Reviews
Album review: Gama Bomb – Bats
Oddball Irish thrashers Gama Bomb flap up a storm of silliness on dependably bonkers eighth album Bats…
After getting to work with The Pogues’ Spider Stacy on a cover of If I Should Fall From Grace With God, Gama Bomb’s Philly Byrne shares an encouraging message: “Don’t be afraid to DM your heroes – just be nice…”
Gama Bomb have unleashed a new cover of If I Should Fall From Grace With God, complete with guest vocals from The Pogues’ Spider Stacy.
Says frontman Philly Byrne of getting to work with one of his heroes on the track: “The Pogues were my musical awakening. When I was a wee boy, I shared a bedroom with four of my brothers. I’d sit on the floor between the beds, staring at the sleeves for If I Should Fall From Grace With God and Rum, Sodomy And The Lash while my brother played them on vinyl.
“We don’t really ‘do’ covers, but we always discussed If I Should Fall… as one to keep in the back pocket. When we finally made a demo, I took a punt and sent it to Spider, literally just slid into his DMs on Instagram. I said, ‘Hey, we’re this metal band from Ireland, we love The Pogues, we hate fascists, we did this – do you wanna get involved?’ To his eternal credit, he listened to it right away and replied ‘Absofuckinlutely!’ It’s been a huge privilege to work and hang out with him. The lesson here is: don’t be afraid to DM your heroes – just be nice.”
Spider Stacy himself adds, “So there I was, just scrolling the Insta, as you do, when I see this DM. ‘What’s this?’ I ask myself. ‘Why, it’s Gama Bomb from Newry, a city famed in song and story as the birthplace of the great Pat Jennings, with a thrash metal version of If I Should Fall From Grace With God. Do they want me to appear on it. They do? Praise Jesus! Maybe I’ll finally make it on to the pages of Kerrang! And just look at me now – made it, Ma. Top of the world!’ And that’s a true story, I swear down.”
Indeed you are on Kerrang! now – congrats!
Anyway, watch the video for the cover below: