My ‘97 interview w/ Yngwie Malmsteen

This is an interview I conducted with one of my all-time heroes, Yngwie Malmsteen back on Dec. 9th 1997.  I think it’s an understatment to say I was nervous.  I’ve never been so starstruck in my life.  I was horrified of asking the wrong questions and anything else.  The only comparsion I can make is the Chris Farley and Paul McCartney interview on Saturday Night Live.  I didn’t ask him if Paul was dead though .

Throughout the years, this interview has been a source of pride and joy and one of my greatest treasures.  It was never published so I think it’s great to finally give this interview its due.

Jerred: I really like the direction of your new album.  It seems heavier and more experimental.

Yngwie: You think?  It’s so funny.  Every time, some people say it’s happier and some people say it sounds heavier.  It doesn’t matter.  Whatever impression you get, that’s cool with me.

J: Did you use a detuning on “Braveheart”?

Y: Not on the guitar, but on the bass I do.

J: So that’s how you get the heavier sound.

Y: Yeah.

J: Also with “Enemy”, you’re using an odd-time signature.

Y: Seven-four.

J: I think the only other time you’ve used that was on “In the Dead of Night” on Inspiration.

Y: Yeah.

J: Facing the Animal is a really great album.

Y: Thank you very much.

J: For “Facing the Animal”, Mats sings great.  He makes the song great.  It seems like you always manage to find the perfect singer for each album.

Y: Well, almost always.  There have been some mishaps.

J: Is it ever hard for you to find the right singer?

Y: Yeah, it’s not always easy because the type of singer I like is not always around.  A friend of mine, I’ve known him for twenty years, his name is Leif Edling.  He’s in Candlemass and his following band, Abstract Algebra.  He sent me a CD of that and I really liked it.  I thought it was great so I called him up and asked him what’s up with the singer and that’s how I met Mats.

J: I haven’t really heard their material.

Y: It’s very heavy.  He sings differently on that album than he does on mine.

J: He seems to sing differently for each song.  He doesn’t have a one-dimensional voice.  He seems to have a versatile voice.

Y: Yes, he sure does (proudly).

J: He sings the right way, for whatever the song calls for.

Y: Exactly, which is a little bit different direction from me. (Both laugh)

J: For the song, “Sacrifice”, is it autobiographical in the sense that you’re responding to the criticism about your style of music over the years?

Y: It has a little to to with that.  I’ve written quite a few songs that sort of reflect a little bit about how I feel about the industry, per se, but it doesn’t always have to be like that.  Every lyric doesn’t have to have a really deep meaning to it.  It could just be an angry song.  It doesn’t have to mean anything specific.

J: It was just an emotion that you wanted to get out which you felt at the moment you wrote the song?

Y: Yeah.

J: For “Resurrection,” there’s a lyric that says, “Tomorrow’s here awaiting my resurrection.”  Is this a prediction that the (US) market will sooner or later respond to you more in your favor?

Y: That song is more on a personal level.

J: Personal?

Y: Yeah, because I sort of just came out of a…not so good life and now I have an absolutely wonderful life.

J: That’s interesting.

Y: It’s not so much to do with what’s going to happen.  It’s what’s already happened.

J: So it’s like the change from living in Sweden to…

Y: No, much more recent than that. (laughs)

J: In “Another Time”, one of the lyrics says, “Another time, another place where I don’t care no more, I’m the one…”

Y: That lyric is more less all Mats’.  You’d have to ask him what he meant with that.  (On) some of the songs, he wrote ninety percent of the lyrics.

J: Really?

Y: Yeah, I come up with the titles and sometimes I’m lazy and if he comes up with something good, we use it.

J: Is “Like an Angel” about a new love in your life?

Y: Absolutely.

J: Recently, in the Fan Club Letter, it said the song’s about April Solmaz.

Y: Yes.  (In the background, Yngwie tells April to say, “hi.”)

A: Hi.

Y: She’s right here.

J: (Astonished) Oh, she’s right there! Hi! How (are) you doing?

Y: We’re on the speakerphone.  That’s my baby (proudly and enthusiastically).

J: All right! Congratulations.

Y: Thank you.

J: You said Mats wrote ninety percent of the lyrics?

Y: No. Not on all the songs.  Only on that one song (Another Time). (Laughs) On “Like an Angel, ” I wrote everything.  I wrote “Resurrection”…Do you have “Casting Pearls before the Swine?”

