{"id":7131,"date":"2012-09-13T00:00:40","date_gmt":"2012-09-13T00:00:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/?p=7131"},"modified":"2013-07-20T11:56:56","modified_gmt":"2013-07-20T11:56:56","slug":"feature-firewind-09-12","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/feature-firewind-09-12\/","title":{"rendered":"FIREWIND – The Few Against The Many (September 2012) | Features \/ Interviews @ Metal Forces Magazine"},"content":{"rendered":"

FIREWIND – The Few Against The Many<\/strong><\/span>
\nAnthony Morgan<\/span>
\nSeptember 2012<\/span><\/p>\n

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Firewind (l-r): Petros Christodoulidis, Johan Nunez, Apollo Papathanasio, Gus G.
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Songwriting within the Firewind camp is usually a group affair, though guitarist Gus G.\u2019s live commitments as a member of the Ozzy Osbourne band from June 2010 until October 2011 prevented group songwriting sessions taking place. Instead, Gus wrote much of the material for the Thessaloniki, Greece-based power metal outfit\u2019s seventh studio full-length, submitting six to seven demos to his fellow Firewind members. Vocalist Apollo Papathanasio subsequently began to pen lyrics and vocal melodies.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe kind of went back and forth like we always do when we write songs,\u201d recalls Gus G., founder of the unit. \u201cOnce we got all of the material completed, we entered the studio and rehearsed the material \u2013 we always do that. Once we were ready with that, we started recording. I think it\u2019s different for a Firewind record, compared to the previous ones. There\u2019s a lot more guitar, and much heavier production.\u201d<\/p>\n

Touring as part of the Ozzy Osbourne band arguably influenced that extra heaviness. \u201cIt made me a much better player; it was a big step up for me,\u201d the musician exclaims. \u201cI started practising guitar a lot more than I used to. Maybe that\u2019s because I had to come up with all these guitar riffs again, and all these guitar parts. My goal was to make a guitar-based heavy metal record. I leave judging my guitar work up to other people, but I am happy with my playing on Few Against Many<\/em>. I think my guitar playing is a step up from the previous records, not that the guitar playing on them wasn\u2019t good. It was awesome and I am still proud of the previous albums, but I think I just became a much better player. When it came to my melodic stuff I played a lot more soulful, and when it came to the technical parts I did a lot more technical shredding parts. I think I was able to capture the best of both worlds when it came to guitar playing, both the melodic and technical side of it.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is the first album technically since I joined the Ozzy band, so I knew that there were a lot more people listening and a lot more people watching. I\u2019ve never really… I shouldn\u2019t say that I didn\u2019t feel pressured or anything but I was aware of it, so maybe it was in my subconscious.\u201d<\/p>\n

A heavier effort, Few Against Many<\/em> consequently treads a darker lyrical path. \u201cA couple of people have said that it\u2019s a darker record,\u201d Gus acknowledges. \u201cThere\u2019s not really any concept, or anything. We always have a dose of positivity to our messages, even though we talk about darker stuff. If you look at \u2018Few Against Many\u2019, it\u2019s about fighting the fight \u2013 whatever that is \u2013 in your life. You can translate that whatever way you like… What else?… I guess \u2018Losing My Mind\u2019 is bit of a darker song when it comes to the lyrical concept, but I think you can always find the positive message if you look into our lyrics.\u201d<\/p>\n

