A bit of a confrontational interview translated from Swedish to English by me. Also the YouTube link added by me.
YNGWIE MALMSTEEN: A SMART GUY, BUT KIND OF CRAZY
There is a 60-year-old Russian taxi driver who understands Yngwie Malmsteen's music. It has given the Swedish guitar hero hope for the future and the new album "The Seventh Sign".— If only people can hear my music, I can become really big, he thinks.Kellys Bar, Stockholm, January 1993:
Yngwie Malmsteen is visiting his old homeland. We are sitting and talking about his then year-old album "Fire And Ice". It was the first foreign album to go straight to number one on the Japanese sales chart. In the rest of the world, it has sold so poorly that I wonder if there is no risk that the record company Elektra will get rid of him.— No chance, Yngwie says. I have to make at least one more album.But no. In the spring, the Swede receives the news that he has been dropped, that is, kicked out of Elektra's artist roster.Grand Hotel, Stockholm, a year later:
— And this despite the fact that the contract clearly stated that I would be allowed to make another record! Yngwie Malmsteen points out angrily as he takes a beer in the piano bar.— A contract is apparently not worth much in the music industry. But you can't get into a lawsuit against such a big company. You can't win.How did it feel, and what did you think, when you found out that the record company had fired you?— I was so damn sad, I mean. I was so angry. That they dare to do that! First they honked at me that they thought I was the best guitarist they'd ever heard, then they threw me on the garbage heap.Now you've signed for the Japanese company Pony/Canyon?— The best company over there. I won't say the amount, but I got a bigger advance from Pony/Canyon than I did from Elektra Worldwide.How are you going to get the new album "The Seventh Sign" released in the rest of the world?— A lot of labels are interested: BMG, Atlantic… I know nothing, I don’t understand anything. I’m a musician, not a businessman.Do you see it as a failure to only have a record deal in Japan?— I’m disappointed. I’m disappointed… But I’m also a realist. Bands that have sold a lot more than me can’t get a record deal these days. Did you know? Warrant, Slaughter… Skid Row are being dropped. Just because some artsy-fartsy asshole decided to do some fucking neo-punk. Just like in 1977.You’re referring to all the alternative, trendy rock like industrial and grunge. Aren’t there any bands like that that you like?— No. God, I’m at a loss for words, I’M AT A LOSS OF WORDS… That so-called “music” is completely incompetent, completely… WRONG! The songs are lousy, but that’s a matter of taste. But they can’t FUCKING PLAY! That’s a scandal, then. I don't mean that everyone should be classically trained and play superbly, but at least tune the instruments and don't sing out of tune! The current music trend is SCARY!Last time you had an all-Swedish band. Only keyboardist Mats Olausson is left. What happened?— I fired Göran Edman, the singer. He wasn't good enough on stage. Nervous, didn't seem to want to be on stage. Svante Henryson, the bassist, was fired for about the same reason. Drummer Ulf Sundberg was also fired. Mats Olausson was the only one who always played perfectly and was professional.You've replaced the Swedes with Americans?— Yes. You'll love the new singer Mike Vescera! His roots are Styx, Kansas, Queen — all cool, pompous bands. He has a good rock voice, a bit in the Dio direction. A singer wasn't easy to find. I tried everything! Had Jeff Scott Soto back in the band, Joe Lynn Turner back in the band… Talked to Ian Gillan, Dio… Finally I got a tip from Mike Varney (the guitar mogul who discovered Yngwie) which led me to Mike Vescera. Varney helped me find drummer Michael Terrana too. He has previously played with Tony McAlpine. And Bone Nasty, haha! I’m not too proud of that. I played bass guitar myself on the record. On tour it might be a guy named Barry Sparks.You started recording with Jeff Glixman as producer?— He got fired. He got in the way. He’s gotten worse. I’ll probably never have a producer again.There have been two songs about you recently. Glenn Hughes urges you on his new single “Pickin’ Up The Pieces” to pick up the pieces and build a decent life. Hughes also says that your management asked him to take the rehabilitation doctor who helped him get clean from drugs and “make you healthy”, as Hughes says.— (Short silence) Huh! That sounds interesting. He probably got the wrong image of me, the mass media one. He doesn’t know me. Baroque! Besides, I’m fine and happily in love.Then your former singer Göran Edman wrote the song “Vodka And Ice” (a drink Yngwie is fond of /ed. note) about you and sang it on Glory’s latest album “Positive Buoyant”. It’s not a nice image of you he paints: a blabbering idiot who only fights, raves and destroys…— Yes, you can see that. Everyone gets a certain image of me. Some don’t know me.But does Göran Edman?— No, I don’t think so. They don’t KNOW me. There was always a certain friction between us. There are a lot of people who know me, but who don’t understand me.Why would you be so difficult to understand?— I am of a complex nature, as well.
The front cover of Metal Zone #2, 1994 You are an incredibly complex person. You have two contradictory sides: a sophisticated one that plays virtuoso solos influenced by the classical masters, and a side that reveals, raves and kicks things…— Are you saying that I am schizophrenic? I don't know… It depends on how I feel at the moment. If we are going to talk about being schizophrenic, Göran Edman is. He can be kind and withdrawn one moment, and the next he is eating cat food, chewing on fluorescent lights and hitting himself in the head with bottles. Then I am much more controlled.You have said that you are very irritated that the Swedish mass media only writes about your scandals and not your music. Does that mean that you are going to say no to certain newspapers that want to interview you?— No, because I don't give a damn about what they write.You don't, have you reacted?— But I don't give a damn INSIDE of me. Being portrayed like that tarnishes my honor and pride. But I don't lose sleep over it.Is there anything in the scandalous writings that you like?— Nah.Because you like all the other parts of the rock myth: fast cars, lots of money, fancy clothes, smashing guitars, trashing hotel rooms — why wouldn't you like the scandalous image of yourself?— Haha!If you're honest, don't you think it's a bit cool anyway?— (Silence) Well, I don't think so. I don't think so. Haha! It sounds funny when you put it in context. But I don't think so. Haha! I just want people to like my music. I want them to react "wow, that long-haired bastard can really compose and play". On this album I have a song called "Brothers" which is about my dead brother Björn. I played it in a taxi. The driver was a 60-year-old Russian who asked: “Who is crying?” No one was crying, it was my guitar. This makes me convinced that music that comes from a passionate heart cannot miss its target. Only people get to hear it. But I never got the chance. Not like many other artists who have become great. That's how it is
