Bringing with him a life in music across multiple genres, and both hemispheres, Paul “Bom” Bombig is returning to the Melbourne music scene with the release of his new album No More Lip Service.
Unlike the more covertly political material explored in his first album, 2017’s Atomic Rage, the topics touched upon here are ripped straight out of the headlines. Exploring everything from the war in Palestine to the US military-industrial complex, Bom promises an album that’s not for the faint of heart.
As such, the upcoming launch party on 4 May 2025 is set to take place at a highly apt location, The Workers Club on 51 Brunswick Street – the day after the federal election. Bom says that was nothing to do with him, by the way, but a complete fluke of planning from months prior.
The album’s overtly politicised nature is simply a product of the times. “As you know,” he ponders over the phone, “from Trump to Gaza to Ukraine, and taking all these things on board…”
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Working three days a week as a teacher with Years 7-10 gives him a heightened awareness of what’s happening in the world. Gaza, in particular, has been a central point of focus within the songwriting process.
“One of the songs is called No War, and there’s another particular song I’ve written that’s called If You Are Reading This, Then I Have Been Killed – dot dot dot. And those ‘dot dot dots say ‘by the Israeli occupation forces’, though I don’t know if you want to put that in.”
Bom elaborates to offer a warning that voicing anti-Israeli sentiment is a surefire way to be expelled from a lot of social media platforms, though he remains adamant in offering support for those in the world who deserve to be stuck-up for.
“That’s the main theme of the album,” he clarifies. “Quite political, and it’s driven towards human rights, really.”
The new album marks a continuation of the political explorations within Bom’s previous album, which was about the bombing of Hiroshima. It did, as such, include a number of politically-driven tracks but not to the extent of what is to be seen in No More Lip Service.
The new album’s release date, just one day after the election, was a coincidence that Bom credits as purely up to the gods. “If I had a manager, and his name was God, he’d picked the right day for me! I actually organised my dates with The Workers Club before Christmas last year, so God has decided I should be on the day after the election and work along with the election campaign to my favour, hopefully.”
The album’s politically-driven content, blended with a rebellious scepticism of authority, places the new album securely within the punk-rocker history of Melbourne’s music scene. It’s a legacy with which Bom is keenly familiar, thanks to an early introduction by a housemate who went by the highly appropriate name of Ozzy.
While he doesn’t claim to be a regular on-the-ground fixture of the city’s punk scene, it was this prior introduction that tuned his antenna to the possibilities of the genre when it came to his own songwriting choices.
“Because of my friend Ozzy and his love of all the punk music,” he says, “I’m influenced by a lot of their modus operandi of rallying against established materialism and, you know, the powers and that! I think it has rubbed off on me as well, like I do have rock roots, so I can see how you would make a link to the punk scene, because I am trying to be quite politically overt.”
Joining Bom at the album launch is Melbourne’s newest hard rock band, The Calabrians, led by co-founder Pip Pupillo who brings with him over 35 years of rocker prestige as the frontman of alt-country outfit The T-Bones.
The evening’s opening act will be occupied by Port Fairy Festival songwriting award-winner David Juriansz, performing a setlist of new songs alongside well-loved classics from his four previous albums.
The launch party of Paul ‘Bom’ Bombig’s second album No More Lip Service will be taking place The Workers Club in Fitzroy, on Sunday 4 May 2025 at 1:00pm. Get your tickets here.
