GUITARIST YNGWIE MALMSTEEN DISCUSSES THE “GUITAR GODS” TOUR AND HIS AUTOBIOGRAPHY

yngwie400 Ruben Mosqueda of the Orgeon Music News spoke with guitarist Yngwie Malmsteen. Portions of the interview appear below.

OMN: Yngwie, you have The Guitar Godstour coming up. Was this idea conceived by you, or was this something that was pitched to you?

YM: My wife, April Malmsteen, who, as you know, is also my manager — it was her idea, the whole thing, to put together this guitar festival. I thought it was a great idea. So we got on the phone and called up a few friends. I think you’re going to love this tour.

OMN: Is that literally what you did — you phoned guitarist friends that you felt would fit the bill?

YM: Well, we put the word out, and we auditioned a lot of people. We had a number of people who wanted to be on the bill; we auditioned them and picked who we felt were the best ones for this tour. Uli (Jon Roth) is a very good friend; we asked him if he was interested. He said yes, and that was that. It’s going to be a great mix. We have two opening acts; it’s going to be a nice guitar fest.

OMN: Sounds like it’s a tour that could give G3 a run for it’s money.

YM: I guess you can look at it that way, but I’d say that this tour is more diverse. There were a lot of guitarists who were influenced by me that auditioned, and I didn’t want that; I wanted this tour to be diverse.

OMN: Yngwie, I know that often times your confidence and your desire to see your vision through might be viewed as arrogance. I think that those who haven’t spoken to you or met you would greatly benefit from reading Relentless, because they’ll realize that you’re a regular guy.

YM: Yeah, since I was very young I was always extremely serious about I was doing. I have one shot at this, and I have to do it myself. I’m like a painter or like Classical composer because a composer wouldn’t have someone else write the cello parts of a piece of music — they’d write it themselves. Now, that might come off as arrogance, but when I put my name on something, it has to be my work. Like it or hate it, it’s my vision and my creation. I don’t work in the traditional way, how most rock ‘n’ roll bands or musicians work. I like to see myself as similar to a painter. I think that comes through in the book, because like you said, most in the past would view it as arrogance.

Read more at the Oregon Music News.

source: oregonmusicnews.com

8 Responses

  1. I heard he sleeps hanging upside down in the closet. First thing in the am, he drinks the blood of a possessed Yak. His guitar tech is also a practicing Wizard. His castle has a moat, and a Warlock butler. He also likes to watch Antiques Roadshow.

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