Firewind - Biography
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1998-
Biography
It's been a busy few years for Firewind and their talismanic leader, guitarist Gus G. With the critically acclaimed previous "Days Of Defiance" record and subsequent world tour under their belts (as well as Gus' arena-filled tour of the world as Ozzy Osbourne's right hand man), the band headed straight back into the studio to begin work on what would become the band's latest, and heaviest, album "Few Against Many".
Firewind originally formed in Thessaloniki, Greece in 1998 but started in earnest after Gus moved to the United States. "For some time I studied at Berklee College of music in the USA. Some friends helped me to put together a demo, that I named Firewind, after an album of Uli Jon Roth's band Electric Sun. I sent this demo around and got a couple of offers." The demo was well received and Gus signed with Leviathan Records who put out the band's first records, "Between Heaven And Hell" and "Burning Earth". The band began touring the world, including a Japanese run with Rob Rock and a worldwide deal with Century Media Records was soon signed.
The first album as part of that deal ("Forged By Fire") further established the band but it was the follow up "Allegiance" that really put the band on the international map. Gus had finally found the right members (with the arrival of Time Requiem singer Apollo Papathanasio) and the subsequent two years of touring in support of "Allegiance" (opening for Dragonforce and All That Remains) saw the band hit three continents and clock up thousands of miles. The hard work paid off as both "Allegiance" and the acclaimed follow up "The Premonition" albums made it to the Top 10 in Greece and the "Mercenary Man" single became a Top 5 hit. "The Premonition" also charted in Japan, a territory that has majorly embraced and supported the band since their inception.
Despite the band's growing success, Gus was always ready to get back out on the road so when Arch Enemy needed a temporary tour guitarist, Gus was first in line and it was on Arch Enemy's 2005 Ozzfest appearances that he first caught the eye of the Osbourne camp. But it wasn't until 4 years later when Gus was invited to audition for the guitar role in Ozzy's band. Gus was then asked to first perform with the band at 'Blizzcon 2009', where he ripped through Ozzy classics such as 'Crazy Train', 'Mr Crowley' and 'Bark At The Moon' with aplomb. Subsequently, Gus played on Ozzy's "Scream" record and toured the world as Ozzy's new guitarist as well as releasing FIREWIND's acclaimed "Days Of Defiance" album in 2010, and hitting stages across the globe with his own band.
A notoriously hard worker, Gus is rarely without a guitar in his hand and justifiably won the 'Best Shredder' award at this year's Metal Hammer Golden Gods awards ceremony in London. The "Days Of Defiance" tour took FIREWIND across the world again, including appearances at Hellfest, Sonisphere UK, Graspop and Basinfirefest, plus tours of Japan, U.S.A., Canada and Europe.
Not interested in taking any time off to rest, FIREWIND directly followed up on the touring and the inspiration gained on the road by working on fresh song material for a next studio album effort. "Few Against Many" marks a clear next highlighting step forward in the band's stellar career and showcases 10 extremely versatile and entertaining new songs, which amalgamate the undeniable musical chops of all the involved players with truly effective and always catchy songwriting, featuring of all the band's trademarks: From the furious 'Wall Of Sound' (the album's first single) opening, the epic 'Losing My Mind', the strong album's title track as well as the infectious 'Glorious' and the atmospheric 'Edge Of A Dream', which features the Finnish cello-masters Apocalyptica doing a special appearance, "Few Against Many" is a monster of an album waiting to be unleashed upon the Metal masses. Also this time around, the band has chosen to work with the team of Jason Suecof and Eyal Levi at Audiohammer Studios (Trivium, All That Remains, Death Angel, etc.) in Orlando, Florida, for the brilliant mix and mastering of the album and in terms the artwork, FIREWIND stuck to their longterm design-partner Gustavo Sazes / abstrata.net (Arch Enemy, Angra, Dream Evil, etc.) for the iconic packaging "Few Against Many", which Gus G. comments as follows: "Once again we worked with the amazing Brazilian artist Gustavo Sazes. He's one of the best out there and he really understands what FIREWIND's all about. I feel he really captured the vibe and darkness of the new album and I love the different elements on it such as the Japanese samurai war flags and the flaming statue."
