As part of the release of their 9th album: last Tuesday May 12th, the webzine had the chance to discuss with the famous guitar hero Gus G. from the greek power metal band Firewind. He came to defend their eponymous album released on 15th May, but also to talk about the band and especially the arrival of their new singer…
RTD : Hi Gus ! Nice to meet you ! I’m the webzine « RiskTheDeath ». How are you ?
Gus G. : I’m fine, thank you. How are you ?
RTD : Good, thank you ! I am really lucky to talk with you. Are you ready ? Yes ? Ok, let’s go !
RTD : First of all, can you introduce yourself ?
Gus G. : My name is Gus G. I play the guitar.
RTD : Which band ?
Gus : Let me think. Firewind, yes !
RTD : So, we are going to talk about Firewind… First question : the band recently has faced the departure of Bob Katsionis (keyboard) and Henning Basse (singing); but especially the arrival of your new singer, Herbie Langhans: can we say that the current line-up is a kind of new chapter for Firewind?
Gus : Absolutely, yes. I mean, this is a rebirth for Firewind. Without a doubt, it was a big change that happened last December. So to me, it was a perfect opportunity to sort : a total makeover of the band. So I decided, I wanted to continue as a four piece, this time with no keyboards anymore. Um, and of course, you know with the new singer, so yeah, this is a new beginning for us. Absolutely, that’s why we have a self titled album.
RTD : Bob will be replaced ?
Gus : No, we will have his sound on a track on stage. We will be a four piece for it from now.
RTD : Ok. The new album was planned for early 2020; was the line-up change a brake for the release?
Gus : Well, you can say that I mean, uh. We were just there were hot. Should I say ? I mean we were recording. We started recording in August, and we had, you know I had a schedule of how I wanted everything to follow, but then it didn’t happen. Um, for some reason we could not work together with Henning on vocals on it. We didn’t find a good timing and then we had to go on a tour with Queensrÿche. Yeah, before you know it, time flies ; sometimes changes in the schedule happen, you know ?
RTD : Therefore, your new album is simply entitled « Firewind », does that mean that despite the necessary evolution of the band, you keep the energy and the fundamentals of the beginnings; especially because Herbie’s voice is more closer to your first singer, Stephen Fredrick ?
Gus : Well, you know it’s I mean. Yeah, Herbie’s voice reminds a lot of our first singer, Stephen Fredrick up, but. You know, I think it’s a collective of all the elements from the past, like from the beginning; from the early days up until the recent times. So. Yeah, yeah, I mean… I, don’t know to me like the way that I was hearing Herbie’s vocal style. I thought it could fit. Herbie is vibe in our style, perfectly. And thank God, I was right because I think he fit right in 100% of what we do and you know, he also brought something fresh to the sound as well. So it’s not like we don’t try this sound like Herbie. Used to sound like 10 years ago. It you know all these elements. You know that your past influences, you whether you like it or not, and this is what happens. But you know, we’re looking forward to the future with. With Herbie, you know this is how I see, it like it has all the best elements of the past, but it is also some fresh elements.
RTD : The artwork is certainly the most sober of your discography: why this choice? What does it represent?
Gus : Yeah (we got)! It was done by the same guy that has done actually this artwork « The Premonition ». His name is Gustavo Sazes ; he is a brazilian guy. He’s been with us since 2007 and he does all our stuff from artwork to websites, to backdrops, to merchandising of everything. And um. I mean the new arts, where we wanted to have a very symbolic character. We redesigned the symbol a little bit with more edge here, you know ; make it more edgier and you know, it’s like the firing symbol rising from the… You know, this of like phoenix rising type of thing like through the lava or something, so it’s pretty metal.
RTD : The song « Overdrive » is in the vein of a Dio or a Black Sabbath : are these bands influencing ?
Gus : Absolutely, of course !
RTD : So Tony Lommi had an impact on you as a guitarist ?
Gus : Yeah, of course ! He is one of my all time favorite guitar players. Absolutely !
RTD : The lyrics of the songs « Space Cowboy », « Orbitual Sunrise » and « Longing to Know You » looks like being joined together : is this the case and what is the story ?
Gus : Yeah, well, it’s a little bit of a sci-fi concept. It’s about this astronaut going around Earth. You know, in his spaceship and his feelings on humanity and the earth… like a ballad, obviously you know, he’s missing his wife and his kid and. Stuff like that and then you know, he’s like « Space Cowboy » about his feeling strong in his spaceship and you know, basically cruising through space. So yeah, it’s a little bit like a story like that so. Basically, a lot of the feelings that people have you know about. You know our planets. You know the over exploitation of our planets though. Feelings about humans, feelings of being close to your family, things like that. But like looking at it through the eyes of an astronaut. So that was the whole thing.
RTD : The video of «Welcome to the Empire » is quite futuristic: what is the theme of this song?
Gus : I mean, obviously the video clip is influenced a lot from « Blade Runner », which is one of my favorites movies. Um, so you know it’s about artificial intelligence basically taking over. Uh, it is about. All the things that man has created. All the stuff that turns against us is because we brought it to ourselves so that’s sort of the meaning. You know, that’s why on the video you see the two cyborgs. Chess and every time, there is a chess move made, there’s a there’s some sort of destruction happening in the earth, so.
RTD : Do you have a word for your French fans, to finish this interview ?
Gus : Well, I love them all and I miss them all. It’s been awhile ! So I hope that when the world is safe again, we can come back to France, and play for you guys.
RTD : Thank you so much for this moment ! I really enjoyed this new album, especially because Firewind is one of my first metal band.
Gus : Oh, really ? Nice ! Thank you !
RTD : I hope to see you on stage, soon. Bye !
Gus : Me too ! Thank you. Have a good day, bye…
By thanking, Charles and Élodie from HIM Media; Firewind and precisely Gus G.; and all the people who supported me in this exercise…