J: I only have the tape and it doesn’t have any of the credits.

Y: Well, as far as the lyrics on the whole album, I wrote, I’d say seventy-five percent.  But (Mats Leven) is a very good lyricist.  He wrote most of the lyrics for “Facing the Animal” which I think was really good.

J: “Heathens from the North”, is that about the Vikings?

Y: Yes, that’s about the Vikings and those are my lyrics too. (Both laugh)

J: In “Only the Strong, ” you might think this is funny, but the intro sort of reminded me of the intro to Steeler’s Abduction.” Was that intentional or coincidental?

Y: Definitely coincidental.

J: It kind of sounds similar to the way you set it up and the sound effects.  That song also features a rarely heard side of you, the more bluesy side.  I wanted to compliment you on how you approach the blues.  It’s really minimalist.  It comes across really good.

Y: Thank you.

J: I just wanted to know how you felt about that song.

Y: You know, until I put those little blues things on there, I wasn’t too crazy about the song.

J: Really?

Y: But with those little blues things in there, it’s good. (Both laugh) I wasn’t too keen on it until that.  One night, I was just, “Uhhh, we got to do something right here and I just basically told Chris (Tsangarides, producer) to just run the tape and I threw some of the bits down.

J: In the last Fan Club letter, you mention a song called “Free from Sin.” Did that get scrapped at the last minute?

Y: That was the working title to “Braveheart.”

J: How did you land on Mercury (Records)?

Y: Well, basically the album was recorded and then my manager Jim (Lewis) went to a lot of different labels and what we really wanted to do, honestly, really wanted to do, was to basically come back to Polygram.  That was the ultimate.  That would be the most wonderful thing that could possibly happen and we tried that and it wasn’t for sure.  It took a long time for everybody to make a decision and finally, it was decided and I’m so happy.  It’s a wonderful feeling to know that you’re in with the big boys again.

J: Do you feel like you’re returning home?

Y: Yeah, it does in a way, but it also feels like a bright future or something.  It’s like, “Wow!” There’s going to be a real shot now instead of doing all this Mickey Mouse label…

J: After you left Polygram, did that cause a lot of stress for you not knowing who was…

Y: Both yes and no.  I tried to not be too worried about it because I got to concentrate on the music first.  You got to remember something.  That, right there, in the beginning of the nineties, that’s when everybody got axed.  Everybody.  The fact that I managed to keep on making records is good, but what is even more fantastic, not even real, is that I managed to get back on a big label again.  Not just any label either…Mercury, which is great.  I’m very very happy about that.

J: Do you feel now that you’re with Mercury that your music in the United States will be promoted a lot better than your past?

Y: Absolutely.  It couldn’t be done any worse.

J: (laughs)

Y: That’s what I’m doing right now.  I’ve been doing interviews all day so some things are actually being done.

J: How do you feel about doing interviews? Do you get tired of it?  Do you like them?

Y: Well, it’s always interesting to talk to different people.  You always get a different insight to what different people think and that’s interesting.  It could get a little tiresome sometimes because of the hours, but the interviews themselves are cool.

J: One thing I’ve noticed about the music scene these days is that it seems like the solo is a lost art and I was wondering what your opinion on that is.  It just seems like the music played in the mainstream is totally devoid of solos or if there are solos they’re really…

Y: Bad.

J: Exactly. (Both laugh)

Y: Well, what can I say?  It’s just the way it is.  I’ve never followed trends and I never will.  I will hold my flag high.

J: So your opinion is that it’s just a phase?

Y: Well, I believe that real music and honest music is going to always maintain.  I really truly believe that and I’m going to be one of the people that will maintain that definitely.

J: I was wondering, why is your studio called 308?

Y: Because one of my Ferraries is a 308, Ferrari 308 GTS.  That’ my little toy (proudly).

J: Eddie Van Halen calls his studio 5150 and I thought maybe it had something to with some special…

Y: (nonchalantly) No, no, no.  It’s a number of a model of a Ferrari.

J: That’s cool. (Both laugh) Years ago in Guitar Player Magazine, you said you wanted to make a musical statement for everybody and I was wondering, do you feel you’ve accomplished this?

