NAMM, which stands for National Association of Music Merchants, was held at the Anaheim Convention Center in Anaheim, California January 19th – 22nd. Music merchants of all kinds, shop owners and the who’s who of the music industry visit their endorsements while doing signings and interviews, where approximately 100,000 music enthusiasts gather every year.
Gus G., guitar virtuoso graced us with his presence, and that’s a sincere compliment. Unveiling his new USA Signature Star with Jackson Guitars, the release of the long awaited Firewind album Immortals via AFM records on January 20th and to round it off, his amazing performance at Metal Allegiance. I had the honor of interviewing Gus G. at NAMM 2017 on all the excitement surrounding his visit.
We’re here at NAMM 2017 and you’ve been a bit busy doing several signings throughout the weekend, how did it go?
Gus G: A little bit tired, yeah. I won’t lie to you. I’m tired.
Last night you played a set at Metal Allegiance show with the who’s who of the Metal scene. This is the first time I have seen you live, not sure how else to phrase this but you kicked ass!
Oh, thank you. That was really cool. You know, I got to open there with my band. Made an opening set and then jammed with the guys. I was just amazing good; I think that was the highlight event of the whole NAMM 2017, this year.
It was amazing!
I don’t know if you agree with me but I think so.
Yes, I agree with you.
Yeah!
You are now endorsed by Jackson Guitars. Tell us a little bit about your endorsement and what the appeal is to this company?
Well, obviously, it’s a legendary company and we started working together, maybe eight months ago, and we developed these new signature guitars that we’re unveiling here today at NAMM 2017 and I’m very excited about it.
Can you tell us a little bit about it, describe the guitars?
Oh sure, yeah. They’re the star-shaped guitars and they have 24 frets. The body’s alder wood, rosewood fretboard, all of these are my personal characteristics and specs. My signature pickups from Seymour Duncan, the Fire Blackouts, so, yeah.
It’s been five years since releasing an album, Firewind’s ‘Immortals’ was just release yesterday January 20th via AFM records. How did you became part of the AFM family for the North American release?
Yeah, yeah. No, they approached me, I think, last summer about working together possibly. And then I had the rights for the new album in North America. And the previous album, I put out on my own label but I was looking for somebody because it is such a lot of work to be the label guy and the musician, so I just didn’t want to deal with that anymore. I was looking for the right partner and AFM just has the right excitement and passion about it. Yeah, so I decided to work with them.
This is Firewind’s first concept album, storied around ancient Greek history, why did you choose to go this route?
Yes. It is. Well, it’s something we’ve never done before. So, we said, why not?
Firewind released two videos prior to the album release, what was the process of choosing Ode To Leonidas as the first video?
Oh, I think it screamed for a single right away when we did it, you know. It’s such a classic Firewind track, it has all our elements on there, it’s melodic, it’s heavy. It’s very heavy you know, it’s very catchy, big chorus and a lot of … yeah, all our main characteristics that define our style. So, I think everybody agreed on that right away that it should be the single.
It’s a great video.
Thank you.
Live and Die by The Sword is your favorite song on the album, what does this song mean to you?
I don’t know, it has such an epic, cinematic feel to it and it builds up constantly. It’s a song that’s six minutes long and keeps building up and its part of the concept of the album which is the part where the Spartans get slayed by the Persians. And if you listen to the lyrics together with the music, it just creates a very strong feeling.
And Warriors and Saints is also one of your favorites, can you elaborate on this one?
It’s actually one of our older tracks that I wrote. I had that — it was one of the sessions that I wrote with Dennis Ward in 2009. And it was one of the ideas, I revisited it and I was like, “Wow, this is really cool, so I should do something with it and finish it up.” I don’t know, I just like the attitude of that song. It’s very heavy, very aggressive but also like has this big soaring melody in the chorus, so I love it.
Firewind goes out on a brief European tour in February, what’s next on the agenda? Will you be doing a North American tour?
I don’t know yet. I don’t know where, we still haven’t discussed that because we’re getting a lot of offers from the Europe right now and I’m going to Japan as well in March. So, I’m sure there’s going to be some stuff, maybe later in the year.
That’s all I have, is there anything else you would like to say to your fans?
Thank you very much. I want to thank all the fans for the support. Those that don’t know us, you should check out Immortals, I think they will like it and ’til next time.
Yes. Thank you for your time, it’s much appreciated.
Thank you. That was painless.
I try to make it painless.
You did. You did.
Jackson Guitars: www.jacksonguitars.com
Firewind: www.firewind.gr
AFM Records: www.afm-records.de
Seymour Duncan: customshop.seymourduncan.com
You may also find all the above on Facebook.
RELATED STORY: Firewind’s New Album ‘Immortals’ a Tribute to Glorious Greek Past Says Gus G.
Gus G. Promo Shots by Tim Tronckoe.
Gus G. at NAMM 2017. (Photo Credit: Tammy Greene)
