FIREWIND/OZZY OSBOURNE Guitarist GUS G. Embraces Changes In Music Industry

Lorenzo Gandolfi of Italy's Chitarre magazine recently conducted an interview with Greek guitar virtuoso Gus G., well known in rock and metal circles for his work as Ozzy Osbourne's guitarist and as leader of his own band FIREWIND. You can now watch the chat below.

Speaking about the changes in the music industry and his decision to have more control of his releases by making them available through his own record label imprint, Gus said: "I'm the kind of guy who always had to… I embrace it. I don't have a problem. I mean, of course, you can bitch about it, or you can just work around it and find your way somehow. Yeah, whatever that means. Forming my own label was one of those changes that I did. And I didn't do it only for this album; I did for the last FIREWIND album four years ago."

He continued: "Yeah, I mean, basically, the market is open these days. You just have to pick and choose which platform and channel you choose to release your music. You don't have to be tied into any kind of deal you're not comfortable with. Okay, it depends also on what type of artist you are. If you're a young band, you definitely still need the channels of a proper record label to go through to go through the first steps. For somebody like me, who's been doing it for almost fifteen years now, probably more, I know who my audience is and I know how to reach them."

According to Gus, he hasn't completely freed himself of outside record-label influence. He said: "I'm still with Century Media for this record [Gus's latest solo album, 'Brand New Revolution'], so I kind of work with them and also on my own in America. In America, what I did, I picked my own team, basically — my radio team or the publicist or the distribution and all that stuff — but I also work through the same team that I've had for more than fifteen years with Century Media as well. When it came to that, nobody ever kind of pushed me to do something different than I didn't wanna do."

He continued: "These solo records are just another platform for me to explore other things and just co-write with different people. You know, being in a band for so many years, it's me and the guys and we just do our thing and we have our own sound. And you can't step right out of that box so much; there's a certain kind of area that you design in your sound, and I think the fans expect you to… Everybody expects you to do a certain thing, in a way, to put it kind of very bold. But doing a solo record doesn't have to follow any rules or boxes, so to speak."

"Brand New Revolution" was released in Europe in July 2015 via Century Media. The CD was made available through Century Media in Australia and South America, Dismanic/eOne in North America and King Records in Japan. The cover artwork was once again created by Gustavo Sazes, who previously worked with Gus on the guitarist's debut album, "I Am The Fire", and also took care of artwork duties by such bands as ARCH ENEMY, KAMELOT and FIREWIND.

"Brand New Revolution" features guest vocal appearances by Jeff Scott Soto (YNGWIE MALMSTEEN, JOURNEY, TALISMAN),Elize Ryd (AMARANTHE),Jacob Bunton (ADLER, LYNAM) and Mats Levén (CANDLEMASS, YNGWIE MALMSTEEN, TREAT).