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

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