Gus G

Following a brilliant outing in Firewind’s 2020 eponymous LP that was sadly hamstrung promotionally due to the lockdowns, six-string sorcerer Gus G. switches gears for more varied and abstract territory, culminating in a solid display of technical flair and melodic ingenuity within the instrumental medium…

In a world where only the best come out on top, Gus G. is one of the most respected and renowned rock metal guitarists of our time. He played the biggest stages worldwide between 2009 and 2017 as a member of superstar Ozzy Osbourne’s band and enhanced Ozzy’s album Scream (2010) with his amazing dexterity. In addition, Gus has been a known quantity on the melodic power metal scene as the founder and figurehead of his own group Firewind for some twenty years and can look back on eight studio albums and numerous tours so far. The third pillar of his exceptionally fruitful career is his work as a solo artist, having released his two much acclaimed albums I Am The Fire (2014) and Brand New Revolution (2015). Gus is now set to continue this successful series with Fearless. At the same time, Fearless also marks the beginning of another chapter: his new band is a power trio featuring vocalist/bassist Dennis Ward (Pink Cream 69/Unisonic) and drummer Will Hunt (Evanescence, Black Label Society). The exceptional Greek-born guitarist has recorded twelve new songs with this line-up: nine vocal numbers and three instrumentals.

There hasn’t been a popular dance without an accordion, nor a dance-hall without a waltz, since the end of the Great War. You wonder if the genre was ever “modern” at all, so timeless does it seem… Yet it had to be born at some time, and its parents were a motley crowd indeed! First of all came the people from Auvergne, who began to settle in Paris at the beginning of the 19th century: they brought their “folk” instrument with them, and the “musette” tradition, turning their cafes and restaurants into dance-halls with an accordion band. Later, after 1870, it was the turn of the Italians, who crossed the Alps with an instrument of German origin, which they quickly adopted and began to manufacture themselves: the accordion. Then a third stream from Belgium and the North arrived in Paris to work in the factories, and, later still, the wandering gypsy communities of eastern Europe added their guitars to the sound of the accordion.

"Around Gus" is a title full of eloquence: it is of course a tribute, but not an usual one: talent is more than necessary to salute Gus Viseur in one phrase: the Django Reinhardt of the Accordion. A little bit shy, Marcel Loeffler has realized an incredible album full of radiance, and poetry including not only Viseur's compositions but also original works. Marcel Loeffler has also lived the accordion return in Jazz, the famous "Jazz Musette" after a couple of years of purgatory. He has been one of the first musicians to bring it back to swing with his partners, his gypsy "family", the one of Biréli Lagrène, Mandino Reinhardt, Yorgui Loeffler among others. Interpreting Viseur with an incredible authority, the one of a peaceful genious, a great distiller of poetry, it is Marcel Loeffler trademark. Far away from the usual interpretation, devoid of soul and which used to combine the Accordion with submachines full of notes.