philly when quizzed about the unorthodox move. “We didn’t want to repeat what we’d done already, so one night me and Joe (McGuigan – bass) were talking and I said, ‘Well, we could do a free release and a vinyl’ and Joe agreed it was a brilliant idea. When we said it to Digby Pearson (Earache head honcho) that we wanted to do a free release, fair play to him he was behind us on it.”
However, the relationship with Earache soured and the band are now moving on to greener pastures.
“We were with Earache a long time and we couldn’t have done much of the stuff we have done without them,” says Byrne diplomatically. “There were times when we had a great relationship, especially in the early days. In the last year the option lapsed for the new album and business and personal things happened that made us very glad the arrangement didn’t continue.”
Despite their success on the continent, as with many metal acts, Gama Bomb play to niche audiences here.
“Metal is very segregated in Ireland,” nods Philly. “It probably has to do with the isolation of the country geographically, the small population and more of that prevailing mainstream culture. I can’t give out because my favourite bands are Blur, Radiohead and Bob Dylan (laughs)”
Despite this, the band have received nothing but unwavering support from the tight-knit metal community here.
“From day one, our successes have been met with nothing but pats on the back,” nods Byrne. “ We work closely with H (Fergal Holmes of Dublin Metal Events) and all those people like Alan from Primordial and Crunch (booker and manager) have been in our corner from the start.”
So back to the tenth anniversary celebrations, the band will be playing two all-ages gigs in Dublin and Belfast, why the lack of age restriction?
“To me it’s self-evident from the kind of music we play,” smiles Byrne. “The music we play is for the 14-year-old inside of me, so why shouldn’t it be for the 14-year-old outside of me? We’ve a lot of young fans that we’d hate to disappoint.”