[Interview conducted October 2006]

As classic heavy metal smashes its way back into the world's consciousness, Firewind is right at the forefront, channeling its potent blend of class, power and skill into 2007's first masterpiece, Allegiance.  The brainchild of guitar virtuoso Gus G., this Greek-based quintet has moved from something of a project band to being a serious full-time endeavor for all involved.  With powerful new vocalist Apollo Papathanasio on board, Firewind is ready to strike, as Gus revealed in a recent phone conversation…

How did you find Apollo?

I've actually known him for a few years now, since 2001 or 2002.  He's a Greek guy but he grew up and lives in Sweden and I used to live in Sweden, so we'd hang out when I lived there.  Even when I moved back home, I would still go to Sweden pretty often and we would hang out and always kept in touch.  I was always a big fan of his vocals and, to be honest, when our first singer left, the first guy I called up was Apollo, but back then he was playing in a couple of other bands and had other commitments and he couldn't do it.  Our next option was Chity [Somapala] and obviously it didn't work out with him.  So I thought, 'Maybe I should give him a call again and see what he is up to,' and luckily he wasn't involved in any other bands, lucky for us.

Allegiance is a strong album - what are your feelings on it now that it has been done for a while?

Looking back, I must say this is definitely our best album of all four that we've done.  Everything is just one step higher, from all aspects: from songwriting to production to all sorts of details in the arrangements to the performances, everything.  I'm very pleased with what we did and wouldn't change anything.  It's a good feeling.  (laughs)

What is the writing process like in Firewind these days?

In the past, usually I would do all the music and the singer would do all the lyrics and vocal melodies, but on this album everyone contributed.  Usually, I will have a basic riff or song idea and on this album I co-wrote most of the material with our keyboard player, Bob [Katsionis].  We basically did all the pre-production in his home studio.  Mark [Cross], our drummer, he came in with one of his own songs, which was very good and we wanted to include it, and Apollo had one of his songs in there.  So we did all the pre-production on the computer and the we all went in a room and jammed on the new material and just fixed all the arrangements and little details like the dynamics.  This has been our most band effort of all because in the past I've always been on my own, I didn't have anyone to write with.  That's why I think this album is so strong, because it has input from other members as well, and we finally got together and worked on everything, every little detail.  Sometimes it is the small things that make a difference, like a dynamic between the drums and the bass that will add so much more to the song.

Do any of the new songs have a special meaning to you?

The whole album is very important; all the songs are very special to me.  It's hard to say.  If you notice, there is a lot of variation on the tempos and types of songs.  For example, we have a song called "Deliverance," which is something totally different from what we used to do in the past.  It is written in a 3/4 tempo, kind of a waltz feeling, with acoustic guitars and these big chords that almost sounds like a world music kind of thing.  It's just something different and I really love that song.  On the other hand, the single "Falling to Pieces" sounds a bit more modern, but at the same time we keep with the heavy guitars and traditional sounds.  So each song is its own story, but I love all of them.

That diversity is one of the things that I love about the album, actually.  A lot of the classic albums by Priest and Scorpions have that kind of variety and depth.

Thank you.  From a fan's perspective, that was what we were trying to go for.  If I think of an album that is really great and I want to listen to over and over again many times, I want that album to contain other things in there, not just the same song ten times. (laughs)  There are some bands that have great playing and great production and great riffs, but if it is all the same, I get tired after five or ten minutes.

Obviously there were no hard feelings about leaving Dream Evil since you recorded with Fredrik - how is it different having him produce Firewind as opposed to recording a Dream Evil album?

Actually, Fredrik did not produce the album.  I produced the album with the guys and he engineered it.  He came in the studio for a few days and put down all the sounds and left and we did all the tracking ourselves.  I was in charge more or less of the whole recording and I've learned to do that by having experience with my other bands.  I've done quite a few albums by now and I knew the direction of the sound that I wanted for this album.  Of course, when you get stuck, you always ask for other help, like from Fredrik, or more professional people… (laughs)  After we were done, he just took the tapes and went back to his studio and mixed it down.

The album art is very focused and streamlined on this one - how did the idea come about?

It is actually done by a guy who works in-house graphic design at Century Media in Europe.  I was just talking to our European A&R and he asked, 'Where do you want to go with this cover?' and I said, 'I don't know, maybe it should be just one or two strong colors and something symbolic, not so detailed.'  Within ten minutes, I had a couple of ideas e-mailed to me and it was actually this cover.  As soon as I saw it, I was like, 'Wow, this is it!'  It is so bombastic but at the same time so symbolic and simple.

