It’s nearly noon. My phone interview with Yngwie is supposed to happen at 1pm. One hour away, I prepare for my ritual of looking over my notes and testing my ever-reliable recorder. Plenty of time. However, there’s this guy named Murphy that has plagued me for the majority of 2003, and seems to have taken up permanent residence with me ever since. He emerges once again; the oh-so dependable recorder is not working. I frantically push buttons, replace batteries and try sticking things in it—nothing works.
One hour, and the self-proclaimed “fastest guitarist on the planet” will be calling me. This wouldn’t happen when I’m on assignment interviewing the local guy in the pub with missing teeth who wants to make me his girlfriend… Oh no. That toothless guy’s voice, “HEY BAYBEEEE!” will be resonating (in my head) and on one of my cassette tapes forever.
Frantic, I rush to the nearest Radio Shack and wind up in line behind the old lady wanting to test EVERYTHING in the place—to which she ultimately ends up buying NOTHING. Uuuugh! I finally make my purchase of $79.00, rush back home, plug the new recorder in, and it DOESN’T work. Jesus. Ten minutes to interview time.
Do I just tell Yngwie that I can’t interview him? Who would do that? I look around the room, consider holding the recorder up to the receiving end of the phone—which doesn’t really seem like a viable solution, and I ultimately end up using two phones with the recorder jimmied on top of one end with black tape. It works.
The phone rings, and my caller ID says “Yngwie Malmsteen,” which in a guilty pleasuring kind of way, makes up for all the troubles I had earlier…(‘cause it is kind of cool having Yngwie’s name on your caller ID!) Thankfully, my interview is completed without any other complications or interference from Mr. Murphy. Bastard.
KNAC.COM: I want to start from the beginning… I hear you were quite a rebel in your schoolboy years.
MALMSTEEN: [Laughs] Yeah. I mean, to be honest with you, when I grew up, Sweden was a country where it was quasi-socialists/communists. You weren’t meant to stand out. You weren’t meant to be anybody special. You were only meant to conform and do what you were told. And I couldn’t deal with that. I often reflect on that, and I say, “I wonder why I was born in Sweden?” Because I don’t look Swedish, I don’t act Swedish and I don’t like cold weather. It resulted in, well, me being a long-hair, and wearing what no one else was, and I got into a few fights in school. But it was no big deal really; I think it’s kind of a normal thing.
KNAC.COM: You began playing after hearing of Jimi Hendrix’s death, and then were later influenced by Ritchie Blackmore, but I find that your stylings are so much diverse from both of those artists.
MALMSTEEN: You see, what happened was, my older brother and older sister were extremely accomplished musicians. My Mother sang in a choir, she was a lead singer in a jazz band, classical choir and my Father, which I wasn’t really too close with, was a guitar player, my Uncle was an opera singer, my Aunt’s an opera singer… so obviously I was completely surrounded around music all the time. I was the youngest kid in the family, and I got my first guitar when I was five. I really didn’t want to have anything to do with it at the time. And then eventually, September 18, 1970, they showed Jimi Hendrix setting his guitar on fire on the news, and said that “Today rock star Jimi Hendrix died,” whatever. And of course it was sad, sad news, but the only thing as a seven-year-old kid I saw was this guy setting his guitar on fire… and I thought it was the coolest thing I’d ever seen. And so I said, “Oh, I better start playing!” So I took the guitar off the wall that I was given, and I started playing at that very moment. And my older sister is guilty of all of this. Because she would buy all the records, and I would listen to them. Everything ranging from Weather Report to Frank Zappa. Whatever she brought home. And then on my eighth birthday she gave me Deep Purple’s Fireball. And then, that was it. I knew what my life was going to be.
KNAC.COM: Well, God bless your sister!
MALMSTEEN: My sister, I love her so much. She’s responsible for all of this. And even more so, because once I learned how to play all the things that Blackmore did, and by the time I was ten years old, I could play note for note everything he did. I was a pretty crazy little kid. I would play until I fell asleep and I would wake-up and my guitar was still on me, and I would just carry on. And school, I didn’t give a fuck about that. So she brought home an album by Genesis, called Selling England by the Pound, which was the Peter Gabriel era. They had all these chord progressions, which I found very intriguing. Because Purple, Zeppelin, Sabbath and all that, were all blues based. And that’s all great, but I wanted to go somewhere else. So in listening to Genesis, I realized that my Mother had around four-hundred classical records: Bach, Beethoven, Tchaikovsky. And I started going into those chord progressions, and pedal notes and arpeggios and stuff like that.
KNAC.COM: You have a lot of classical ambiances in your style.