Greece\u2019s economic climate was an influence on Firewind\u2019s previous outing, October 2010\u2019s Days Of Defiance<\/em>. \u201cWe were a bit more angry about what was happening at the time, and really about political leaders and religious leaders,\u201d the axeman reflects. \u201cThe fact that people don\u2019t really buy that stuff anymore, and the fact that people don\u2019t trust anyone anymore. The only song on Few Against Many<\/em> that has that revolutionary kind of vibe is \u2018Wall Of Sound\u2019, but it has more to do with a musical revolution and isn\u2019t really about what\u2019s happening in politics. It\u2019s really all about uniting under the heavy metal sound. That\u2019s the most revolutionary type of song we have on the record, and also probably \u2018Glorious\u2019 as well. That song has a little bit of a political theme.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Lead cut \u2018Wall Of Sound\u2019 argues the case for a musical revolution, to be precise. \u201cI think every generation has to have a soundtrack, and I think music can play a vital role,\u201d Gus reckons. \u201cIf you look at it that way, you need a good soundtrack to help you with what you\u2019re doing and music is a part of our lives. I\u2019m not saying we\u2019re part of a movement or anything, but I guess in every generation there has to be an artist or artists that hopefully can help with the changes. If you look back at the 60s The Beatles were big, but the world was changing a lot back then. The world is very different nowadays of course. People are a bit more lazy, I should say. Today, there\u2019s no major movement. There\u2019s purpose and all that, but they\u2019re eating what they\u2019re feeding us. I\u2019m not sure how pro-active the new generation are. Maybe we have to toughen up.\u201d<\/p>\n

Perhaps today\u2019s generation are too busy signing internet petitions? \u201cYeah, exactly,\u201d the songwriter agrees. \u201cIt\u2019s all happening online.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2018Losing My Mind\u2019 was the first composition to be authored for Few Against Many<\/em>. \u201cThat was actually a good starting point for me,\u201d Gus enthuses. \u201cWhen I was making demos for the record, I actually came up with the song on acoustic guitar. The main riff I wrote in an American hotel somewhere on tour with Ozzy. At some point during a tour break, I just put all my ideas and riffs down and came up with a bunch of songs. \u2018Losing My Mind\u2019 was the first one that I did, and I felt it was a really refreshing kind of sound for Firewind at least. It\u2019s a bit heavier, and has a different kind of groove that we didn\u2019t have before. It\u2019s a six-minute epic song that keeps adding up and changing up all of the time; even after the solos, there\u2019s new musical parts coming up. It keeps building up, even up until the end of the song. I think that was a very good starting point for me to see what direction my new material was taking me to.\u201d<\/p>\n

The album\u2019s title number took awhile to come together, meanwhile. \u201cThat was a hard song for me to write for some reason,\u201d the axe-slinger muses. \u201cI had a lot of riffs and put them together, but it just wouldn\u2019t stop. I just kept building up the song, and then at some point I just had to strip down and rearrange the song from the beginning. That was kind of when I ended up with what the song became. We really tried to work hard on the lyrics and the vocal melodies, and it was the kind of song where it just took us many versions to get the right one. It\u2019s not like it was written in ten minutes or something.\u201d<\/p>\n

Gus favours a quicker riff upon \u2018The Undying Fire\u2019, a tempo at odds with the drumming of Johan Nunez (Nightrage). \u201cThat was originally the idea from the demo,\u201d the Greek explains. \u201cI wanted a fast riff, and then I wanted to have a mid-tempo groove for the drums in the background. We kept it like it was on the demo basically, but he played excellently. \u2018The Undying Fire\u2019 was also a song which had more musical parts, and a bigger, longer intro. We took awhile to get it together, but I think that was the tempo from the beginning more or less as far as I can remember, yeah.\u201d<\/p>\n

Few Against Many<\/em> is the first Firewind full-length to feature Johan behind the drumkit. \u201cJo is a much younger guy than we are, so he brings a new energy to the band,\u201d the performer compliments. \u201cWhen he first helped us out on our 2011 European and US tours, it was really refreshing to play with somebody else. He brings a cool energy and a cool vibe to the band. It\u2019s good to have some young blood in the band, actually. Jo also comes from a death metal background, so he\u2019s a much more technical drummer. He was able to play all kinds of weird shit that we asked him to, or whatever I would come up with on my demos. He was able to play with no problem. If you listen to a song like \u2018Another Dimension\u2019 having a blast beat almost, we\u2019ve never had that stuff before.\u201d<\/p>\n

Gus has touted \u2018Another Dimension\u2019 as the most extreme Firewind track to date. \u201cIt\u2019s close to thrash metal and even death metal, and we\u2019ve never had those kinds of sounds or influences before in our music or on our records,\u201d he supplements.<\/p>\n

