The Greek guitarist of Ozzy Osbourne
Costas Karamitroudes, nicknamed Gus G by his friends, was born in Thessaloniki on September 12, 1980. He currently spends his life between Greece and the United States and is the most influential heavy metal musician in his native country.
At the early age of 9, he realized that guitar was to be his destiny. He has been deeply influenced by his father’s love for rock music and early enough he had his first guitar and first music lessons. At the age of 17, Gus G left Greece to enroll in the famous public Berklee College of Music in Boston. Later on, he decided to reject the scholarship and a future academic career, when he realized that his personal desire was to live the experience.
Gus is one of the few young heavy metal musicians having upgraded the guitar technique. He has performed with various bands, like Mystic Prophecy, Nightrage, Arch Enemy and Dream Evil. He has made guest appearances for prestigious artists, like providing solos in the songs Felonies of the Christian Art and Life Deprived by Old Man’s Child from the album In Defiance of Existence and on the album Gallows Gallery by the Japanese metal band Sigh.
In 2009, Ozzy Osbourne chose Gus G among many musicians as his lead guitarist and since then Ozzy goes on tour with Gus and calls him a lunatic. Currently, Ozzy Osbourne and his group Firewind are Gus G’s top priorities.