GUS G.: 'I Would Like To Make The Ultimate OZZY OSBOURNE Album'

Kory Grow of the Broward-Palm Beach New Times recently conducted an interview with OZZY OSBOURNE/FIREWIND guitarist Gus G. (real name: Kostas Karamitroudis). A couple of excerpts from the chat follow below.

Broward-Palm Beach New Times: We saw that a church picketed [Ozzy's] concert in Kansas City.

Gus: Yeah, it was like four people outside the venue protesting. [laughs] They really got their point across. Think about it, picketing at a rock show in 2011 isn't really the hot shit anymore. [laughs] Maybe in the '60s, but not anymore.

Broward-Palm Beach New Times: What happens, then, after a typical Ozzy show?

Gus: We hang out backstage. We have a little chat. It's really relaxing. Ozzy will come in the room, and we'll hang out all together. That will be ten, 20 minutes; then we'll leave to get in a van, which will take us to the airport to get to the next city. We all travel together. We stay in the same hotels. We're in the same plane. It really feels like a band.

Broward-Palm Beach New Times: How close have you come to any other types of rock 'n' roll accidents?

Gus: On this whole tour, the only rock 'n' roll accident was my fault. Last summer, we were doing a gig in Norway, and Ozzy said, "Let the madness begin!" And we go right into "Bark At The Moon". On my guitar, I have a "kill switch" — you can turn the volume on and off with it. I started playing the riff, and there was no sound. I was like, "Wait, wait, wait. Stop!" My tech is like, "What the fuck is going on?!" Everybody's running around trying to fucking figure this out, just at the start of the show. We were losing time. And in the end, it was just me — I had the guitar turned off.

Broward-Palm Beach New Times: Are you writing any material for a new Ozzy album?

Gus: I definitely have a lot of ideas. I've made a lot of riffs and some demos. We have been going back and forth, talking about it. But it's kind of too early to say anything, because we're still on the road. I don't know what the plan is once this tour is done. I'm feeling inspired, so if I get the call to go back in the studio with Ozzy — we just have to wait and see.

Broward-Palm Beach New Times: How are the Ozzy riffs you're writing sounding?

Gus: It's hard to describe. It's definitely not like FIREWIND. I guess you can hear my style in there, but if I would make another Ozzy album, I would like to make the ultimate Ozzy album — marry the classic stuff but with the new era. I'm just very inspired by the Randy [Rhoads] and Jake [E. Lee] albums. I'm writing in that vein and some more SABBATH-y riffs. It's hard to tell, really. I could say it reminds me of SABBATH, but you never know how that's going to end in the final production with the whole band playing and the vocal lines. It's really early stages to talk about it.

Read the entire interview from the Broward-Palm Beach New Times.