Greek power metal icons FIREWIND, the band of former Ozzy Osbourne guitarist GUS G., have signed a worldwide record deal with German metal label AFM Records. The collaboration between the band and AFM already started with the latest FIREWIND album “Immortals”, which AFM released in the North American territory back then.
Subsequently, GUS G. signed with AFM to also release his solo albums together, and now we are happy to announce that also FIREWIND’s future albums will be released worldwide by AFM.
Gus G. states:
„After working together with AFM Records on my latest solo album “Fearless” and seeing the great results that were achieved, the passion and care they put into the project, it felt natural to extend our partnership and bring Firewind under the same roof. This is something I’m very excited about and I’m also happy to announce that we’re already working on the follow up of “Immortals”. We plan to enter the studio after our Summer tour with Queensryche wraps up in August. Stay tuned for further announcements!“
The new album “Triumphant Hearts” from JASON BECKER will be released on December 7th, via Mascot Records/Mascot Label Group. The album features Marty Friedman, Joe Satriani, Steve Vai, Neal Schon, Steve Morse, Paul Gilbert, Joe Bonamassa, Uli Jon Roth, Richie Kotzen, Gus G., Jake Shimabukuro, and many more.
Watch the lyric video for the stunning ‘Valley of Fire’ ft. The Magnificent 13 here:
The Magnificent 13 are: Steve Vai, Joe Bonamassa, Paul Gilbert, Neal Schon, Marty Friedman, Michael Lee Firkins, Mattias IA Eklundh, Greg Howe, Jeff Loomis, Richie Kotzen, Gus G, Steve Hunter and Ben Woods.
Mascot Records are extremely excited and honored to present the new album ‘Triumphant Hearts’ from Jason Becker, which will be released on 7th December 2018.
Jason Becker’s story is one of brilliance, talent, determination, adversity, and, ultimately, triumph. A child prodigy on guitar, Jason rose to prominence as a teenager when he was one half of the technical guitar duo Cacophony, with his great friend Marty Friedman. In 1989, at only 19 years old and after wowing audiences all over the world, the young virtuoso became the guitarist for David Lee Roth, following in the huge footsteps of Eddie Van Halen and Steve Vai. He wrote and recorded on his 3rd solo album ‘A Little Ain’t Enough’ and was poised for superstardom when a nagging pain in his leg was diagnosed as Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS). A fatal condition with a life expectancy of maybe five years. Maybe.
That was 29 years ago. He lost the ability to play guitar, walk, talk, and breathe on his own. But never lost his will to live or his desire to create music. Communicating through a series of eye movements with a system developed by his father, Jason spells out words as well as musical notes and chords. He imparts his musical vision to his team who then can input the notes into a computer, edit the parts to his exacting standards, and then generate charts for session musicians. His inspiring music and life story have been the subject of countless news articles, magazine cover stories, and an award-winning documentary, Jason Becker: Not Dead Yet.
The album’s 14 tracks showcase Jason’s gift for melody and his deep knowledge of classical composition and orchestral arrangement. Many of the guitar parts are performed by a who’s who of 6-string gods including Joe Satriani, Steve Vai, Neal Schon, Steve Morse, Paul Gilbert, Joe Bonamassa, and many others. And, in what will absolutely delight his fans, Jason’s amazing guitar playing—recorded in the ’80s and ’90s—features throughout.
The first song to be released from the album is the beautifully mesmerizing 9 minute and 5 second instrumental ‘Valley of Fire’ that features The Magnificent 13 – Steve Vai, Joe Bonamassa, Paul Gilbert, Neal Schon, Marty Friedman, Michael Lee Firkins, Mattias IA Eklundh, Greg Howe, Jeff Loomis, Richie Kotzen, Gus G, Steve Hunter and Ben Woods. A phenomenal cast to feature on a single song.
