10.26.2003
FIREWIND Interview with Gus G. by Wayne at Quintessence.
Quintessence: I find it pretty amazing nowadays and in the 90's of how
musicians get along being from different countries; good examples are
Empire, Silent Force and Condition Red for starters. Maybe all these
war-monging countries could use bands like you for a good example to just get along?
Gus G: That would be very nice actually. Music is the universal language
that makes people come together!! I doesn't matter where you are
from.......I play with 3 bands and all of them have international line-ups.
Quintessence: "Between Heaven and Earth" was a killer album, but after
listening to "Burning Earth", you guys really went balls-out musically.
You have new members now compared to the debut, don't you?
Gus G: Thanx, man. Yes, we got a brand new rhythm section. It's Petros
Christo on bass, who hails from Greece and Norwegian drummer, Stian
Kristoffersen. After we released our debut, I saw that some of the people in
the band couldn't go on tour, because of personal reasons.
So, this is why I set out to find new bandmates. However, there's no bad
blood between me and Konstantine and Brian Harris. We split in good terms
and we are still good friends.
In regards to the new album, I too believe that we created a totally
in-your-face album with strong and very heavy riffs and strong songs.
Quintessence: Your background as a guitarist with training and
schooling, etc. What sort of equipment do you abuse?
Gus G: I've been playing guitar since 1990. I was 10 years old then. I went
to some local music school in Thessaloniki, Greece for about 4 years. When I
was 16 I got a scholarship to attend Berklee college, which I
did...........but only for 2 weeks!!! I decided to concentrate on building
my own band and play heavy metal music. I guess the rest is known, pretty
much.
My equipment: I use Washburn CP 2003 guitars, Randall and Engl amps and DR
strings.
Quintessence: Explain the combination of Eroc and Nordstrom as far as
getting this CD to sound almost perfect.
Fredrik once again did the mixing and Eroc did the mastering in Germany.
I've worked with Eroc before on the Mystic Prophecy albums, and I was very
pleased from his mastering jobs, so I thought it was a good idea to have him
master the Firewind album as well.
In regards to Fredrik's mixing, you always know what you get and that's the
highest quality sound for heavy metal today!
Quintessence: What will the touring be like for the rest of 2003?
Anything else in store for the rest of the year?
Firewind will start touring from early 2004, as the album is released at the
end of this year. We will
tour in Japan in January with Rob Rock and we're planning on a European tour
around April.
We will announce the European dates later on.
This month Dream Evil is also releasing a mini CD and Mystic Prophecy's
first album will be re-released through Nuclear Blast.
And of course the main release of mine, is the new FIREWIND album.
Quintessence: If you had the opportunity to pick 5 legendary bands
(active or defunct) to do your own festival with, who'd you pick and
why?
Well, I would pick some of my favourite bands of course and some of the
greatest bands in music history, so don't freak out with my list: :-)
1. Pink Floyd
2. Queen
3. Beatles
4. Scorpions
5. Led Zeppelin
But of course, who could come up with all the money of the world to have
these bands on the bill.....??? But it was a nice moment for me to dream of
such a festival hehe!!! Thanx for the question!
Quintessence: Final words, websites and any other links of interest
Thank you very much for ur support, I hope everyone of u checks out the new
FIREWIND album "Burning Earth" and I hope we see u all on tour soon!
Find more info about FIREWIND @:
www.firewind.gr
www.betweenheavenandhell.com
Sincerely,
Gus G.!!
CD $9.99
Band photos
