FIREWIND Guitarist On Lineup Changes: 'Along The Way, People Want Different Things And Change'

January 23, 2013

Mike Wilkerson of Blastzone Online recently conducted an interview with FIREWIND/OZZY OSBOURNE guitarist Gus G. (real name: Kostas Karamitroudis). A couple of excerpts from the chat follow below.

Blastzone Online: Why has there been so many lineup changes in FIREWIND?

Gus: Being in a band is not easy. You need to compromise a lot in order to be in a serious touring band. It's not a glamorous lifestyle (despite what many think) and it requires lots of sacrifices. We're not a band that started out like five buddies from the same town. I had to build a band with members from different places around the world. Along the way, people want different things and change. So, I think that's the primary reason why we've had so many members in FIREWIND.

Blastzone Online: Tell me about your new lead singer Kelly Sundown Carpenter?

Gus: Kelly is an amazing singer and will be singing for us on our upcoming U.S. tour with TURISAS, as Apollo [Papathanasio] decided to quit recently. We jammed with Kelly recently and he did a great job on our songs. Looking forward to playing some gigs with him and we'll see what happens.

Blastzone Online: How have the FIREWIND fans reacted to the new lead singer Kelly Sundown Carpenter?

Gus: I expected it to be a lot worse. Apparently, there are lots of fans out there who are looking forward to the change for various reasons. There's some that took it really bad, which was expected, but to be honest, even with Apollo in the band, we had to recruit replacement singers for our tours. In 2007, Apollo missed the whole second leg of the "Allegiance" tour and that was a whole around-the-world run! Also, in 2011, he missed our European headline tour, which was also important, 'cause it was FIREWIND's first tour since 2009 when I joined Ozzy. So, changing singers is not a new thing for us! But it's amazing, 'cause I can't think of any other band that would be able to get away with shit like this. I think we do, because our fans come to the shows to listen to the songs, they connect with the music first and foremost and that's a very strong thing. And that means a lot to the rest of us in the band.

Read the entire interview from Blastzone Online.

Find more on
  • facebook
  • twitter
  • reddit
  • email

Comments Disclaimer And Information

BLABBERMOUTH.NET uses the Facebook Comments plugin to let people comment on content on the site using their Facebook account. The comments reside on Facebook servers and are not stored on BLABBERMOUTH.NET. To comment on a BLABBERMOUTH.NET story or review, you must be logged in to an active personal account on Facebook. Once you're logged in, you will be able to comment. User comments or postings do not reflect the viewpoint of BLABBERMOUTH.NET and BLABBERMOUTH.NET does not endorse, or guarantee the accuracy of, any user comment. To report spam or any abusive, obscene, defamatory, racist, homophobic or threatening comments, or anything that may violate any applicable laws, use the "Report to Facebook" and "Mark as spam" links that appear next to the comments themselves. To do so, click the downward arrow on the top-right corner of the Facebook comment (the arrow is invisible until you roll over it) and select the appropriate action. You can also send an e-mail to blabbermouthinbox(@)gmail.com with pertinent details. BLABBERMOUTH.NET reserves the right to "hide" comments that may be considered offensive, illegal or inappropriate and to "ban" users that violate the site's Terms Of Service. Hidden comments will still appear to the user and to the user's Facebook friends. If a new comment is published from a "banned" user or contains a blacklisted word, this comment will automatically have limited visibility (the "banned" user's comments will only be visible to the user and the user's Facebook friends).