FIREWIND/OZZY OSBOURNE Guitarist GUS G.: There's No Money In The Record Industry Anymore

Jorge Fretes of Spain's GoetiaMedia.com 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 listen to the chat in the YouTube clip below. A couple of excerpts follow (transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET).

On his decision to have more control of his releases by making them available through his own record label imprint:

"Well, the thing is, it comes down to, nobody's gonna do it better than you; I believe in that. Especially people in record labels these days… There's no money in the industry anymore. So you go to these record labels and they have all these people that are underpaid, or there's some young kids that, they don't know what the fuck they're doing. And I can't have that. I'm not twenty years old anymore. I'm very serious when it comes to how you're gonna release, how you're gonna promote and brand an album. This is my career we're talking about. So I am having some issues with… And I mean, I've been with Century Media and a lot of labels for many, many years, so I don't tolerate stupidity as much as I used to when I was younger."

On how FIREWIND has been affected by his decision to launch a solo career:

"The thing is, my name always helped FIREWIND, because I always had a name in the scene from other bands as well, so it did help build up FIREWIND. I think for a lot of fans, probably, it makes sense, it doesn't surprise them. Maybe some people even expected that I would do that at some point. So, you know, it's good that I'm doing this now. It's something different from what I do with FIREWIND. And, of course, Ozzy is another platform; it's another level of exposure. So that's the kind of thing where it gives you that platform to be able to do a solo record and do all these things, you know."

Gus G.'s second solo album, "Brand New Revolution", was released in Europe on July 24 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).

"Brand New Revolution" was recorded with Jay Ruston (STONE SOUR, ANTHRAX, STEEL PANTHER) and mixed by Mike Fraser (METALLICA, AC/DC, VAN HALEN, AEROSMITH). Just as on "I Am The Fire", the core of Gus's recording group consisted of Jo Nunez (FIREWIND) on drums and Marty O'Brien (LITA FORD) on bass.