Does this feel like a pretty stable line-up?

Yeah, I think since we have had so many problems with past members, we just didn't want to get some strangers - I wanted the new guys to be people that I knew from before and that I knew wouldn't cause any trouble and would complete our little family.  The core of the band has always been me, Petros and Bob - us three have been together for a few years now.  The same thing goes for Mark Cross, our new drummer.  He is actually a half-British, half-German guy who has lived in Athens for years now, so he actually speaks the language very good.  He's also the type of drummer that I've always loved, this John Bonham type of playing.  He's a pounder, totally old-school heavy metal.  He had an accident a few years back.  He joined Helloween and then he got sick and had to stop playing for a year, but now he's back in shape and was looking for a new band.  So for us, it was again perfect timing: he was looking for a new band to call home and we were looking for a great drummer who lived in Greece as well so we could rehearse easier, and it just clicked.

Doing the Ozzfest tour with Arch Enemy must have been interesting - what did you learn from that experience?

The American audiences are actually very cool because they are very expressive, they even beat up each other. (laughs)  If they feel like it, they just beat up each other, it was great.  I'm from Greece and we're a Mediterranean country like Italy and Spain and these countries are famed for having the craziest fans in the world.  People are very expressive and they sing along and everything and the American audience reminds me of that.  I had a blast playing there.  We did something like 45 or 50 shows and it was a great summer.  Playing with Arch Enemy, I mean I've known these guys from before and I was honored to be asked by one of the leading metal bands of today to play with them, so I just grabbed the chance by the hair.

You have toured all around the world - is there any place you haven't been yet that you want to go?

Actually, last week we played in Taiwan and that was always one of the places I wanted to go, so that was a big dream come true.  We might actually do a full Asia tour next year, go to China and places like that.  I've never been to South America and I would love to go and play in those countries, but my biggest dream would be for Firewind to come and play in the USA, so I 'm trying to work on that right now. (laughs)

It seems like you are always traveling, either to tour or record.  Does that nomadic lifestyle ever get tiring?

Yeah, the flying is actually the worst part, I hate flying.  The other worst part is I hate packing/unpacking my stuff, but the actual life on the road is great.  Being with your close friends and your band and being on the road, playing your music and showing it to the world, there is no better feeling than that.

What led to your leaving Mystic Prophecy and Nightrage?  Was it just to focus your energy in one place?

That was actually what it was all about.  I started doing some serious thinking during the Arch Enemy tour last year.  I got inspired by watching the Arch Enemy guys, seeing how well it worked between them and how dedicated they are to their band, where it was a few years ago and where it is now.  So I thought maybe this is the time where I should just make the big step and take the risk.  I figured that I wasn't going to be the guy who just had a session job or play for a huge band and get paid for it - I'm not that kind of guy, I want to have my own thing because I just have my own vision of how to do things.  I just decided this would be the next natural move for me, to quit everything else and go with Firewind in full gear.  It got to the point where the other bands are all getting kind of bigger and they had more obligations and I was not able to be there 100% for all the Nightrage tours or Mystic Prophecy tours and it's not fair for them and it's not fair for Firewind either, to put it on the side all the time.  Luckily, everybody understood and they are all good friends of mine from the other bands and they are like my family as well, and they just wished me luck and there were no hard feelings with any band so I'm very happy about that.

It's pretty amazing that you got involved with four bands that all ended up getting more and more popular as time went on.

That's the thing because in the beginning, maybe I gave the wrong impression to some people that, 'Okay, he's a hooker or something, he just plays wherever they call him up to play.'  But, it was not really like that.  Looking back six or seven years ago, I was just writing with a lot of people and just trying to get a record deal or something.  I had the chance to write with great people, like Marios from Nightrage or Fredrik from Dream Evil - you're not going to say no to that.  You want to play with people and get experience.  So I had three or four different side-projects and everything was unsigned and on demo level and I thought maybe one of those bands would get a record deal someday, but then they all did. (laughs)  What are you going to do when things start rolling?  You just go with it; it would be stupid to say no.  I thought I would just keep on doing this until the day I'm unable to do it.  So that's the whole story behind it.  I was writing music and contributing to all the bands.

You have a signature model ESP out in the US now.  What can you tell me about that?

I can tell you it is beyond my wildest dreams. (laughs)  It's already been out a couple years in Europe and Japan now and I'm so excited about having it out in America now.  That's the market of all markets, it's just fantastic.  ESP has been very supportive towards me, they really believe in me and I thank them a lot for showing so much trust in me.  They made the perfect guitar for me and now they're going to release it - it's great.

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