Gus G

Konstantinos Karamitroudis (born 12 September 1980), better known as Gus G, is a Greek heavy metal guitarist.

He currently plays with his band Firewind.

He has also played in Mystic Prophecy, Nightrage, Arch Enemy, Dream Evil and Ozzy Osbourne's band.

Konstantinos was born on 12 September 1980 in Thessaloniki.

His father was a part-time singer who sang Greek folk music at bars and taverns.

He was also a fan of rock music.

He was introduced to bands like Pink Floyd, Santana and the Eagles by his father's album collections.

Gus G was inspired to start playing guitar after listening to his father's copy of Peter Frampton's album Frampton Comes Alive.

Gus has stated, "Frampton Comes Alive, specifically, was the reason why I picked up the guitar and started playing." He was drawn in particular by Frampton's use of the Talkbox.

Gus stated, "I was like 8 or 9 years old and my dad had the vinyl at home and was playing that song 'Do You Feel Like We Do,' and when he was doing all that talkbox effects and making the guitar talk...I somehow thought it was a robot talking...I was just amazed by it. It was one of those epiphanies we get in life." At the age of 10, Gus asked his dad for a guitar.

His father bought him a classical guitar and he started to take lessons from a local music school.

When he finally received his first electric guitar at the age of 14, he got heavily into practicing and took lessons from a rock guitar teacher at a local conservatory.

The stage name "Gus G" has two sources of origin.

"Gus" is a common Greek American English translation of the name "Kostas", and "G" was a nickname given to him by a friend during his time living in the US.

At the age of 18 he left Greece to enroll in the Berklee College of Music, but left after only a few weeks and began working on making a name on the metal scene.

During his brief time at Berklee Gus came into contact with Joe Stump, who he credits as a great influence on his career.

In 1998, Gus G decided to record a demo with some close musician friends in the United States.

The project was entitled Firewind, and was used as a showcase for Gus's guitar skills in an attempt to earn a professional recording deal.

The demo attracted the attention of Leviathan Records, but activity was put on hold when Gus was hired by Nightrage, Dream Evil, and Mystic Prophecy.

After the release of these bands' debut albums, Gus's attention returned to his band, Firewind.

The band has released seven studio albums to date and has gone through many lineup changes.

Gus G was declared third of the three best guitar players all over the world in 2003 by the Japanese magazine BURRN!.

In July 2005, he temporarily replaced Christopher Amott as guitarist of melodic death metal band Arch Enemy on their Ozzfest dates, and also contributed to their album Doomsday Machine by playing lead guitar on the song "Taking Back my Soul".

He has made guest appearances for various artists, including the title track song on Rob Rock's Garden of Chaos, as well as solos on the songs "Felonies of the Christian Art" and "Life Deprived" by Old Man's Child's album In Defiance of Existence.

Gus has also performed a few solos on the album Gallows Gallery by the Japanese avant-garde black metal band Sigh).

In 2009, Gus was sent an email invitation from Ozzy Osbourne's management to learn several songs and take a flight to Los Angeles to audition for the role of guitarist in Ozzy Osbourne's backing band.

After jamming with the band, Gus was "asked on the spot to come back and perform a concert with Ozzy a couple of months later".

Soon thereafter it was announced that Gus G would be taking the place of lead guitarist for Ozzy Osbourne.

Ozzy had decided to part ways with longtime guitarist Zakk Wylde, because he thought his music was beginning to sound too much like Zakk's band Black Label Society.

Gus's first live appearance with Ozzy was at the BlizzCon 2009.

In 2010 Gus G appeared alongside Firewind in Issue 3 of the Eternal Descent Comic Book which is an epic comic series that features characters of several of ESP Guitars' most popular artists.

In the Summer of 2012 he toured with Ozzy Osbourne as part of the Ozzy & Friends European Tour.

The line-up featured special guests Slash, Zakk Wylde, and Geezer Butler.

He then returned to his band Firewind, and they released their 7th studio album "Few Against Many".

The world tour that followed took them all over Europe, UK, North America, Asia and Australia.

In the midst of the tour, Firewind's longtime singer, Apollo Papathanasio, quit the band.

Firewind vowed to continue with a replacement singer.

At the end of the world tour in December 2013, Firewind decided to go on an indefinite hiatus and Gus G launched his solo career with the release of his debut album, "I Am The Fire".

The album was released in March 2014 and features many guest musicians including Jacob Bunton Mats Levén, Jeff Scott Soto, Michael Starr of Steel Panther, Alexia Rodriguez of Eyes Set To Kill, Devour the Day and many more.

He toured in Europe extensively throughout 2014 together with Marty Friedman and in his native Greece with legendary guitarist Uli Jon Roth.