Firewind

Firewind

Firewind is a Greek power metal band, formed and led by guitarist Gus G.

History

The band began in 1998 when the young Greek 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' 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 Dream Evil and Mystic Prophecy.

After the release of his other bands' debut albums, Gus' attention returned to the Firewind project. Only he remained from the original formation - Leviathan owner David T. Chastain brought in vocalist Stephen Fredrick and drummer Brian Harris (both ex-Kenziner), while Gus enlisted the help of bassist Konstantine, a fellow Greek. this line-up recorded the debut album Between Heaven and Hell.

In 2003, new changes were instituted as Norwegian drummer Stian Kristoffersen and Greek bassist Petros Christo joined the band. Harris and Konstantine had been replaced as Gus was looking for a more permanent rhythm section that was prepared to tour. This line-up recorded Burning Earth and went on a tour of Japan with Rob Rock, but without vocalist Stephen Fredrick, who was not prepared to go on the road (despite prior guarantees to the contrary). His replacement on the Burning the Earth Tour, the Sri Lankan singer Chitral 'Chity' Somapala, was given the job full-time. Fellow touring member Bob Katsionis was also hired permanently to play keyboards. Firewind got a worldwide deal with Century Media by the end of that year.

This line-up recorded the album Forged By Fire, but a few months after the release, Chitral left due to personal and musical differences with the rest of the band. When his replacement, Apollo Papathanasio of Time Requiem, was found, it was also announced that Stian Kristoffersen would be leaving, to be replaced with the veteran Mark Cross. The reason for the split was that Gus wanted to have a set of Greek-based musicians willing to make Firewind their number one priority (probably to end the virtual revolving door of members) and Stian's main band was the Norwegian outfit Pagan's Mind. Gus also left his roles in Dream Evil, Mystic Prophecy and Nightrage between 2004 and 2006. This new line-up recorded the album Allegiance, which was released in July 2006. During November - December 2006, they toured the UK supporting DragonForce with All That Remains.

Current schedule

At their October 2007 show at ProgPower USA, Firewind will be briefly uniting with former vocalist Stephen Fredrick for a few songs off the first two albums.

Firewind accomplished their 2006/2007 world tour in Copenhagen at the Scandinavian Prog Power festival on November 10. The band went around the globe almost twice being on three continents including Asia, Africa, the US, Canada and Europe and played nearly 100 shows. Firewind are now recording their new album in Sweden which is scheduled to be released in spring 2008. Also the band recently announced their first European Tour dates with Kamelot and Visions of Atlantis to start in London, England on April 4. However Visions of Atlantis have recently pulled out of the tour due to changes in thier lineup.

See more details: http://www.firewind.gr

Line-up

Year	Band					Recordings
	Vocalist	Guitarist	Bassist	keyboardist	Drummer
1998	Brandon Pender	Gus G.	N/A	Gus G.	Matt Scurfield	Nocturnal Symphony
2001-2003	Stephen Fredrick	Gus G.	Konstantine	Gus G.	Brian Harris	Between Heaven and Hell
2003	Stephen Fredrick	Gus G.	Petros Christodoylidis	Gus G.	Stian Lindas Kristoffersen	Burning Earth
2004-2005	Chitral Somapala	Gus G.	Petros Christodoylidis	Babis Katsionis	Stian Lindas Kristoffersen	Forged by Fire
2006	Apollo Papathanasio	Gus G.	Petros Christodoylidis	Babis Katsionis	Mark Cross	Allegiance

Discography

Date of Release	Title	Label	Producer
1998	Nocturnal Symphony (Demo)	self-released/mp3.com
June, 2002	Between Heaven and Hell	Leviathan/Massacre Records	David T. Chastain
November, 2003	Burning Earth	Leviathan Records	David T. Chastain
January, 2005	Forged by Fire	Century Media	Gus G.
June, 2006	Allegiance	Century Media	Gus G.

External links

• Firewind's official Website
• Firewind's Official MySpace Page