MALMSTEEN: Yeah. Eventually I saw another cat on TV, and that was the breaking moment for me. I was about twelve or thirteen. It was a Russian violinist called Gidon Kremer. And I said, I ain’t going to listen to the guitar players no more! I want to go there! And instead of playing violin, because I’d already gotten so good on the guitar, I applied those techniques to the guitar. Hence my style.
KNAC.COM: Do you feel like you were the original guitarist to quite literally fly up and down the neck of a guitar?
MALMSTEEN: The thing is, when you play rock guitar, and, God bless rock guitar, I love all of them, but to me it’s kind of limiting, you know? Because the pentatonic scale only has five notes, and you’re within that realm and you can’t really go much further from there. So you start doing chromatics and diminished and harmonic minors, you can go much further. If you bring in linear notes and linear patterns and arpeggios and start thinking in the base notes in thirds, and it’s quite complicated, but it is so much more intriguing to me. And it gives me much more to do that. Although I still love the blues and I still play the blues and I always will, it’s not enough.
KNAC.COM: Do you kind of feel pigeonholed sometimes though, with your signature style, where you’re perhaps not able to break-out and do any other style other than what people expect from you?
MALMSTEEN: Pigeonholed. Let’s look at it in the respect of logic. You have AC/DC, you have the Rolling Stones, BB King, Judas Priest, Aerosmith, Black Sabbath, and the list goes on and on and on. These guys all have a sound that you know right away is them. God bless them for it. If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. To me, every time I hear people say, ‘It still sounds like Yngwie,” well, you bet it does. It fuckin’ will all the time. So get used to it. [Laughs].
KNAC.COM: I know when you first became popular, people’s jaws literally dropped because of how fast you played your guitar. Do you think you’re still the fastest guitarist in the world?
MALMSTEEN: Actually, technically I’m better now than ever. I’m a tennis freak, too. I play tennis every day.
KNAC.COM: Are you as fast with a racket as you are with the guitar?
MALMSTEEN: No, I just love the game. I was lucky enough to find a piece of property that had a private tennis court. I watch the Australian Open and I’m glued to the TV. So, what I’m trying to say is that twenty years ago, when I came to the States, I was really hungry. And I just did what I knew how to do. I didn’t try to do anything that I didn’t know how to do. And that’s sort of the same thing that I’m doing now.
KNAC.COM: You just completed the G3 tour with Satriani and Vai, which is never a disappointment. You seemed to be having a great time. I saw you wandering about after the show with your drummer who seemed very friendly.
MALMSTEEN: Yeah, well he’s the type that says ‘hi’ to everybody. [Laughs]
KNAC.COM: I kind of got that impression [Laughing].
MALMSTEEN: He’s kind of new. He’s a great guy though and a great drummer. He’s never been on any big tours before. He’s from a small village in Sweden.
KNAC.COM: It was cute. I didn’t think that he had his tour “legs” yet though.
MALMSTEEN: He needs to work on it, definitely. [Laughs] I play tennis with him everyday. In fact, we’re in the studio right now recording another album. I’ve never really stopped to be honest.
KNAC.COM: I know. You’re discography is just huge. I’m kind of disappointed actually, because a lot of it was never released in the U.S.
MALMSTEEN: It was a combination of really bad management and the trends. The ‘90s were dark and the ‘80s were great. But then again, I can carry on a triple platinum in Japan every year and most everywhere outside the States. But I didn’t give up. It seems like now since I’ve been signed up with Sony/Epic, things are looking up and up. I’m very pleased. There are so many things going on though. I don’t even go on the Internet. I’m completely old-fashioned. I make my living playing a piece of wood. I refuse to drive a car unless it has a manual stick shift and I’m just like that.
KNAC.COM: Do you ever get disappointed with how fickle American’s can be?
MALMSTEEN: No, no, no. I would like to point that out right now. The United States of America, 280 million people are not all buying Britney Spears and rap albums. On the G3 tour, I realized that more than ever, that what the media portrays is only what they want to show you. It’s not people want. So, keep your freak flag high, baby! There’s someone out there who’s going to love what you do. If you start being a trend, forget about it. Longevity is the key. It’s the name of the game.
KNAC.COM: As long as you’re making a living at it, and you’re happy.
MALMSTEEN: I’m telling you, there were kids from twelve up to sixty years old at every G3 show. We played 22 thousand seats in Toronto and Montreal and in New York. This is something that’s as American as apple pie. Fender Stratocaster, well, I’m the only one playing a strat, but the Fender Stratocaster just turned fifty this year.
KNAC.COM: Do you play strictly Fender?
MALMSTEEN: When it comes down to being on stage and recording in the studio, that’s it. But I have over 200 guitars. I have Gibson’s, I have sitars, and I have acoustics, loads of things.
KNAC.COM: Did you buy your sitars from India?
MALMSTEEN: Actually, I bought them in England… and I bought one in Miami, too.
