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It’s
a warm summer night in Sheffield (you don’t hear that very often do
you?) and we catch up with Irish thrashers Gama Bomb as they prepare to
support Brazilian legends Sepultura at the Corporation.
MM:
So how’s the tour going so far guys?
GB: It’s going well, we’re only a couple of days in but we’re
having a comfortable time of it. The gigs have been pretty good –
great venues and Sepultura are really nice guys.
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MM:
What have you got planned for the rest of the year after this?
GB: We’re heading to Mexico, America and the rest of
Europe. We’re touring in the US with Overkill, Forbidden and
Bonded by Blood. It’s going to be a great tour and should be a
good piss-up – apart from when places don’t give you any
beer, and then it’s anything but!
MM:
How’s the response been to the new album Tales
from the Grave in Space since it was released?
GB: They’ve all been pretty good as far as we can tell...
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MM:
Do you read reviews or does it not concern you?
GB (Phil): I read ‘em yeah, I’m useless like that – I just
can’t keep myself from reading stuff like that. I don’t think that
we’ve ever released an album that didn’t get overwhelmingly positive
reviews which is the difference between us and a lot of other bands. The
three albums have generally been received really well and we didn’t
have the trouble of having a gash second album or anything like that...I
don’t know why I’m trying to convince people in my own band though,
ha-ha! Actually everybody hated it – anybody listening to this don’t
believe me because it’s not cool to admit you’re in a good band,
ha-ha! Go and get Evile’s album instead!
MM:
How did you come to the decision to release it for free initially?
GB: At some point over a cup of
tea, the idea of doing a free download just came up in conversation and
the more we talked about it, the more it kinda made sense you know? We
went to Earache with the idea and they were immediately up for it –
they’d been waiting for a band to do that with so it came from both
directions in the end. So good on them for doing that, it’s certainly
worked out well for us.
MM:
Do you think it’s a strategy that more and more up and coming bands
will adopt in the future?
GB: Yeah definitely. A few of the other UK thrash bands have done it
– I think Hospital of Death did and a lot of Irish bands give their
demos away for free. It’s the main way to do it if you’re a new
band. Anything you produce is available for free on the internet anyway;
all we did was alert people on where to find it.
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MM:
Do you think that’s part of the appeal for a label such as
Earache – that they were so up for doing something like that?
GB: Well they are and they aren’t, they’re still
cash-orientated like any company is and it’s probably not an
experiment they’d be looking to repeat anytime soon but it was
great that they were up for it with us.
MM:
Have things changed a lot for you since signing with Earache?
GB: We get a lot more tours and our popularity has grown for
sure in that much more people are talking about us online which
is exactly what we wanted to happen. The atmosphere is much
better and the way the media responded to the album as well –
well, the media that got a chance to hear the bloody thing
anyway! |
MM:
Given that the Irish metal scene seems to be more noted for producing
pagan and folk bands, was it hard to break through locally for a band
such as yourselves?
GB: Yep, ha-ha! We just played with punk bands when we were starting
out – for the first two years that’s all we did. And all the punk
fans were really into it too. I think they liked the fact that we like
to have fun and that hardcore-crossover style. Gradually we became
accepted and Irish people are actually really behind us and supportive
which is surprising as Irish people, and I include myself in this, love
nay-saying and begrudging everything but people have generally liked
everything we’ve put out which continues to surprise us to this day!
If I was reading about it online, I’d be thinking ‘ah bunch of
pricks! Ha-ha!’
MM:
How important is the fun element for you? It seems a lot of bands never
even seem to crack a smile on stage...
GB: Well those people are fooling
themselves really, aren’t they? You get up at 5am, you get on the
plane, you don’t get any food, you don’t get any beer, you get rooms
that are roasting, you get really bored, you all fall out with each
other, you lose your job and then you go and do a gig where you stand
there like you’re all pissed off – what is the fucking point, you
know? If you can’t have craic for at least that part of the night,
then Jesus, why are you even bothering? And they’re doing it out of a
misplaced sense of thinking that you have to be a certain kind of person
to be in a band. But what they’re forgetting is that every single
person who’s ever held a guitar is a guy with a straight face and a
smile, you know? The people like Lemmy and Gene Simmons who are raking
in the cash and throwing women into skips full of lube are the ones
having a laugh doing it so people should learn a lesson from them, not
everybody can be in a black metal band.
MM:
I loved the little 30-second summary at the beginning of that of life on
the road...
GB: Ha-ha, well even for a band like Sepultura, it’s still the
same – they’re still bored all the time, eating crap food, going to
crap places, etc. You’ve got to have fun with the music and if you
don’t, you’re just wasting your time. You’re not going to make any
money off it anyway at the start so if you can’t make chuckles, what
can you do?
MM:
Does anyone in the band have any particularly strange habits on
the road?
Phil: Everybody I think! Domo fucks boys, Jimmy watches
weird porn...There’s a lot of bad smells, Joe’s not here
right now so I’m going to say he smells the worst! He’s like
a big bag of gas...
Paul: You clear your
earplugs with hand wash! That’s pretty weird...
Phil: Is it?
Domo: Yeah dude,
it’s very weird...
Paul: Yeah I sit
there and think ‘what the fuck is he doing?’
Phil: We all shit in
plastic bags too. Not anything weirder than the average bear to
be honest. Ah, in fact we all take ice on the road, go
break-dancing, and go to strip-clubs... |
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Paul:
And dub-step nights, don’t forget.
Phil: Yeah a lot of
people would be surprised but we go to a lot of dub-step nights!
Ha-ha! Occasionally have regrettable sex with people too, like
Luke... |
MM:
Ha-ha, with each other?
Phil: Oh yeah man – that was the start of something beautiful!
Ha-ha!
MM:
If you had to pick your top three thrash bands, who would you pick?
Paul: Tankard, Sodom and Agent Steel
Domo: Nuclear Assault, erm...
Phil: I’d go Nuclear
Assault, Megadeth and Anthrax – old school Anthrax though...
MM:
Joey and not John then?
Phil: Yeah, fucking right. John Bush looks like a sausage!
GB: We’re all big into the
Spice Girls too!
MM:
Ok guys, well on that note, we’ve run out of questions and time, so
good luck for the show tonight and thanks for doing this.
GB: No
problem mate, thank you.
Interview
by: Adam Grindrod
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