Live Review: Gama Bomb - Audio, Glasgow
Support: Raised By Owls
21st April 2024
Words & Photos: Laura Muraska-Ross
Well well well…. where do I start with this one, so much to unpack, in a good way of course! So I apologise in advance, as this may be a long one. The Irish thrash metal legends, Gama Bomb hit up Audio in Glasgow on their tour with support from Raised by Owls, and boy was this a gig to remember.
It may have been a tiny dark and very sweaty venue, but both bands worked it like they were on stage at an arena, and I love that! When I arrived, I didn’t get greeted with the usual photo pass and three song rule that I am used to, but instead received a lovely, inked nightclub entry looking stamp on the back of my hand and told that basically it was a free for all. I should’ve known them that this was not going to be like any other normal gig.
I took up a position at the front of the stage (I say stage, but it was more like a raised square platform), squeezing through and planting myself in between members of the crowd who looked raring to go. Then bursting on the stage came Raised by Owls with an instant high burst of thrash that slapped you right in the ear holes! The double bass drums were constant and crazy, the guitars were heavy and grinding and the vocals from singer Sam Strachan were as if Satan himself was letting out all his teenage angst to the world. This all sounds like a lot, but bloody heck it just worked.
The crowd had come to party and as soon as those beats kicked in, the mosh pit began. I say mosh pit, but it was more like nine or ten likeminded people having a jolly good time pushing each other and running in circles…but isn’t that all mosh pits, and for the size of the place, this was actually pretty impressive and a joy to watch. Take hardcore metal heads and dump them in the middle of the woods and eventually there will be a pit of some sort.
Halfway through their set, this is when the incredible happened. From the back of the room, a patron wearing the inaugural sleeveless denim jacket with patches all over it, came charging on to the stage, turned around, faced the room and my immediate thought was ‘surely he isn’t going to crowd surf, as there’s not enough people for that’ but to his rescue came five to six saviours from the crowd who stood in two orderly lines like they were about to carry a coffin. Then he went for, he leaped right into the air and was caught by these lovely people who they carried him to the back of the room as if to give the illusion that the surf was on full steam! I have never witnessed anything like this, and don’t know if I will again, but it filled my heart with so much warmth and really shows how amazing the metal community really is.
This ‘crowd surfing’ display carried on for the whole gig. I also must add when I said there was no crowd, I don’t mean there was a lack of people, its just most had decided to avoid being hit in the pit and were congregating around the circumference of the room. The fun didn’t stop there, only a few songs into their set and I had to rub my eyes, as I thought maybe I was in a weird psychedelic dream state when I saw a giant Mr Blobby walking on to the stage carrying two massive (adult warning) double ended dildos! Yes, you read that right! This was certainly something different, but also hilarious. He danced around flapping those things about like they were two giant salmon.
Then as if all that wasn’t enough, singer Sam adorned a gold sequin jacket and became a sort of weird metal game show host, while getting patrons up to do things for prizes, to which a member of the crowd came up and did his best scream into the mic for the world’s smallest trophy. Finishing their set, they brought on the cookie monster wearing a red hat in the style of Fred Durst, to which the singer also adorned a backwards red cap and they played a rendition of Limp Bizkit’s ‘Break Stuff’ which had everyone going!
If you like comedy, like musicians that take their music seriously but themselves not so much, and brilliant song names like ‘Ainsley Harriott advises you to give your meat a good Ol’Rub’ and ‘I’m sorry I wore a dying fetus t-shirt to your babies gender reveal party’, then Raised by Owls are the ones for you. I absolutely loved their set and would definitely check them out again if they come up to Scotland!
This takes us nicely on to the main act, Gama Bomb, and the fun doesn’t stop. The five-piece thrash metal band came on with all the Northern Irish humour you could want, and singer Philly Byrne had the crowd eating or should I say drinking out of his hands, as he was literally opening can after can of lager and pouring it from height into eager fans mouths throughout the set.
Their opening number which I think was ‘Slam Anthem’ was a heavy hitter and had the crowd jumping about like no one was watching. Singer Philly’s powerfully high screams, mixed with the incredible drumming from Chris Williams, shouty backing vocals, crazy riffs and licks from both guitarist and full-on bass, made their music very reminiscent of old-skool metal bands like Slayer and Anthrax, which is never bad in my book.
At one point singer Philly had a bit of banter with the crowd and asked if there were any ‘perverts here’, to which several people proudly cheered and he told them a story about when the band last stayed over in Scotland and someone offered them a place to stay, but when they went back to their house after the show, they were met by what seemed to be some kind of perverted sex dungeon. If I remember rightly, they then went into the aptly named song ‘Give me Leather’.
A few more songs later and singer Philly was now brandishing a drum skin which the band had all drawn quite impressive artwork on, and he proceeded to auction it off to the highest bidder for the children and families of the Gaza War. I was extremely surprised to see how many people were bidding and even more surprised that the final bid came in at £120, but this just affirms once more how warm the metal community really are. He then joked that it would be at the merch stand after the show and not to leave without remembering to pay for it.
Of course, Gama Bomb couldn’t have Mr Blobby outshining their own mascot so welcomed to the stage, Snowy the ‘Gamabominable Snowman’ who was first introduced when the band released their single ‘Bring out the Monster’ and has made appearances on stage with them ever since. The band then broke out into this song and Snowy danced around the stage, being cheeky and playful with the band members while they tried very hard to not laugh and concentrate on playing.
To finish things off, they did a brilliant cover of a Pogues song ‘If I should fall from Grace with God’ which they had put their own thrashy twist on, before doing one more of their own numbers and ending on an absolute high.
Throughout both sets from both bands, the crowd never stopped jumping around, uniquely people surfing and embracing every moment of the night. It was one of the most stand-out gigging and photography experiences I have ever had the pleasure of going to, and I would a hundred percent go again if the chance arose. These two bands are like a match made in heaven so a dream line-up for any Thrash or heavy metal fan.
Photo Credits: Laura Muraska-Ross
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