KNAC.COM: I would love to hear you play sitar. You should bring that out with you when you tour.
MALMSTEEN: I play cello, too. I play them on some albums. The Attack album, I even sing on, too.
KNAC.COM: I heard you sing on the G3 tour.
MALMSTEEN: Yeah, I do some blues stuff.
KNAC.COM: It would be cool to see you bring several instruments out on a tour to show your diversity. So are there any new guitar players out there knocking your socks off?
MALMSTEEN: Well, I’m sure there are a lot of good players out there. I first of all, don’t even have the time to check any out. I work on music all the time -- I have a studio in my house and all over the place, and when I’m not making music, I’m a movie freak. So, I don’t go out very much. But I was driving down the street the other day, and I heard this new band called Evanescence. They were really good. It was tasty. It’s been a long time since I’ve turned on the radio and heard something that I really loved.
KNAC.COM: Was it everything you expected, when you left Sweden in ‘82 to come here and play? Did you ever at a point in your career think of giving it up?
MALMSTEEN: It was never any question to give it up. Never. But I can tell you this much, I came here with one guitar and an extra pair of pants and my goal was to not have to work in McDonald’s. I didn’t have the expectation though to live the way I do, have what I have and the respect and recognition that I have.
KNAC.COM: Alcatraz had some pretty good popularity early on… Is that when you felt like you had officially made it?
MALMSTEEN: It was a good band. And no, it wasn’t then. I’ll tell you what the funniest thing is -- I came to the States and I got picked up by these guys called Steeler. And I was so different from them. I looked like a hippie. Long hair, a mustache. These guys had this black hair that was all teased up to the roof, and I’m like, “Okay, I can get used to this.” And the first show, there was thirty people. And the next show we did, I looked out the window from the Troubadour, and it was like a snake of people four blocks long. But in one show, thirty people said, “You should check out this little kid from Sweden.” And it was really bizarre, because it happened so fast. Then all of a sudden, I got these offers from Lita Ford, Ozzy… from all sorts of people. And I had decided to do it with Graham Bonnet, because I had the option to write songs. And I’d always been a songwriter.
KNAC.COM: And Graham had some pretty close ties to Blackmore, which kind of brings you back to your original influence.
MALMSTEEN: But that wasn’t the reason. Personally, I think the record Graham did with Blackmore wasn’t exactly the best record. The reason I chose to do it, was because Graham didn’t have a direction, didn’t have a sound, didn’t have any songs, so I could come in and put my ten cents worth in. And they all accepted it. So that felt good to me. With Steeler, I hardly wrote anything, other than a couple of songs maybe. I’ve been playing in bands since I was ten years old. I was really rocking Stockholm. I remember my first break actually. I’ll never forget it. It was a festival in Sweden called WoodStockholm. There were forty bands playing and I was on the bill, but there were much bigger bands playing. And the next day I went down to the 7-11, or whatever it was, and I see this picture on the front page of this paper… and I thought, this is bizarre, I know who that is -- it was me! It freaked me out. So I went into the store and bought every paper they had. The headline read:
“Rising Force, Sweden’s Deep Purple.” I was very excited about that. And that was in 1980. 1983 is when I came to the States and started rolling really good.
KNAC.COM: Do you still scallop your fretboards?
MALMSTEEN: Yeah.
KNAC.COM: Is that on all of your guitars?
MALMSTEEN: Well, all of my strats. I don’t do it to my Les Paul, or my bass.
KNAC.COM: What’s your rig of choice?
MALMSTEEN: Can there be more than one?
KNAC.COM: Rhetorical? I have a personal favorite, but I bet it’s different than yours.
MALMSTEEN: Marshall.
KNAC.COM: I was thinking of Mesa Boogie, which would be my choice.
MALMSTEEN: [Scoffs] No, no, no… I’ve been using Marshall’s since 1975. There can only be one. But I use the old ones, you know. They don’t have master volume on them. You can’t play them quiet. Eleven only.
KNAC.COM: Do you have neighbors?
MALMSTEEN: No I don’t, I actually have three and a half acres. I’m right smack in the middle of the city, but I managed to get this place.
KNAC.COM: You don’t use a lot of effects, do you?
MALMSTEEN: No, actually I don’t use anything. But I do on stage, I use delays. So I can play counterpoints. It’s like “bum, bum, bum, bum…” almost like, row, row, row your boat. But that’s the concept of it. I kind of look at electric guitar like an acoustic instrument, even though it’s not. Like a violin, you know. Instead of relying on effects, I have to do it with my hands.
KNAC.COM: Speaking of your hand, you had a nearly fatal accident back in ’87 which nearly paralyzed your hand, then you broke the same hand in ’93—do you have any trouble with it now?
