Gus G. was born on September 12, 1980 in Thessaloniki, Greece. He began playing guitar at the age of 10, inspired by Peter Frampton and Al di Meola. His dad bought him a classical guitar and he began playing. At age 14 he bought his first electric guitar, once he had that in his hands Gus would practice for 8-11 hours a day for the next 3 years. At age 18 he left Greece to pursue a musical career at Burklee College of Music, he dropped out soon after to pursue his dreams of becoming a heavy metal guitarist.
His influence on the heavy metal scene is un-mistakeable. Gus G has been featured in many bands over his time like Dream Evil, Nightrage, Mystic Prophecy and his own band Firewind. In 2005 he recorded a solo on Arch Enemy's “Doomsday Machine” and replaced Chris Amott on their Ozzfest tour in 2005. He has lent his guest solos to bands such as "Old Mans Child". Gus G was voted one of the top 3 guitarists in the world according to Japanese Magazine BURRN! Reader’s Polls, as well as voted “Best Guitarist” on Greece’s Metal Hammer reader’s polls in 2006 and 2008.
He has been featured numerous times on the cover of Young Guitar magazine – Japan’s premier rock guitar publication – where he also writes a monthly column.
Firewind
Gus G's current and most successful band to date is FIREWIND. The band hails from Greece. The epic saga began in 1998 with Gus recording various demos before they caught the attention of 80s guitar hero and Leviathan Records owner, David T. Chastain. Gus continued sending demos to Chastain and 3 years later Leviathan signed FIREWIND and released the debut CD, “Between Heaven & Hell”. The band changed slightly still being headed by Gus G and went on to record “Burning Earth”, the lineup changed again to record “Forged by Fire”. That was the album where the band switched labels and signed a worldwide deal with Century Media Records. Since then they’ve finally achieved a stable lineup and released their worldwide breakthrough albums “Allegiance” (2006) and “The Premonition” (2008). In late 2008, FIREWIND released their first ever DVD and double live CD entitled “Live Premonition”.
Gear
Gus G. exclusively uses ESP Guitars who also produce and release his signature models. The Gus G. ESP and LTD models have been very succesfull and popular, catapulting him into one of their best selling signature artists.
He is also using Randall amps, and more specifically the hybrid T2 model. On January 2009, Randall Amplifiers released the Gus G. T2 “Heaven & Hell” signature amp.
Other sponsors and gear Gus uses exclusively are Elixir Strings and cables, BBE pedals, Providence cables and pedals, Morley wah pedals and Rocktron talkbox.
Style
There is alot more to Gus G than just shred, although this is what he can be associated with most. His work with Firewind and Dream Evil show that he has incredible riff writting abilities. mixing melodic soloing and great tone and feeling with absolutely mind blowing heavy riffs. A great example of his versatility can be noticed highly in his song "The Fire and the Fury" off of Burning Earth by Firewind.
Influences
Gus G. like all guitarists had many influences to help them become who they are as players today. Gus’ first influences began with Frampton and his work "Frampton Comes Alive" from there he has listed many Influences: Peter Frampton Al Di Meola, Yngwie Malmsteen (introduced Gus to Shred) Uli Roth, Michael Schenker, Gary Moore, Tony Iommi Paul Gilbert, Marty Friedman, Jimi Hendrix, David Gilmour, Jimmy Page, Chuck Schuldiner, etc.
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