The album opens with the title track, featuring Jason’s old bandmate Marty Friedman and an astounding violin performance. “I wrote ‘Triumphant Heart’ and it made me feel triumphant,” says Becker. “When Marty found out I was making this album, he told me he would play anything I needed. I sent him this, and his wife, Hiyori Okuda, who is a cellist, also offered to play on it. The great violinist, Glauco Bertagnin, recorded my violin parts in Italy. That fast solo section I wrote is way too hard; I don’t know how Glauco pulled it off. He put so much soul in the whole song.”
‘Hold on to Love’ is the first vocal song on the record, although it didn’t start out that way. “It was going to be an instrumental,” explains Jason, “but after I wrote the chorus with lyrics, I knew I had to tell my story, to explain how I can continue living without feeling hate. I hadn’t written many lyrics before.”
In addition to its beautiful, gospel-tinged choir, the heartfelt song features Bay Area singer Codany Holiday on lead vocals.
‘Fantasy Weaver’ displays the 4-string magic of world-renown ukulele master Jake Shimabukuro and harp arpeggios that were written back in his Cacophony days. ‘Once Upon a Melody’ not only features two Jason Becker guitar solos from his Cacophony era, but also audio of him as a three-year-old. The full-circle nature of having little boy Jason, guitar virtuoso Jason, and modern-day composer Jason all on the same song is a breathtaking accomplishment while ‘We Are One,’ features soulful Flipsyde vocalist Steve Knight, and more Jason Becker guitar delights.
Uli Jon Roth appears on ‘Magic Woman,’ along with ex-Megadeth guitarist Chris Broderick who counts both Uli and Jason as big influences. Fans of Jason’s work with David Lee Roth will be thrilled by the inclusion of two previously unreleased outtakes from the ‘A Little Ain’t Enough’ sessions, the hard rocking ‘Taking Me Back’ and the blues-infused ‘Tell Me No Lies.’ There are also performances by Joe Satriani, Guthrie Govan, Steve Morse, Trevor Rabin, and many others.
“Some people feel sorry for me,” he concedes, “and I understand that. I really feel lucky though. I don’t miss playing guitar anymore. I’m sure that’s out of necessity, but I am grateful for so much more. I am surrounded by loving people, and I can still make music.”
Tracklisting:
Triumphant Heart (feat. Marty Friedman, Glauco Bertagnin, Hiyori Okuda)
Hold On To Love (feat. Codany Holiday)
Fantasy Weaver (feat. Jake Shimabukuro)
Once Upon A Melody
We Are One (feat. Steve Knight)
Magic Woman (feat. Uli Jon Roth & Chris Broderick)
Blowin’ in the Wind
River of Longing (feat. Joe Satriani, Aleks Sever, Guthrie Govan, Steve Morse)
Valley of Fire (feat. The Magificent 13)
River of Longing (feat. Trevor Rabin)
Taking Me Back
Tell Me No Lies
Hold On To Love (feat. Codany Holiday) [Chuck Zwicky Remix]
You Do It
Guitar maestro GUS G. released his third solo album “Fearless” back in April and today has unleashed the brand new single ‘Force Majeure’, featuring Vinnie Moore. Check out the video below:
On “Fearless” Gus joined forces with vocalist/bassist Dennis Ward (Pink Cream 69/Unisonic) and drummer Will Hunt (Evanescence, Black Label Society).
Gus is currently touring the US with Vinnie Moore and Richie Kotzen and is set to hit the UK on 13th October, before moving onto Europe. More details here.
Jimmy Kay from Canada’s The Metal Voice spoke with Greek Guitarist Gus G (Firewind, Ozzy Osbourne). Gus G spoke about trying to make it in music business in Greece, his audition and contributions in his time with Ozzy Osbourne and his new album “Fearless”, which was released April 20 via AFM Records.