Firewind might perhaps explore their more extreme tendencies further on future material. \u201cI don\u2019t know…,\u201d the arranger ponders. \u201cIt depends. Basically, it was originally an idea that Bob (Katsionis, keyboards) sent me. I had this brutal riff, and said \u2018I want to have a song start with an extreme riff, almost like a death metal beat.\u2019 We put our ideas together, and that\u2019s how \u2018Another Dimension\u2019 came together.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Apollo wrote the tune \u2018Glorious\u2019. \u201cI added the main riff to the end, and that\u2019s how we got it together,\u201d Gus remembers. \u201cIt\u2019s more of a hard rock song, the only song on the record which reminds me a little bit more of the old Firewind. I like it. It\u2019s a cool song; we actually do it live, and it goes down very well.\u201d<\/p>\n

Firewind has arguably become more overtly metal over the years. \u201cYeah, I would say so,\u201d the founder judges. \u201cOn the new record, it\u2019s just heavier stuff. That\u2019s totally what we\u2019re going for.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2018Edge Of A Dream\u2019 features a guest appearance from Finnish cello metal ensemble Apocalyptica. \u201cIt was a different song,\u201d Gus appraises. \u201cOriginally I was thinking about whether I wanted to have a piano-driven song on a Firewind song. I thought it was a different idea, and something fresh for Firewind. I\u2019m very happy that we did it; I think it\u2019s a nice departure from what we do, and something different for the band. It was a great piano ballad, and I felt it would be even more epic if we had some cellos. The idea was to call Apocalyptica, and see if they would be willing to play. We just sent them a demo through our management, and they got back to us two days later. They listened to the song, and decided to play.\u201d<\/p>\n

To date, \u2018Edge Of A Dream\u2019 has been performed live on only one occasion. \u201cWe\u2019ve played it once, but rearranged it,\u201d the guitarist notes. \u201cWe actually did it with a full band, and it was pretty cool. We might do \u2018Edge Of A Dream\u2019 yet again at future shows. If we were in the same place as Apocalyptica where we could actually jam that song onstage, that\u2019d be great.\u201d<\/p>\n

Directed by keyboardist Bob Katsionis, \u2018Edge Of A Dream\u2019\u2019s music video was shot in Greece during January 2012. \u201cIt was pretty fucking cold,\u201d Gus laments. \u201cThe location that Bob scouted was amazing though; it had some cliffs, and stuff like that. It was a really cool background, with sea and mountains and stuff like that. We just shot all the stuff there basically, and it came out pretty cool.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2018Destiny\u2019 sports a chorus with a punk rock vibe. \u201cIt starts out like bit of an older style Firewind song with bit more of a melodic riff,\u201d the musician analyses. \u201cIt then goes into that punk rock vibe with the chorus like Bad Religion or whatever, which is great. When I first presented it to the guys they were like \u2018You can\u2019t do that,\u2019 and I said \u2018Why not? It\u2019s something different.\u2019 I just wanted to experiment with different beats, different grooves. Stuff that we hadn\u2019t done before, and hadn\u2019t dared to.\u201d<\/p>\n

Of Few Against Many<\/em>\u2019s tracks, \u2018Long Gone Tomorrow\u2019 is the closest to Black Sabbath<\/a> in nature. \u201cIt definitely has an Ozzy vibe,\u201d Gus concedes. \u201cIt has a heavy vibe in general, but it\u2019s definitely a page out of Tony Iommi\u2019s book when it comes to the riffs, for sure. You can find all kinds of influences on there.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2018No Heroes, No Sinners\u2019 rounds out the album. \u201cI think it\u2019s a pretty cool track, and it changes a lot during the song,\u201d the axeman critiques. \u201cActually Apollo had vocal melodies and lyrics for another song that he wrote, but the music wasn\u2019t really happening there. He put those melodies over my demo though, and that\u2019s how the song came together.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Few Against Many<\/em> was mixed by Jason Suecof (Charred Walls Of The Damned \/ Capharnaum) and Eyal Levi (D\u00e5\u00e5th) at Audiohammer Studios (Trivium \/ All That Remains \/ Death Angel) in Sanford, Florida. \u201cI knew Eyal from way back, actually,\u201d Gus divulges. \u201cWe met through a mutual friend who hooked us up, and then when I was in LA I hooked up with Eyal. He played me some of the stuff they were doing at Audiohammer Studios, and I was sold immediately because I thought they had made really killer productions. I thought it would be great if we spiced it up a little bit and actually had an American mix our band, because we usually do our records in Scandinavia. I spoke to the guys, and told them what I had in mind. They really liked it, so I contacted Audiohammer to handle the mix and that was it really. They put in a lot of hard work, and you can really hear the details in the mix. It has a heavier production, but a more modern production as well. At Audiohammer, they work with groups like All That Remains, Trivium, and all those kinds of bands. You hear a little bit of that modern touch to it.\u201d<\/p>\n

