Guitarist Gus G will be known to many as Ozzy Osbourne’s guitarist for eight years, but long before he joined up with Ozzy he started a band called Firewind. On 15th May that band releases a new album through AFM Records simply called “Firewind”. If you include a 1998 demo release, it is the tenth studio album to be released by Firewind. Over the past twenty years Gus G has also released an album with Ozzy, three solo albums, three albums with Dream Evil, three albums with Mystic Propecy and two albums with Nightrage; as well as contributing to numerous others.
I recorded an interview with Gus on 3rd April and we chatted about Firewind and the new album, as well as the current Coronavirus crisis, his solo work, a potential instrumental album and much more.
That interview was originally broadcast on the Friday NI Rocks Show on 10th April, but at that point we could only play one track from the new album. It was repeated again on 15th May; this time with three tracks from the new album. The latter Show is now available from our MixCloud page - https://www.mixcloud.com/NIRocks/interview-with-guitarist-gus-g-from-firewind-ozzy-osbourne-etc-15th-may-2020/
“Mad World” is the twelfth studio album from Swiss band Shakra since they formed in 1997, and the third since the return of lead singer Mark Fox in 2015. It was released on 28th February by AFM Records. I managed to pick-up one of the orange and black marbled vinyl editions of the albumthat were limited to 100 copies! I’ve been a big fan of the band for quite a few years and I’ve featured three tracks from the new album on the Friday NI Rocks Show since mid January – “Too Much Is Not Enough”, “Turn The Light On” and “Fireline”.
“Against” is the fifth album to be released by Italian female-fronted band Secret Rule since they formed in 2014 and I’ve published recommendations for all five. The latest album was released on 21st February through Pride & Joy Music. The band have featured regularly on the NI Rocks Shows on Rock Radio NI over the past five years and the track “Purgatory” from the new album was included on the Friday NI Rocks Show on 24th January.
“Reflection” is the second album from Syteria, the band that features guitarist Jackie ‘Jax’ Chambers from Girlschool. It was officially released on 21st February via Cargo Records, having been released last year following a Kickstarter campaign. I spoke to Jackie about the band and the new album when she was my guest on the Friday NI Rocks Show last July – http://www.rockradioni.co.uk/interviews/3621-ni-rocks-interview-with-jackie-chambers-from-girlschool.html . The album’s title track was included on that Show and the single “Make Some Noise” was featured on the Show in January.