GUS G: 'It Was A Conscious Decision For Me After The OZZY OSBOURNE Gig To Not Join Other Bands'

In a new interview with Jimmy Kay of Canada's The Metal Voice, Greek guitar virtuoso Gus G spoke about his reluctance to be a hired gun in another band after exiting Ozzy Osbourne's group nearly a decade ago following an eight-year run with the legendary heavy metal singer.

"It was a conscious decision for me after the Ozzy gig to not join other bands. 'Cause I've had offers to audition, potentially joining much bigger bands, of course, than mine," Gus said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET),referring to his long-running band FIREWIND. "But I didn't wanna go into that situation again where you are an expendable guy, and you don't get to call the shots. I've done that a couple times in my life. And I thought, also another thing, I had to sit down and really think anything I do after Ozzy, it's probably gonna be a downgrade anyways, so if you're gonna downgrade, you might as well do it on your own terms. And I really enjoy calling my own shots.

"I'll tell you, it wasn't always easy," Gus admitted. "I almost had to prove a point again. Because I had my career pre-Ozzy with FIREWIND, and then after Ozzy, I kind of had to start from scratch again, weirdly enough. In the beginning I thought I would just pick it up wherever I left off, but it wasn't like that. I really had to go out there and play with smaller fees than before, kind of grind it in a way, and invest in it, if you like. And then it got to a point recently, after pandemic, where things started picking up again. It's been good now, man, and we're in a good position where we can look ahead a year and a half in our schedule and we know what's coming up. And I love that — I love that kind of freedom of calling the shots and having a great team that we can communicate and do great things — create our own things, basically. Create our own future and our own opportunities."

After Kay pointed out that "nothing beats" the lifestyle of traveling in limousines and flying on private jets while on tour, Gus concurred. "Yeah, but you have to really not let that get into your head," the guitarist said. "Because even when you are in that situation, and I had a good taste of that, obviously, for a number of years, you have to realize that it's not about you. You're just working there. And you have a front-row seat to all that, to that lifestyle — you can stay at the Four Seasons every night and you can fly private and all that — but it's not about you. You're working for an artist, for somebody else, or for a band, whatever that is. So, if you realize that, that this is not about you, it's about somebody else, your job there is to make that person shine. So when you do your thing, yeah, it's gonna be much smaller level and, yeah, maybe much lesser crew and maybe not as a nice car, or you don't fly private, you fly commercial, like the rest of mortals do. But I personally don't have any problems with that, man. I believe in building your own empire."

Gus will release his fifth solo album, "Steel Burner", on April 24, 2026 through Metal Department Records. The album marks his first solo release in five years and captures a powerful fusion of modern instrumental metal and carefully curated vocal collaborations. Guest singers on the LP include Doro Pesch, Dino "Jelusick" Jelusić (WHITESNAKE, TRANS-SIBERIAN ORCHESTRA),Matt Barlow (ICED EARTH, ASHES OF ARES) and Ronnie Romero (RAINBOW, VANDENBERG, MICHAEL SCHENKER GROUP).

"Steel Burner" was mixed and mastered by acclaimed producer Dennis Ward (HELLOWEEN, PINK CREAM 69).

Gus joined Ozzy's band in 2009 and appeared on the BLACK SABBATH singer's eleventh studio album, "Scream".

Back in 2018, Gus told TrueMetal.it that "it was a little bit of a relief" to find out that Ozzy was getting back together with his longtime axeman Zakk Wylde in 2017, resulting in Gus's departure from Osbourne's band. "I was just kind of tired of waiting around for all these years, not hearing anything about potential tours or recording activities," Gus said. "Of course, [Ozzy] was very busy with BLACK SABBATH — I understand that — but then in between of all that, there would be all these one-off [solo Ozzy] shows popping up and I had to make myself available for that. But there was never any… I felt like there was no… I didn't see stuff coming up for the future, you know? So, as much as I loved being in that band and working with him, in a way, it was a little bit of a dead end for me, speaking personally. Of course, now he's gonna go on a big tour again and do his farewell thing, and that's great for him, but it was not a creative thing for me."