The composer has several favourite tracks to perform live off of Few Against Many<\/em>. \u201cI really like \u2018Losing My Mind\u2019, \u2018Few Against Many\u2019, and \u2018Glorious\u2019 \u2013 that\u2019s a cool track to do live,\u201d he cites. \u201cI like all of the songs, man. I like \u2018Another Dimension\u2019 as well, for example.\u201d<\/p>\n

Firewind\u2019s back catalogue has grown over the years, meaning the quintet have a wider range of cuts to choose from in devising a setlist. \u201cIt\u2019s getting harder with every album,\u201d Gus confesses. \u201cSeven albums in, it\u2019s kind of hard to keep everyone pleased. We try to cover material from each record.\u201d <\/p>\n

Debut full-length Between Heaven And Hell<\/em> celebrated the tenth anniversary of its release in July 2012, an occasion Firewind is due to mark. \u201cWhat we plan to do is play a lot of songs that we\u2019ve never, ever played live before, and do a different setlist every day,\u201d the axe-slinger reveals. \u201cWe\u2019re gonna do that in December. We\u2019re gonna try to do some of the more obscure songs from our catalogue.\u201d<\/p>\n

At the time of writing, plans to record an 11th Ozzy Osbourne studio platter aren\u2019t in the pipeline. \u201cI think Ozzy is gonna be doing Sabbath for the next year, and I\u2019m gonna be doing Firewind naturally,\u201d Gus discloses.<\/p>\n

The performer has authored a wealth of riffs should the opportunity ever present itself, though. \u201cI have all kinds of stuff \u2013 it\u2019s not like one specific thing,\u201d he stresses. \u201cThere\u2019s some stuff that\u2019s pretty heavy that have a Sabbath\u2019y vibe. I\u2019ve then got riffs with bit more of an 80s vibe, and I\u2019ve got more rocking stuff, like Southern rock. I also have some heavier, darker stuff. They\u2019re a bit closer to the older Ozzy. Randy Rhoads-era (1980-1982) or No More Tears<\/em>-era (1991), stuff like that \u2013 the first six albums. I always keep writing ideas, so I guess whenever he\u2019s ready and gives me a call I\u2019ll have a bunch of stuff to show him. When the time comes I\u2019ll just present him with a bunch of stuff, and he can choose what he likes and what not.\u201d <\/p>\n

Few Against Many<\/em> was released on May 21st, 2012 in Europe and subsequently on the 22nd in North America, all through Century Media Records.<\/p>\n

Interview published in September 2012. All promotional photographs by Hatzakis Photography.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

FIREWIND – The Few Against The Many Anthony Morgan September 2012 Firewind (l-r): Petros Christodoulidis, Johan Nunez, Apollo Papathanasio, Gus G. and Bob Katsionis Songwriting within the Firewind camp is usually a group affair, though guitarist Gus G.\u2019s live commitments as a member of the Ozzy Osbourne band from June 2010 until October 2011 prevented […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23,382],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7131","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-features","category-firewind"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7131","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7131"}],"version-history":[{"count":16,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7131\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7148,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7131\/revisions\/7148"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7131"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7131"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7131"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}