Watch the interview here:
When asked about his audition with Ozzy after the departure of Zakk Wylde
“I ended up being a touring guitarist for Arch Enemy, so there I was at Ozzy Fest with Maiden and Sabbath my first big American tour. What happened that summer there was an announcement that Ozzy was parting ways with Zakk Wylde and he was looking for a guitar player. So I popped in the production office on one of those days on the tour and I just left a Firewind CD on the desk and I said hey I’m on the second stage with Arch Enemy and I heard you were looking for a guitar player. But nothing came out of it and I didn’t hear anything because Zakk continued with Ozzy they made another record Black Rain. Fast forward into 2009 I was having a little bit of success with Firewind. I got an email from Sharon’s Management and they asked me to audition for Ozzy. It was crazy I couldn’t sleep for 3 days I couldn’t believe it . At that point I was thinking I didn’t really expect anything would come out of it. I didn’t think of myself being that good for the band and for the part of guitarist for Ozzy. I thought if anything else it will be a thing to remember for life, that will be a story to tell. I got nothing to lose.”
When asked what songs he played during the audition for Ozzy
“We played ‘Bark at the Moon’, ‘I don’t know’, ‘Suicide Solution’, ‘Paranoid’, ‘I don’t want to change the world’. Five or six songs. Ozzy looked impressed right from the get go, I guess somebody showed him some video of me before and it was like this is the guy! Ozzy even told me before the audition don’t have any stress I saw some videos of you and I have a really good feeling about this so if you make mistakes don’t worry about it . The audition went well.”
When asked what was Ozzy reaction after the audition
“Ozzy turned around and said you are fuckin great and his people went into a room and they chatted for a few minutes and came out and asked me if I wanted to come back and play a gig. They never said anything after that gig they seemed to be pretty pleased. Then I did another gig, after that Ozzy invited me to his house to listen to some of the new material on Scream, I ended up staying for a few days and played some solos, it was a little bit of a trial period Then I went back home and didn’t hear anything for about a month and then I got an email from Sharon asking me to come back to play on the whole album to play all the guitars. “
When asked if he was allowed to contribute to the Scream recordings?
“They had already done the record, they were already happy with the songs. It’s wasn’t a situation where we were going to go in and rewrite the whole thing. There is two ways about this you can try and stand up and say I would like to bring in my songs and they can either listen to you or like go home we will get somebody else. That was not the gig not the requirement. “
When asked if he wrote any material after Scream for a new album for Ozzy
“I wrote a lot of ideas preparing for a possible next album. At some point Ozzy even texted me and asked me to send him a bunch of riffs, think I submitted like ideas for 12 or 13 songs. Nothing came out of that. We even wrote a couple of songs together on the road on the Scream tour. Actually one of them I ended up using on my new solo album Fearless, it’s called Don’t Trend on me. Not with his lyrics or melodies.”
When asked about his new albums ‘Fearless’ musical vibe
“Just a good hard rock metal songs. Taking what I have already started on the first two solo albums and taking it further and making it sound like a band effort rather than an experimental record. Because that is what the first two records were. But this time I had a solid co-writer/ producer Denis Ward. It sounds more cohesive compared to the first two records. My style fits into the whole 80’s scene. When I say 80’s I don’t mean Hair metal and Sleaze rock. I mean the classic 80’s metal , you can hear those influences all over the record.”
Highly acclaimed guitarist GUS G. recently announced that he is set to release his new album, titled “Fearless”, on April 20th. “Fearless” is the successor to 2015’s “Brand New Revolution” and marks the FIREWIND mastermind’s first release since exiting Ozzy Osbourne’s band in 2017.
Gus has just released a new video for the track ‘Letting Go’, check it out:
Also announced are some European tour dates, where Gus will be appearing as special guest of Jesper Binzer, vocalist of Danish rock band D-A-D.
