Greek melodic power metal masters FIREWIND, the group led by guitar wizard and former OZZY OSBOURNE bandmember Gus G., have uploaded a video recap of their August 3 appearance at the Wacken Open Air festival in Wacken, Germany. The four-and-a-half-minute clip, which was directed and edited by Panagiotis Kountouras, can be seen below. Gus recently told "The Classic Metal Show" that his decision to join Ozzy's band in 2009 contributed to a loss of momentum for FIREWIND. He said: "FIREWIND did take a backseat, obviously, when I joined Ozzy's band. I mean, I would have never changed that decision for anything in the world; I think it was the right thing to do and that opened up so many doors that probably would have never, ever happened with just sticking with FIREWIND. And that's my own baby, you know? And, of course, it helped me in a lot of ways — I mean, not only money-wise. With Ozzy, like I said, I got a lot more opportunities." He continued: "I think the problem with FIREWIND was that it wasn't really only the fact that we took a backseat because I was so busy with Ozzy; it was also the fact that we had, actually, problems with the lineups — we couldn't really keep a singer. And when we had that momentum, our singer quit, back in 2013. And maybe we made a couple of records that didn't really resonate with our fanbase much. I think partly it's our own fault, why this band did not become any bigger when it should have. So I would definitely not put that on me joining Ozzy or anything. If nothing else, I think it gave the band a bigger boost in the sense that it made the brand more recognizable on an international level. So I think that was a lot of our own mistakes, which we're kind of trying to catch up on. I think we made the right record, if you like, with [2017's] 'Immortals' — it was the right comeback record — so it seems that there's some momentum going on again. I definitely do not plan on having a five-year break between the next album." "Immortals" marked the first time FIREWIND used an outside co-producer, having worked with Dennis Ward (UNISONIC, PINK CREAM 69), who not only engineered, mixed and mastered the album, but also co-wrote it together with Gus G. The disc was also FIREWIND's first release with singer Henning Basse (METALIUM, SONS OF SEASONS), who previously toured with the band on various continents in 2007 and was most recently the singer in Gus's solo touring group. Gus's latest solo album, "Fearless", was released on April 20 via AFM Records. The follow-up to 2015's "Brand New Revolution" was Gus's first release since exiting Osbourne's band in 2017.
Continue reading...
Continue reading...
