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Nightrage formed in Thessaloniki, Greece, in 2000
by guitarist Marios Iliopoulos and Gus G.
Fascinated by the swedish death metal and most of all
the melodic style that signifies bands from Gothenburg.
Bands like In Flames, At the Gates and Dark Tranquility
made a huge impression on the young greeks.
After forming the band they moved to Gothenburg
to try to become a part of what later would be known
as The Gothenburg Sound.
But the story doesn´t start there, but rather when they arrive in Gothenburg
a few years earlier with the band Exhumation to record in old Studio Fredman.
Hi and welcome to the show Backstage-TV.
I`m sitting here with Marios Iliopoulos from Nightrage.
When he first arrived he didnt know that many people.
He knew Tim but...
Tim was out of town at the time and he needed help with apartment and stuff.
Since he didnt know many people, Tim called me and asked if I could help Marios,
That was the first time I met him.
He then told me that he moved here just because of the music,
and then I thought Wow, that is a really bold and brave move on his part.
To move to another country just to try to succeed with
his music is a hard thing to do.
But throughout the years I have come to understand
that he is that kind of personality
that succeeds and he has continue to succeed,
and I realise that he has been and still is, a rolemodel
to a lot of musicians, even famous ones.
He has got a strong will and he is very focused on his goals,
never lets go of his dream.
He fights hard and struggles enormously to reach his target.
He is a hard worker and that is a good trait if you want to be succesful.
He is very reliable and a guy that you can trust,
Always happy, always positive.
I understood right away that he was a special person.
At that time I wasn`t listening to Death Metal that much,
but I have come to listen to it more and learned to like it.
I realised how great a musician he is and he deserves to be among the greats.
At least that is my opinion.
If you listen to his riffs you will see how great he is.
Marios is a wonderful guy both as a musician and as a person.
Very very generous.
He doesnt need much and is a very giving guy.
Even though he might not have much, he is still tries to give.
In that aspect he is very special.
As a musician he is very good at conveying.
And he doesnt want to be a frontman,
he always take the backseat but his idea is to convey
and deliver for the band.
Some people want the credit but he has taught many ...
about playing guitar and songwriting.
And he never really takes the credit for it and say "Thats mine".
He doesn`t care about that stuff and in that way you realise
how great of a person he is,
compared to other people who might want to be upfront,
take credit and steal to get ahead.
He has been through a lot since he first came here,
because of the music.
I have known Gus G who is playing with Ozzy, since 1999.
He and I and Marios used to hang out,
and Gus stayed with me for a while.
He told me about Marios and how much he adored his way of playing,
and his way of looking at music,
even though in Greece, Death metal isn`t very popular,
actually it`s not popular at all.
But he stuck to his dream and has not deviated at all.
Gus G moved in with the In Flames founder and Guitarist Jesper Strömblad.
Since I myself was a roommate of Jesper at the time
I got an insight into how hard the other half of the guitar twins worked.
The guy rarely left the kitchentable,
where he tirelessly sat and practiced his guitar.
Day and night, seven days a week.
A discipline that he didnt share with many other guitar players in the city
and that would prove critical.
In 2009 he replaced Zakk Wylde as the guitar player in Ozzy Osbourne´s band.