Gus G.

Infobox musical artist
Name = Gus G.


Img_capt = Gus G. playing guitar
Img_size =
Background = non_vocal_instrumentalist
Birth_name = Kostas Karamitroudis
Alias = Gus G.
Born = Birth date and age|1980|9|12|mf=y
Died =
Origin = Thessaloniki, Greece
Instrument = Guitar, Keyboard
Genre = Heavy metal, Melodic death metal, Thrash metal, Power metal
Occupation = Musician (Guitarist)
Years_active = 1998 – present
Label =
Associated_acts = Firewind, Mystic Prophecy, Dream Evil, Nightrage, Arch Enemy
URL = http://www.gus-g.com/
Current_members =
Past_members =
Notable_instruments =

Kostas Karamitroudis ( _el. Κώστας Καραμητρούδης) aka Gus G., born September 12 1980 in Thessaloniki, Greece is an acclaimed heavy metal guitarist currently with Firewind. He has also played in Mystic Prophecy, Nightrage, Arch Enemy and Dream Evil. He is one of the younger players in metal to have reached such proficiency in metal guitar technique. At the age of 18 he left Greece to enroll in the Berklee College of Music, but left after only a few weeks and began working on making a name on the Metal scene. During his brief time at Berklee Gus came into contact with Joe Stump, who he credits as a great influence on his career [http://www.guitar9.com/interview60.html] .

Gus G is a popular member of the metal community with friends such as James Murphy, Marty Friedman and Dimebag Darrell. He also appears to be good friends with Herman Li of DragonForce.

On July 2005, he temporarily replaced Christopher Amott as guitarist of melodic death metal band Arch Enemy on their Ozzfest dates, and also contributed to their album Doomsday Machine by playing lead guitar on the song "Taking Back my Soul".

He has made guest appearances for various artists, such as providing solos on the songs "Felonies of the Christian Art" and "Life Deprived" by Old Man's Child, from the album "In Defiance of Existence", and a few solos on the album Gallows Gallery by the Japanese avant-garde black metal band Sigh).

The stage name "Gus G." has two sources of origin - "Gus" is a common Greek American English tranlation of the name "Kostas," and "G" was a nickname given to him by a friend during his time living in the U.S..

Gus G was chosen as the third of the three best guitar players all over the world in 2003 by the Japanese magazine "BURRN!".

Gear

Gus teamed up with ESP Guitars to make two custom model guitars to his specifications, the "Gus. G FR" and the "Gus G. NT". The 'NT' is only available on the Japanese ESP website and was used in the videos for "Falling to Pieces", "Breaking The Silence" and "Tyranny". The 'FR' is featured along with the NT model in the video for "Falling To Pieces".

Gus has used Marshall Amplifiers in the past, however more recently, he uses the Randall T2 Amplifier.

External links

* [http://www.gus-g.com Gus G.'s official website]
* [http://www.firewind.gr Firewind's official website]