Y: (reflecting momentarily) You can’t make everybody happy.  I certainly feel like I’ve accomplished more than I set out to about fourteen or fifteen years ago when I came to America with one guitar and an extra pair of pants.  So yeah, I cannot complain.

J: In Japan, you’re almost considered a god, like a mortal god.  You probably can’t walk down the street without being mobbed.

Y: Actually, I can because, first of all, they’re really polite there.  They don’t bother you…Well, actually, I don’t remember if I can or not because I haven’t really had the opportunity to walk down the street for a long time now.  I was just there, but I didn’t walk down the street.

J:  In the United States, can you live a normal life?  Can you go out and not be recognized or you are you recognized when you go out?

Y: Yeah, I get recognized quite a lot actually.  It’s funny.  If they don’t think I’m Howard Stern, they think I’m Yngwie Malmsteen.

J: (laughs) Howard Stern?

Y: I don’t understand why they do that, but almost everyday, I keep on hearing that.

J: (laughs)

Y: One time, an old lady standing in line at the bank said, “Are you Elton John?”

J: (incredulously) Elton John?

Y: And I said, “No, I’m not.” And another time, a little kid, a ten-year old, came up to me (and said), “Oh, you’re the guitar player in Metallica”, and I go, “No.”

J: (laughs)

Y: People always think I’m somebody because I have long hair.  I just laugh at it.

J: Speaking of Metallica, in an interview with Guitar World with Joe Lalaina, it was interesting when you heard the Metallica song, “Master of Puppets”.  You said, “I feel some sort of connection with them.  I think the band heard some of my early demos which sounded something like this.  I’m not saying I influenced them, but maybe I did.” I was wondering if you could elaborate on that.

Y: Well, I can’t take credit for that, of course.  What is actually a fact, a true fact, is that there was an underground in the San Francisco Bay Area.  There was an underground.  I don’t know what they call it really.  A bunch of people had my demo from Sweden.  I have no idea how they got there and they’re now out on CD.  You can buy them on CD as bootlegs.  The only stuff I did in the late seventies/early eighties was extremely heavy stuff.  It was thrash and death metal before that even existed.  It was so heavy.  Old lyrics were like (sings Death Metal-style).  I guess it’s something you do when you’re like sixteen years old.  That’s what you do.  You think it’s so cool.  I don’t know for a fact of course, but I’m sure I have something to do with the development of that.  I was actually hanging out with the boys in Metallica one  time when I was in the band, Alcatrazz, and because I’d do the photo session on Alcatraz (island), I went to their house and we were hanging out and drinking a lot and everything and they just finished their Kill’em All album and I was on my third album so I guess I got a little head start, but they definitely took over for me (small laugh).  I mean with the success they’ve had.  God bless them.  I really like that band.  I really do.

J: So you said they have bootlegs of your early demos, but I was wondering…

Y: You want one (right)? (laughs)

J: Yeah.

Y: You want to know how to get it?

J: I’m dying to hear this stuff.

Y: It’s seriously heavy.  There’s different ones.  I’ve seen one on college radio in San Francisco, college radio nine, eighty-one.  They played my stuff on the radio long before I came to America.  I have tapes and recordings of that.  There’s one called the Swedish Devil and it has almost everything on there.  I don’t remember what they were all called.  There are  a number of different ones.  Then, of course, is all the live takes from everything.

J: From Steeler?

Y: Everywhere.  Alcatrazz, my band.  Yeah, go ahead and give them money I should have.

J: (laughs) Well, actually you’re the one that deserves the money.

Y: Yeah (relaxed and matter-of factly).

J: You’re the one that made it.  You deserve the money.

Y: Show me the cabbage!

J: (laughs) Is there anything new you like that you’re listening to now or are there any new musicians that you’ve discovered that you actually like?

Y: Um. (pause) No.

J: (laughs) I always find it interesting when you comment on different players because I find there is a lot of truth in what you say about other players’ styles.  One guitarist that is really technical, but I’ve never heard you comment about is Eric Johnson.

Y: (earnestly and enthusiastically) He’s great.  He’s really really good.  He’s superb.  He’s one of those great ones.

J: What do you think about Carlos Santana?

Y: You know, I’ve never really heard him.  I’ve heard one song (Starts singing) Black Magic Woman.

J: (laughs)

Y: That’s the only other song I’ve heard of him.

