GUS G.: Landing OZZY Gig Is 'Beyond Any Biggest Honor A Guitar Player Can Have In Heavy Metal'

Away Team recently conducted an interview with FIREWIND/OZZY OSBOURNE guitarist Gus G. A couple of excerpts from the chat follow below.

Away Team: You're following in the footsteps of some legendary guitarists in guys like Tony Iommi, Randy Rhoads, and Zakk Wylde. Those guys all had their own unique sound, when your playing their songs do you try to put your own stamp on them? Or is it more like, those guys were so good it'd be sacrilege to change their sound?

Gus: Well, as a fan, I don't like to change stuff they did. Because we're not just talking about anybody's song, this is the bible of heavy metal, man. This is what shaped the sound of hard rock and heavy metal for all the rest of us to follow. So it's not like I'm gonna go in and do my own version of "Crazy Train" or my own version of "Paranoid", ya know. That's not gonna happen. But, you know, Ozzy and BLACK SABBATH songs, these songs came from jams, mainly, and there's always a little room for the guitar player to do his own little fills and tricks here and there. I definitely do my own thing, but without really interfering with the song composition, if you know what I mean.

Away Team: Zakk Wylde has been highly complimentary of you, in the media especially. Have you had a chance to meet or talk with him yet?

Gus: No. I never got to meet him, and I would really like to. I really want to thank him for saying all of these great things about me, because it means a lot to me. I mean, Zakk Wylde is an icon, and someone I always looked up to growing up. He was one of my guitar heroes, and just to hear a guy like that saying all those great things about me is amazing. It's awesome, and I really appreciate all of his support. He's really cool with me about that. He's really given me the platform I need to go out there and do my thing. He's been very nice, and I've always had the best thoughts about Zakk, ya know.

Away Team: That's really cool to hear. Now, your first show with Ozzy was last year at Blizzcon; what was the moment you stepped back and realized, "Holy shit! I'm really Ozzy's guitarist?"

Gus: (laughs) Yeah, that was definitely the gig where I was thinking about all of that. Even the rehearsal, every day I was like, "What the fuck? Where am I?" And that didn't really end after Blizzcon, it still goes through my mind every other day. I'm like, "Wow! Look how things turned out!" This is not something you can expect to really happen in life. It's beyond any biggest honor a guitar player can have in heavy metal and hard rock. I mean, I was happy I was playing with my band, and when this came along I was like, "Wow! Really???" When they called me for the audition, I went in there and was like, "I've got nothing to lose. At least I can jam with 'em and it's a story I can tell my children one day." But who would've ever thought that I would be in his band, and working with Ozzy for over a year now.

Away Team: You mentioned being a fan, as a fan what was your all-time favorite Ozzy or SABBATH song?

Gus: You know, that is a problem, actually, because he has so many great songs, I just love 'em all, man. I love doing the Ozzy stuff on stage, I love doing the SABBATH stuff. He has so many great songs on all of his albums. I mean, I love the "Diary Of A Madman" stuff, I love the stuff from "The Ultimate Sin" that we're doing. There's more songs that I love that we're not even doing, ya know. We're playing two-and-a-half-hour sets every night, and to fit it all in we need at least four to four and a half hours to fit all of this material in there. He has so many classic songs that you just can't possibly fit in everything.

Read the entire interview from Away Team.