Dead Rhetoric: Your planned 2013 US tour with Artillery had to be cancelled due to visa issues. Explain the challenges and frustrations that occur in getting to play our country?
McGuigan: Basically the situation was like this. To do a tour of the United States it costs about $10,000 to set up. You have to coordinate that between the government, get your visas, agents who will be booking the shows, and a tour manager who will organize the route. If any one of those three things, if there’s a problem along the line it means that there are delays. Because we had a problem with sorting out some of the logistics it meant it would have cost us an extra $5,000 to process the visas quicker. We could have done the tour but it would have cost us maybe $20,000 instead of $10,000. For a band like us or Evile in our kind of scene it can be really expensive to tour the United States and looking down the barrel of being down that much money is tough.
Dead Rhetoric: How do you feel about AFM Records considering your previous deals with Witches Brew and Earache?
McGuigan: We are very happy with AFM because they have a strong base in Europe. We haven’t had any super problems with them, it’s always a challenge getting your albums licensed to places like South America or Japan. A lot of bigger labels tend to be cagey about that sort of thing. For the most part it’s been great- we did have problems with Earache and that’s why we left. If it wasn’t for Earache though we wouldn’t have the push and the recognition that we got when we first signed with them. It was a natural order to work with Witches Brew, then we needed somebody who could help us tour, and then we needed a bit more artistic freedom and that’s where we are right now.
Dead Rhetoric: Please elaborate on your love for one of the unsung speed metal bands of the 1980’s, Agent Steel and their album Unstoppable Force… as well as your love for Flotsam and Jetsam’s No Place For Disgrace?
McGuigan: They are two bands specifically for me that really, really inspire me when I was growing up. I’ve subsequently become friends with people in both bands. Unstoppable Force for us when we were just starting to get kind of into bands, it seemed so original and geeky I guess because of the lyrics were very sci-fi based, paranoia lyrics. One of the things that appeals to me is the mystery as well- the mystique about John Cyriis, the band and what happened to the band. With Flotsam and Jetsam we are huge fans and became aware of them like a lot of others through the Metallica connection. When I first heard No Place For Disgrace I couldn’t believe that they captured all the qualities I wanted in a band- the high pitched singing, lots of speed, and lots of melodies in the solos.
Dead Rhetoric: How would you describe the band chemistry in Gama Bomb at this point, given the fact that you and Philly are the only original members left from the early days?
McGuigan: The band originally started in the town Newry where I’m from and Philly is from. Originally all the members were from around there. We released our first album and got Domo and Paul, so they’ve been in the band for 10 years. The only real change has been Luke Graham our rhythm guitar player leaving the band and getting John Roche in.
Dead Rhetoric: Where do you see the importance of social media, video work, and instant communication to the overall appeal of the band to your audience- especially considering your free download album period for Tales from the Grave in Space?
McGuigan: Like most bands out there in the modern age, the listenership downloads their albums to check out the bands. It’s a huge problem for the bands as they would like to be earning lots more money from physical sales. I would rather people listen to the band than not buy the record and not hear the band. Social media is massively important, that’s how for example we don’t have any CD distribution in Brazil, but people can download our albums or watch our videos on YouTube and we can tour in countries like Brazil or Mexico. The model for that works but it scares a lot of bands off.
Dead Rhetoric: Have you had the chance to meet many of your musical heroes through the years of Gama Bomb on tour?
McGuigan: For the most part meeting a lot of our heroes has been super cool. I remember being pretty young, on our first tour we met Mike Muir of Suicidal Tendencies, and we were pretty drunk and being fools but he was pretty nice. He had time for us, which is nice because a lot of people don’t really do that. Overkill, Exodus have always been really nice when we tour with them also.
Dead Rhetoric: Have you seen a major difference in the thrash scene in your country and the UK in comparisons to the other parts of the world?
McGuigan: Ireland is a small country, so we don’t have a huge thrash scene. For instance, Overkill played for the first time in Ireland ever last year and sold out their show there. Nuclear Assault played in Dublin, Ireland and sold out that show too. There’s definitely a following but I don’t think it’s gotten bigger necessarily in the last few years.
Dead Rhetoric: Do you have any special hobbies or activities you like to pursue when you have the free time away from Gama Bomb?
McGuigan: I am a huge horror movie fan. I collect old British horror movie posters from the 60’s, 70’s, and 80’s. That’s where a lot of my spare income and time goes into. Me and a couple of other guys mess around with an 80’s kind of themed band, a studio project that I work on when we are in between touring and writing or recording Gama Bomb albums.
Dead Rhetoric: What does the next 6-12 months look like for Gama Bomb?
McGuigan: We have a video coming out in mid-October for the title track of the new album. Some festival shows leading up to Christmas, and then we will have a tour in Spain and other European countries in January. We are working on an animated video for release sometime at the start of next year. And then depending on what the situation is we will try to get back to the United States if it’s possible.