Guitarist Gus G. (FIREWIND, OZZY OSBOURNE) is featured in a new interview with AltSounds. An excerpt is available below:

AltSounds: So how long have you and the rest of the band been working on the album? Has it taken a while to put together?

Gus G: "It’s kinda weird because we’ve been kind of on-and-off with it; I was writing a lot of material whilst I was on the road with Ozzy, over the last year. During a lot of the tour breaks I just sat down with all these ideas for riffs and things, and I was thinking ‘I should make some demos before I forget them!’ (laughs). Then I realised I had about six or seven good songs that had come out, which I sent to the guys. We started working on the songs – exchanging files and stuff – and then we did some tours and festivals in the summer. We went on tour in the fall and over time we just kept working on the album. It really was on-and-off for a few months, but without all the stress to be honest. We didn’t have a label, and we hadn’t told anybody we were working on a new album; we just wanted to do it on our own terms. Whenever we were ready, we just booked studio time, and by the time we’d finished we started talking to labels and that kind of thing. So it was a very relaxed kind of process, even though a lot of the writing was between tours and traveling and playing. It sounds chaotic but it really wasn’t."

AltSounds: Did you find that keeping the album under wraps gave you more creative freedom than you’d normally get from your typical writing and recording process?

Gus G: "Oh yeah! Once you call up the label and say 'Hey, I’m doing a new album,' then they start hitting you with dates, organising what you’re doing with your time and sending people to check out what you’re doing. We didn’t want any of that. We didn’t really have a record deal at the time either, and we wanted to take things one thing at a time. The music came first. Once we had that part down, we knew we were in for the long haul and we were going to be mixing the album and all of that, then we started negotiating with people and labels and exploring our options."

Click here for the complete interview.

Firewind recently announced a new distribution deal for North America. Firewind Ltd. will join forces with DisManic, Inc via eOne Distribution, to release Few Against Many, due May 22nd. Few Against Many will be released throughout Europe on May 21st via Century Media. Check out the album art below:

Produced by Gus G, Few Against Many, was recorded with long time band mates vocalist Apollo Papathanasio, Bob Katsionis (keyboards/guitar) and bassist Petros Christo at Valve Studio in Greece as well as The Sweetspot Studios in Sweden and sees the band expand on their signature melodic sound with some of their most aggressive songs to date. Mixed by Jason Suecof and Eyal Levi at Audiohammer Studios (TRIVIUM, ALL THAT REMAINS, DEATH ANGEL) in Orlando, Florida. Few Against Many also marks the recording debut of new Firewind drummer Johan Nunez (NIGHTRAGE).

The band has issued a series of studio updates from the studio which can be found below:

Firewind have already announced a few summer festival appearances (including Summer Breeze in Germany and Czech Republic’s Masters Of Rock) and will be announcing many more as well as the Few Against Many world tour in the coming months. They have also just confirmed shows in China and Taiwan for August, so Gus G. checked in to give a quick band-update as follows:

“Wow, China and Taiwan! That’s places we are truly looking forward to visit! We also just wrapped up the mixing of the new album and it’s sounding awesome! We can’t wait for you guys to get to hear this new monster…”

While more concerts and touring is soon to be announced, here are all confirmed upcoming Firewind shows:

July

12-15 - Vizovice, Czech Republic - Masters Of Rock Festival

August

16-18 - Dinkelsbühl, Germany - Summer Breeze Open Air

23 - Beijing, China - Star Live
24 - Shanghai, China - Mao Livehouse
25 - Taipei, Taiwan - Legacy Livehouse

Firewind 2012:

Bob Katsionis - keyboards / guitar

Apollo Papathanasio - vocals

Gus G. - guitars

Petros Christo - bass

Jo Nunez - drums