“It was about time that I stepped up and did a full-on instrumental guitar album,” the former Ozzy Osbourne guitarist says
(Image credit: Press)
Former Ozzy Osbourne and current Firewind guitarist Gus G has announced the title of his brand-new solo album, Quantum Leap.
While no concrete release date has been announced as of yet, the LP is reportedly set to drop in October via AFM Records. Two tracks have been released from the record thus far: Exosphere and the hard-riffing, solo-loaded Fierce.
The album's title is, as the Greek virtuoso explains in a new video announcement, a reflection of the fact that it's his first all-instrumental offering.
“‘Quantum leap’ means when you're taking a big step, so for me, making an instrumental album and letting my guitar do the talking was a big step for me, for once. I've always worked with singers and collaborated with many people, but this time, I decided to just let the guitar be a voice. So this was my quantum leap.”
“I'm really excited about this album,” he adds. “It was about time that I stepped up and did a full-on instrumental guitar album. A lot of people have been asking me and pushing me to do this. And to be honest, I always turned it down. But I think the recent situation with the pandemic and the fact that everybody went through months of quarantine and lockdown, that kind of sparked ideas.
“Music was my only gateway, basically, so that's what I did; I just made songs. I couldn't fly to another country and meet with other musicians and do pre-production or anything like that, so I just decided to write stuff on my own and just make a guitar album."
He concludes: “There's a lot of cool stuff on there – different stuff. Obviously, my style is all over the place. I tried to push the envelope a little bit and explore some new things.”
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In terms of personnel, Gus G is joined on the record by bassist Dennis Ward [Pink Cream 69, Unisonic] and drummer Jan-Vincent Velazco.
“Dennis has worked with me in the past,” the guitarists says. “We've worked together the past five years, actually. We've done two Firewind albums together. He's been co-producing and co-writing with me. And also my previous solo record, Fearless (2018), he played bass and sang.
“I also have a great drummer from England, [Jan-]Vincent Velazco. He's great. He plays amazingly. You already heard him on the first two singles.”
Gus G's 2018 album, Fearless, was the followup to 2015's Brand New Revolution, and was the guitarist's first full-length offering since his departure from Ozzy Osbourne's band in 2017.
Sam was Staff Writer at GuitarWorld.com from 2019 to 2023, and also created content for Total Guitar, Guitarist and Guitar Player. He has well over 15 years of guitar playing under his belt, as well as a degree in Music Technology (Mixing and Mastering). He's a metalhead through and through, but has a thorough appreciation for all genres of music. In his spare time, Sam creates point-of-view guitar lesson videos on YouTube under the name Sightline Guitar.
