Gama Bomb Thrash Metal / Co. Down

AFM records… : 2012 – 2019
In March 2012, the band revealed via Facebook that vocalist Byrne had undergone surgery for vocal fold nodules, sustained over the last year’s touring, and was recovering from the procedure. During this period the band played a show in Enschede, Netherlands, with McGuigan taking on vocals in Byrne’s place.
On April 3, 2012, the band announced that founding member Graham was leaving after 10 years on rhythm guitar. The amicable split allowed John Roche (Slave Zero) to join Gama Bomb as the band’s new guitarist, having toured with the band as a live musician in 2011. In July 2012, the band celebrated its tenth anniversary with two shows in Belfast and Dublin, reuniting on stage with former guitarists Canavan and Graham for a greatest hits sets.
On January 28, 2013, the band announced that its fourth album, “The Terror Tapes”, was to be released on AFM Records on April 19 in Europe and April 22 in the UK and Ireland, followed by a US release on May 7. The album was produced by the band’s long-term producer, Scott Atkins, in Dublin and Suffolk.
The band announced the album would be preceded by a single, the band’s first, called ‘Terrorscope’, which would be released as a free download on March 26, followed by an exclusive 7″ vinyl maxi-single. On March 4, The Terror Tapes artwork was revealed. It was created by the veteran horror movie poster artist Graham Humphreys, whose work includes posters for A Nightmare on Elm Street and Evil Dead.
They followed it up in 2015 with by their most audacious move yet: “Untouchable Glory”, an unapologetically hooky thrash album inspired by vintage kung fu movies. As the band entered their lucky 13th year, they thank a strict diet of exploitation movies, 80s music and strong drink for their longevity. That and sticking to the rules they wrote in a Newry garage all those years ago.
2018 saw the band release 2 digital singles, ‘666teen’ on the 17th August and ‘Bring Out The Monster’ on the 06th September, as well as the 7″ single ‘Give Me Leather’, ahead of their next full length release “Speed Between The Lines” on the 12th October.
“Speed Between The Lines” delivers cutting takes on everything from the growing poverty gap (‘We R Going 2 Eat U’), to the rise of right wing populism (‘Alt-Reich’), environmental disaster (‘World Gone To Hell’) and the conformity of social media (‘Stay Rotten’). Of course this being GAMA BOMB there are also songs paying tribute to Kurt Russell, listening to Motörhead and paying people to kick you in the balls.

Prosthetic Records… : 2020 – Present
With the band no longer with AFM Records and with the Covid-19 Pandemic grinding the World to a halt the band self-released the charity single ‘Living For The Lockdown’ in aid of the Dublin Simon Community on the 1st May, 2020 and announced that they had also signed to Prosthetic Records.
Not wasting any time the band quickly announced their next album “Sea Savage” will be released at the end of 2020 on the 04th December. It is preceeded by the digital single and video for the title track, shot on location at Fanad Head Lighthouse in County Donegal, with the permission of the Irish Lights Authority who maintain the working 19th century lighthouse, as well as in Newry, Northern Ireland and Omeath, County Louth, in September 2020. Set in 1900 and filmed in a real, working lighthouse, the epic, monochrome ‘silent film’ is the band’s most ambitious video yet.
“Sea Savage” is inspired by Victorian horror and maritime adventures such as Moby Dick. The new album is presented as a 19th Century play, with Act One and Act Two playing out on side A and side B of the record respectively.  The pelagic tale follows the crew of the steamer ‘S.S. Gama Bomb’ as they voyage in search of a real-life Yeti, only to go slowly mad on the high seas. It also features songs about 80s and 90s movies, because GAMA BOMB cannot help themselves. The album is the band’s first since the departure of longtime drummer Paul Caffrey, seeing James Stewart (Vader, Decapitated) taking up the sticks and delivering a devastating performance, adding a technical ‘death-y’ edge to GAMA BOMB’s sound.