MALMSTEEN: No. If anything, it’s gotten better. It’s hardened. Like metal.
KNAC.COM: Better than calluses, yes?
MALMSTEEN: Only my left hand has serious calluses.
KNAC.COM: But just from playing guitar, yes?
MALMSTEEN: [Laughing] I don’t do much other labor, so I would say yes.
KNAC.COM: Did the G3 tour help with some exposure for your band?
MALMSTEEN: Without doubt. There’s no question about it. I think I’ve kind of fallen into obscurity here in the States in the past few years. I mean, it wasn’t hurting me really bad because I was still making good progress in Europe and South America. I think it was good for me, I think it was good for my career. I think it might have even been good for them, because of the mixture of our styles really complimented each other.
KNAC.COM: Are you still playing arenas in Europe and around the world?
MALMSTEEN: Yes. The States is actually the only place where my, I guess I could say, “status” has ever been diminished. In 1992, I went to Elektra, I put one record out with them, and they paid me a shitload of money, but they didn’t do anything to promote it. And then they decided that it was no good, because everybody had a sound like Nirvana then. Subsequently, that same album went triple platinum in Japan and did very well everywhere else. It was the album Fire and Ice. So the American market for me has been kind of soft for the last ten years. But hopefully this will remedy, you know?
KNAC.COM: Obviously, there’s a market for this genre. People seem to want it. It seems like so many are dissatisfied with what it is they’re being offered.
MALMSTEEN: You can only spoon feed people for so long. Meanwhile, let’s say I go into Guitar Center. There are kids in there that want to buy guitars, and play and they want to be good. They come up to me and want a picture with me, and it’s curious to me how the media doesn’t ever portray that. It’s unfortunately true, that people who are not musicians and not involved with creating music, they will buy what they’re being told to buy. It’s that simple. It’s a combination of the media and the record companies. They decide, “Okay, today, everyone needs to sound and look like Bon Jovi, oh no, we’re done with that now, let’s have everybody wearing a dirty shirt, and dirty hair and look down at their shoes and sing about death, then everybody can kill themselves.” The Grunge thing was, I’m sorry to say, really sucking bad. All negative.
KNAC.COM: I think it’s brought about a lot of—not the funny rebelliousness like when we were kids—but depressing statistics of kids walking around really hating life, because that’s what they’re being fed as being cool. It’s okay to be suicidal. I mean, I don’t want to blame music for that at all; I would hate to do that.
MALMSTEEN: If a guy looks like he would be standing at the end of a freeway with a piece of cardboard saying, “I need food,” and he’s actually a rock star, then something is wrong with that.
KNAC.COM: I agree. I often wonder who the icons will be, such as the ones we grew-up with? There are none. When I pay for a show, I don’t want to see my next-door neighbor perform. Not to say it has to be all bells and whistles, but something that sets them aside from everyone else would be cool, be it musicianship or showmanship.
MALMSTEEN: Exactly. That’s always been my sentiment. I like to go on stage and challenge myself, run around and twirl guitars around, and come off the stage and say, “I did alright,” you know. And hope that people like what I did. I just can’t get into that Grunge thing though. The whole thing was just crap. Another thing that’s happening is that there used to be a formula. For instance, back in ’88, I wrote a song called “Heaven Tonight” and I wrote the song, not necessarily because I thought it was the greatest song, but I wrote it because I knew it would be on the radio. Nowadays, there is no such thing. Where are we? What direction are we in? None. In a way, it’s interesting and kind of cool, because it leaves a lot of doors open, but does it really? I don’t know.
KNAC.COM: I have to tell you, I’ve had a really lovely chat with you this afternoon, but I have to ask you, and please don’t take offense to it, but many people I’ve talked to have said what an arrogant asshole you are. Who’s made that up about you?
MALMSTEEN: [Dryly] I don’t know.
KNAC.COM: Have you heard this about yourself?
MALMSTEEN: Of course. I wrote a song about it called, “Bad Reputation.” Because it’s really funny, you know. I probably have been a little out of hand now and then. That was just a phase I went through. I’m a father now. I have a six-year-old kid. I never go out. I just stay in or drive my cars and play tennis. I don’t know. I think it might be a combination of being misunderstood, people being jealous and probably just a little bit of being a naughty boy once and again. Its rock and roll world, you know [Laughs].
KNAC.COM: So what happens for you now, other than recording?
MALMSTEEN: Well, I’m starting a tour again here in the States.
KNAC.COM: Supporting the Attack album?
MALMSTEEN: Yes. And it will be a different show because it will be with a singer, Doogie White.
KNAC.COM: Well, again Yngwie, it’s been enjoyable. Thanks so much for your time.
MALMSTEEN: Yeah, and we’ll see you out on the road, yes? For all the tour information you can go to www.yngwie.org.
