BW&BK; has received the following update:

"Blackstar are proud to announce their first artist signature product. Developed with influential guitarist Gus G. (OZZY OSBOURNE / FIREWIND) the HT-Blackfire is a two channel, valve-driven, metal distortion pedal and was launched at Summer NAMM in Nashville on June 18th, 2010. The two channels are named after the fan-favourite Firewind track ‘The Fire And The Fury.’ With its black finish, orange and red LEDs, black grille and Blackstar designed Gus G. logo, the HT-Blackfire looks as serious as it sounds. The pedal is limited to just 1,000 pieces worldwide, each pedal includes a certificate of authenticity signed by Gus G. and an exclusive Gus trading card."

Go to this location for more information.

As previously reported, Gus recently spoke with with Joe Bosso from Musicradar.com recently about a number of topics. A few excerpts from the chat follow:

Musicradar.com: Through the years, Ozzy Osbourne has worked with so many guitar legends: Tony Iommi, Randy Rhoads, Zakk Wylde. Do you consider it to be every hard rock guitarist's dream to play with Ozzy?

Gus G.: "Yeah, I do. In my book, it's the biggest of all honors. Playing with Ozzy's a dream job, man. It's the ultimate. It's the best gig any rock or heavy metal guitar player could have. Who wouldn't want to play with Ozzy? Nobody I know." [laughs]

Musicradar.com: After you joined up with Ozzy, were you nervous about facing any anti-Gus/pro-Zakk backlash from the fans?

Gus G.: "Well, yeah, I knew that was a possibility going in, and I kind of prepared myself for that. Zakk is an established name; he's been with Ozzy for over 20 years, and he has fans all over the world. Hey, I'm one of them. The first couple of gigs that we did, I was hoping that there would be people with open minds who would be like, 'Let's see what this guy is all about and give him a chance.' At the same time, I knew there might be some haters who would be like, 'Who the fuck is this guy? What the hell is he doing on stage instead of Zakk?' You have to expect both sorts of reactions. But you do what you have to do, you know? I know what I'm doing on stage; Ozzy knows what I'm doing on stage; and the rest of it, you just can't concern yourself with. You'd go crazy! I can't worry about the haters. They'll be out there no matter how great I play."

Musicradar.com: What kind of relationship have you forged with Ozzy so far?

Gus G.: "We have a very good relationship. He's been really, really cool to me, and to the rest of the band, as well. We're friends. We have great times."

Musicradar.com: Zakk has been very complimentary towards you in the press. Have you met him yet?

Gus G.: "No, I haven't met him yet, but I'm looking forward to it. Obviously, we'll meet sometime this summer since he's going to be on Ozzfest with Black Label Society. I'm sure we'll get along just fine. One thing I should say on the subject of Zakk: I'm really honored that he's said so many nice things about me. I look up to him and consider him to be one of my guitar heroes. He's a really cool guy and a gentleman. To have his blessings, that means a lot to me."

Musicradar.com: What kind of direction did Ozzy and Kevin Churko (Scream producer) give you when it came to your guitar solos? Since the songs were already written, I would assume they had some pretty firm ideas as to what they wanted.

Gus G.: "They might have, but they were pretty easy-going about everything. I think Ozzy knew that I was coming into a very high-pressure situation, so he basically said, 'Do you thing, man.' He was very gracious. He said, 'Gus, you have to be 100 percent happy with whatever you put down on tape, because once it's done, it's there for the whole world to hear.' And he's right. So I made sure that I got all my parts and solos perfect. It took a while, a lot of fixing things and going over everything. In the end, it was all worth the time and effort."

Read the entire interview here.

http://link.brightcove.com/services/player/bcpid96372663001?bclid=96364452001&bctid;=96382024001