J: You know when Mike Varney (founder of Shrapnel Records) was putting out a lot of similar players to your style in the mid-eighties.  Do you feel there was any player that was actually good that wasn’t just a clone of your style or do you feel none of them stood out?

Y: Well, I didn’t hear all of them.  I have to say that the ones I heard were pretty blatant copies.

J: Are there any particular examples?

Y: I don’t even remember the names there were so many out.

J: Are you familair with Richie Kotzen’s music?

Y: No, I’m not .  I see his pictures in the Japanese magazines.  I’ve never heard his music.

J: In the late eighties, you disbanded Rising Force and you started your own band called Yngwie Malmsteen.

Y: No.  That has nothing to do with it.

J: Really?

Y: No, nothing at all.  The band I had before I came to America was called Rising Force with different members.  I had every bass player and every drummer in Stockholm in my band at one point and I just ran out of members so I figured maybe it would be better for me to solo and leave.  I joined the band Steeler which was a very average/below average band.  Anyway, I figured I got to do an album and I got to play around and the labels were a very happening place at the time so I got a lot of offers from everybody and I decided to do a band with Graham Bonnet because he was vey goofy and I realized I could really take over the show completely and I did.

J: (laughs)

Y: Yeah, that was my band, let’s face it.  It wasn’t really.  Officially, it was Graham Bonnet’s band, but I totally took over the show and then, of course, I left because they didn’t like it at all.

J: They didn’t like how…

Y: They didn’t fire me or anything, but (there) became a little tension because they were a lot older than me.  They figured, “We had the hits with New England and we had “Since You’ve Been Gone” and everything,” and I said, “Well, that was then and this is now.” It doesn’t really matter.  That’a a long story, a long time ago.  What happened then was when I was still in Alcatrazz, I got an offer from Polydor K.K. in Japan to do a rock solo album and since I had a solo album I was going to make, I was going to call it Yngwie J. Malmsteen’s Rising Force as a a little rejuvenation of what I had previously and most of those songs were actually from demos that I wrote in Sweden before I left for America like “Black Star” and all those songs.  Then I left Alcatrazz so I figured I’ll form a band and call it Yngwie J. Malmsteen’s Rising Force, but it really was not necessarily a band, you know?

J: Oh, it was just a title attached?

Y: Yeah, for instance, Rising Force and Marching Out, that was Yngwie J. Malmsteen’s Rising Force and Trilogy was only Yngwie Malmsteen, same members, okay?  And then for Odyssey, all of a sudden it was Yngwie J. Malmsteen’s Rising Force again because of certain egos involved, but that’s all right.  To me, it’s all right.  You can call it Joe Stump if you want.

J: In one of the Fan club letters, you revealed a trade secret on how you keep your Strats in tune.  You said, “The amount of wrappings for each key is crucial.  I cut the low E exactly two keys over it, the A two keys over that, and so on.”  I was wondering if you could elaborate on this and clarify what you meant.

Y: Well, unfortunately, that’s not the only thing that needs to be done.  You have to learn your instrument.  You got to learn exactly how it works.  What happens if I do this?  What happens if I do that?  So forth and so on.  It’s pretty much not something that can be taught.  You got to sort of just learn that from trial and error to be honest with you.  I bet you to not put too much wire on the tuning key is a good start.  But that’s not all.

J: I have a Strat too and it just goes out of tune all the time and you have a free-floating bridge and I think it’s just amazing how you keep it in tune.

Y: Is yours a Fender?

J: Yeah, I have a Fender Strat.  It’s not scalloped like yours.

Y: What model is it?

J: It’s a Sunburst.  It’s a pretty recent model.

Y: Does it have two bolts or six bolts on the tremelo?

J: It has six.

Y: Okay, well then you shouldn’t have a problem.  The one with two bolts is actually not as good.

J: I had to bring this up.  I’m a big fan of the Jerky Boys and you always thank them in your liner notes.

Y: (laughs and assumes Frank Rizzo voice) Yeah, put your fuckin’ bullsh…

J: I was wondering, who’s your favorite Jerky Boy character?

Y: Frank Rizzo probably.

J: Frank Rizzo, all right!

Y: (Assumes Frank Rizzo voice) You jackass!

J: (laughs) That’s cool.  That’s great.  Thanks a lot!

Y: I thank you man and keep on rockin’.