Firewind originally formed in Thessaloniki, Greece in 1998 but started in earnest after Gus moved to the United States. "For some time I studied at Berklee College of music in the USA. Some friends helped me to put together a demo, that I named Firewind, after an album of Uli Jon Roth's band Electric Sun. I sent this demo around and got a couple of offers." The demo was well received and Gus signed with Leviathan Records who put out the band's first records, "Between Heaven And Hell" and "Burning Earth". The band began touring the world, including a Japanese run with Rob Rock and a worldwide deal with Century Media Records was soon signed.
The first album as part of that deal ("Forged By Fire") further established the band but it was the follow up "Allegiance" that really put the band on the international map. Gus had finally found the right members (with the arrival of Time Requiem singer Apollo Papathanasio) and the subsequent two years of touring in support of "Allegiance" (opening for Dragonforce and All That Remains) saw the band hit three continents and clock up thousands of miles. The hard work paid off as both "Allegiance" and the acclaimed follow up "The Premonition" albums made it to the Top 10 in Greece and the "Mercenary Man" single became a Top 5 hit. "The Premonition" also charted in Japan, a territory that has majorly embraced and supported the band since their inception.
Despite the band's growing success, Gus was always ready to get back out on the road so when Arch Enemy needed a temporary tour guitarist, Gus was first in line and it was on Arch Enemy's 2005 Ozzfest appearances that he first caught the eye of the Osbourne camp. But it wasn't until 4 years later when Gus was invited to audition for the guitar role in Ozzy's band. Gus was then asked to first perform with the band at 'Blizzcon 2009', where he ripped through Ozzy classics such as 'Crazy Train', 'Mr Crowley' and 'Bark At The Moon' with aplomb. Subsequently, Gus played on Ozzy's "Scream" record and toured the world as Ozzy's new guitarist as well as releasing FIREWIND's acclaimed "Days Of Defiance" album in 2010, and hitting stages across the globe with his own band.
A notoriously hard worker, Gus is rarely without a guitar in his hand and justifiably won the 'Best Shredder' award at this year's Metal Hammer Golden Gods awards ceremony in London. The "Days Of Defiance" tour took FIREWIND across the world again, including appearances at Hellfest, Sonisphere UK, Graspop and Basinfirefest, plus tours of Japan, U.S.A., Canada and Europe.
Not interested in taking any time off to rest, FIREWIND directly followed up on the touring and the inspiration gained on the road by working on fresh song material for a next studio album effort. "Few Against Many" marks a clear next highlighting step forward in the band's stellar career and showcases 10 extremely versatile and entertaining new songs, which amalgamate the undeniable musical chops of all the involved players with truly effective and always catchy songwriting, featuring of all the band's trademarks: From the furious 'Wall Of Sound' (the album's first single) opening, the epic 'Losing My Mind', the strong album's title track as well as the infectious 'Glorious' and the atmospheric 'Edge Of A Dream', which features the Finnish cello-masters Apocalyptica doing a special appearance, "Few Against Many" is a monster of an album waiting to be unleashed upon the Metal masses. Also this time around, the band has chosen to work with the team of Jason Suecof and Eyal Levi at Audiohammer Studios (Trivium, All That Remains, Death Angel, etc.) in Orlando, Florida, for the brilliant mix and mastering of the album and in terms the artwork, FIREWIND stuck to their longterm design-partner Gustavo Sazes / abstrata.net (Arch Enemy, Angra, Dream Evil, etc.) for the iconic packaging "Few Against Many", which Gus G. comments as follows: "Once again we worked with the amazing Brazilian artist Gustavo Sazes. He's one of the best out there and he really understands what FIREWIND's all about. I feel he really captured the vibe and darkness of the new album and I love the different elements on it such as the Japanese samurai war flags and the flaming statue."