Guitarist Gus G issued a statement on social media revealing he played on Bruce Dickinson’s The Mandrake Project. He also spoke to Jimmy Kay from The Metal Voice and went into more details about his contribution in a all new exclusive video interview while on tour.
Iconic guitarist, Gus G, (Ozzy Osbourne, Arch Enemy, Dream Evil), founding member and band mastermind of hard rock / power metal masters FIREWIND, has released a new video for “Not Forgotten”, an instrumental track taken of his latest solo-album Quantum Leap. The track perfectly gets you in the full mood of his upcoming European tour with Electric Guitarlands featuring Michael Angelo Batio (MANOWAR), Rowan Robertson (DIO) and Andy Martongelli, kicking off tomorrow in Bergamo, Italy! Find all of the upcoming tour dates below.
“Hey everyone! I’m really excited about the Electric Guitarlands tour that kicks off tomorrow! Not only it’s my first solo tour in 4 years, but it’ll be my first time presenting material from my latest album “Quantum Leap” on stage. The album came out during the pandemic and I haven’t had a chance to tour this, until now.” Gus G comments.
Moreover, I get to share the stage with legendary guitarists Michael Angelo Batio (Manowar) and Rowan Roberson (Dio). Italian shredder Andy Martongelli rounds up the bill and this is going to be a Guitar event you don’t wanna miss! We will all play individual sets w a full band plus you’ll get to see all of us jamming and improvising on stage together! Hope to see you out there at a show!”
ELECTRIC GUITARLANDS – tour feat. Michael Angelo Batio, Gus G, Rowan Robertson, Andy Martongelli
20.04 IT – Bergamo, Druso 21.04 IT – Pisa, Borderline 22.04 IT – Rome, Crossroads 23.04 IT – Ripatransone, Teatro Mercantini 27.04 PL – Bochnia, Kino Regis 28.04 SK – Kosice, Collosseum 29.04 PL – Domecko, Stary Dom 30.04 SK – Zilina, Skull club 77 02.05 AT – Vienna, Reigen Live 03.05 HU – Budapest, Analog 04.05 CZ – Olomouc, Bounty rock cafe 05.05 CZ – Kolin, Mdn 06.05 DE – Reichenbach, Neuberinghaus 07.05 DE – Düsseldorf, Pitcher 08.05 DE – Bremen, Meisenfrei 09.05 BEL – Gent, Asgaard 10.05 BEL – Bilzen, South of Heaven 11.05 BUL – Sofia, Club Mixtape 5 12.05 GR – Kastoria, Prague Live Stage 13.05 GR – Thessaloniki, Eightball 14.05 CY – Larnaca, Savino 15.05 GR – Athens, Kyttaro 16.05 DE – Bensheim, MusikTheater Rex 19.05 IT – Macerata, Villa Potenza
Jimmy Kay along with Queensryche singer Todd LaTorre interviewed former Ozzy guitarist Gus G about his new Instrumental solo album ‘Quantum Leap’ which was released October 8, 2021 via AFM.
Plus Gus G also shared his thoughts on Ozzy’s first four albums.
When asked which of the first Two Ozzy albums (Randy Rhoads era) he prefers “I cannot really pick which one I like more. The biggest hit of course is on the first album (Blizzard of Ozz) ‘Crazy Train’ but the second album (Diary of a Madman) is the one that I was exposed to first. From an emotional side, that was the first album I heard from Ozzy. They both have my top spot. What made the Randy Rhoads’ albums so special was a combination of things, it was the way he blended a European flavour of playing with a classic American rock style. Randy Rhoads was able to play metal riffs and leads and kind of put them in a sort of pop rock song format for the radio. What Zakk Wylde had said was that Rhoads was like the prototype of the modern metal guitar player and I really agree with that statement. There are just so many things that made Randy Rhoads special.”
When asked about his opinion on Ozzy’s Bark at the Moon Album “The title track, it has to be one of my favorite Ozzy songs and when we played live with Ozzy we opened the shows with that and it was fantastic,”
What about The Ultimate Sin? “I love the song ‘Shot in the dark’ and there are also a lot of hidden gems on that album too like, ‘Lightning Strikes Again’, ‘Killer of Giants’. I Remember telling Ozzy how I liked the album and he told me how much he hated the album because it was a bad period in his life and he didn’t like the mix.”
About Quantum Leap Quantum Leap was assembled in pieces, featuring new compositions and material taken from Gus’ “riff vault”, where he stores unfinished ideas and revisits them when he’s able. The album started as a full-on solo outing, with Gus programming drums and playing guitar, bass and keyboards, but a chance encounter with drummer Vincent Velasco – who volunteered his services and subsequently blew Gus away – opened up the production. Producer / engineer Dennis Ward, who was responsible for mixing and mastering Quantum Leap ended up laying down bass tracks on eight of the 10 tracks.
Unlike many instrumental albums, Quantum Leap doesn’t feel like a musical root canal or long and drawn- out brain surgery. Each of the 10 tracks are solid and compact musical ideas, with Gus’ guitar acting as the voice. In this respect, writing Quantum Leap was a challenge because he is so used to writing in a specific formula utilizing vocals. He found himself falling into the loop of overplaying a few times during the production because of the lack of vocals, but was able to overcome the problem once he acknowledged it.
“When I first wrote ‘Exosphere’, for example, there were so many things going on in the track but it wasn’t saying anything,” says Gus. “I really needed to have the guitar taking a vocal approach. I knew that if I just kept the playing technical it wasn’t going to be enjoyable. So the playing isn’t always about technique, and once I found the formula it was easier to create melodies for the record.”
“I’m a guitar player and I cannot stand most instrumental guitar albums,” he adds. “The classic are the classics, but very rarely do I get into them because after the third track it just seems like an endless guitar solo where everything that sounds the same. That’s something I wanted to avoid on Quantum Leap and I think I succeeded in doing that.”
GusG. (Guitars), Dennis Ward (Bass, Vocals), Will Hunt (Drums)
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