GUS G. “Fearless Tour”
Special guest of Jesper Binzer:
06.04. Copenhagen, Pumpehuset
07.04. Helsingborg, The Tivoli
13.04. Malmö, KB
14.04. Göteborg, Sticky Fingers
15.04. Stockholm, Debaser
17-20.04 Full Metal Cruise
08.05. Hamburg, Knust
09.05. Aschaffenburg, Colos-Saal
10.05. München, Backstage
11.05. Essen, Turock
Pre-order “Fearless” in the AFM webshop now! https://shop.afm-records.de/gus-g./
Available as CD, Digipak, ltd. colored Vinyls & super limited (100 units only!) exclusive white/blue splatter Vinyl!
“Fearless” Tracklisting:
01. Letting Go
02. Mr Manson
03. Don´t Tread On Me
04. Fearless
05. Nothing To Say
06. Money For Nothing
07. Chances
08. Thrill Of The Chase
09. Big City
10. Last Of My Kind
Bonus tracks on Digipak/Vinyl:
11. Little Ain´t Enough
12. Aftermath
Line-Up: Gus G. (Guitar) Dennis Ward (Vocals/Bass) Will Hunt (Drums)
Highly acclaimed guitarist GUS G. has announced that he is set to release his new album, titled “Fearless”, on April 20th. “Fearless” is the successor to 2015’s “Brand New Revolution” and marks the FIREWIND mastermind’s first release since exiting Ozzy Osbourne’s band in 2017.
Pre-order “Fearless” in the AFM webshop now! https://shop.afm-records.de/gus-g./
Available as CD, Digipak, ltd. colored Vinyls & super limited (100 units only!) exclusive white/blue splatter Vinyl!
On “Fearless” Gus joins forces with vocalist/bassist Dennis Ward (Pink Cream 69/Unisonic) and drummer Will Hunt (Evanescence, Black Label Society).
“Dennis and I have collaborated very closely for a number years, he produced the current Firewind album Immortals, among other things. We’re on the same musical wavelength and simply continued our cooperation after the Firewind production,” Gus describes his relationship with the multitalented German-American. “I sent him demos of and ideas for my new songs and once we had enough material and started to think about vocalists, Dennis suggested recording the album as a trio. A lot of people don’t realise that Dennis is not only a brilliant songwriter, bassist and producer but also an excellent singer. I immediately liked his suggestion because this would be very different from everything else I’ve done before.”
“Will was at the very top of my wish list. Fate smiled on me because we played at the Frankfurt music fair 2017 during my tour with Steve Stevens, and Will stayed at the same hotel. So I approached him, we talked for a while and he agreed. Last August he came to the studio and recorded the drum parts for the whole album within two and a half days. A real pro with a great groove and an awesome punch.”
Which applies not only to Hunt and Ward, but of course also to Gus G. himself, who once again proves to be a phenomenal guitarist on “Fearless”, presenting technical skills which exclude all possibility of doubt and a compositional talent that allows his fellow musicians to shine. Hard-as-nails metal tracks such as the opener ‘Letting Go’, ‘Mr Manson’, which is driven by a dark bass/guitar riff, and the subsequent melodic ‘Don´t Tread On Me’ immediately propel the new album into the desired direction. At the same time, the three instrumental songs give listeners an idea of the outstanding talent of the 37-year-old who is easily on a par with George Lynch (‘Mr. Scary’) and Michael Schenker (‘Into The Arena’). “A lot of fans have asked me to record more instrumental tracks. Voilà, here they are,” grins Gus. Last but not least, the successful cover versions of the Dire Straits classic ‘Money For Nothing’, which surprises with an unusual change of key after the noteworthy intro, deserves a mention. But it’s certainly not the only surprise that this amazing album holds in store!
Tracklisting:
01. Letting Go
02. Mr Manson
03. Don´t Tread On Me
04. Fearless
05. Nothing To Say
06. Money For Nothing
07. Chances
08. Thrill Of The Chase
09. Big City
10. Last Of My Kind
Bonus tracks on Digipak/Vinyl:
11. Little Ain´t Enough
12. Aftermath
Line-Up: Gus G. (Guitar) Dennis Ward (Vocals/Bass) Will Hunt (Drums)
