Interview: Yngwie Malmsteen

In the annals of guitar shredding, none come more self-assured and mercurial than Yngwie Malmsteen. Born Lars Johan Yngve Lannerbäck, the Swedish axe whiz came of age in the mid-‘80s with a neo-classical flair on the heels of Eddie Van Halen and Randy Rhoads when the mainstreaming of hard rock and heavy metal kicked the door open for a new generation of guitar gods.

Four-plus decades after flying out to California following an invitation from Shrapnel Records founder Mike Varney, who wooed the 20-something musician after hearing the latter’s 1978 demo “Powerhouse,” Malmsteen is in fine fettle about hitting the road to promote his 22nd and most recent project, 2021’s “Parabellum.” Malmsteen, a notorious profane perfectionist prone to launching f-bombs, is raring to hit the stage.

“I’ve always been very particular,” he said in an interview. “You can call me a control freak if you want, but I want everything exactly a certain way. I want all the circumstances around [my live performance] exactly with no surprises and the only surprises should come from me. It’s up to me to make it into a different experience. But I don’t want the [f******] lighting guy to do [stuff] that’s not meant to be. I don’t want any of that. No, no, no. Its right down to the Marshalls have to be this way and the smoke machine needs to be pointed that way. I’m very particular about that.”

On “Parabellum,” fret-heads have plenty to soak up when it comes to fleet-fingered riffing, with only four of the 10 songs containing vocals, of which the most notable are “Relentless Fury,” with its heavy groove and dollop of melodicism and “Eternal Bliss,” a soaring power ballad that sounds like the Scorpions on steroids. As for the instrumentals, Malmsteen’s pyrotechnics are on full display be it on “(Si Vis Pacem) Parabellum,” with its combination of symphonic nuances and a Latin title that translates to “…if you want peace prepare for war,” or “God Particle,” an exercise in Baroque might that taps into the wellspring of Malmsteen’s classical music influences. And while there are those who might decry his excess, the 60-year-old axe wielder isn’t losing any sleep over his haters even while he insists his creative heavy-handedness is not just about satisfying himself, but sating those who choose to take these wild musical rides with him.

“It’s about the self-esteem and self-respect,” he explained. “I know why I’m here. I have a purpose. I don’t want to let anybody down because the audience gives me so much back. I don’t like clubs and I don’t like arenas. I like theaters because of the size. It’s intimate and they have the best sound and best stages. When I get that, I automatically get more inspired. I can’t think of another word, but when all the ingredients are there, it’s a magical thing.”

Coming from a family of musicians that ranged from siblings that played violin and flute, to a jazz-singing mother and other opera vocalist relatives, Malmsteen’s musical origins were shaped early on. Other external influences ranged from Swedish folk songs and the jazz and classical music he heard around the house to the Monkees and having Deep Purple’s “Fireball” album slipped to him when he was only eight. Seeing a news broadcast about Jimi Hendrix’s death that included the latter’s performance at the Monterey Pop Festival was less about the direct sonic influence and more about the spectacle that captured the young Malmsteen’s imagination and inspired him to pick up a guitar when he was seven.

Given unlimited access as a tween to a recording studio built in a bomb shelter by an uncle who was a higher up at Philips and was part of the team that helped invent the compact disc, Malmsteen spent hundreds of hours recording demos while working with myriad local drummers and bass players. The “Powerhouse” demo not only got Malmsteen to the states, but found him quickly being pursued for his skills by a number of musical factions ranging from vocalist Phil Mogg looking to resurrect UFO, to singer Graham Bonnet, who was looking to kick start his first post-Rainbow project.

And while Malmsteen had a brief one-album stint with vocalist Ron Keel in Steeler that lasted all of four months and nine shows, the Swedish virtuoso accepted Bonnet’s invite to join Alcatrazz. Creative temperaments being what they were, Malmsteen parted ways mid-tour with Bonnet following 1983’s well-received “No Parole From Rock ‘n’ Roll” and touring stints opening for Ted Nugent and Heart.

“I think they started to get a little pissed off at me,” Malmsteen recalled. “I didn’t mean to, but I was just doing what I was doing, but they felt like I was stealing the show. One day we were playing in Tulsa, OK, and Graham Bonnet decided to pull the cable out of my amp while I was doing my solo. I got pissed off at that. I didn’t have a tech because I knocked his teeth out by accident the day before when I threw the guitar to him in the dark and he got it right in the mouth. Because I didn’t have a tech. I figured it was the speaker, so I went over and put the cable in. And then I saw Graham starting ‘Since You’ve Been Gone.’ It’s his time to shine and he decides to pull my cable out again for his song. On stage, he tried to poke me in the stomach with his mic stand so I punched him out. It was bad. It was horrible.”

And while he has regrets with how that particular ugly incident went down, Malmsteen has no remorse for the solo path he’s chosen, particularly as someone who admits to being more interested in following his muse than anything else. (“The whole Paul McCartney, Keith Richards, Mick Jagger thing—I love all those guys, but I never had that [inclination to collaborate]. I heard it in my head and it was done.”) And while his critics may cringe at Malmsteen’s self-pronouncements of greatness, he insists it’s more about staying true to thine own self.

“It’s not an egotistical thing--it’s actually that people who are chosen to be creating things are giving a gift to other people,” he said. “I think Niccolò Paganini said, ‘One must feel strongly to make others feel strongly.’ In other words, if you fake it, it’s not going to work. It might work once. If you want to do this for 40 years, you’ve got to be the real deal. And if you’re going to be the real deal, you’re going to get criticized and scrutinized. People are going to say this and people are going to say that. When they say these things, negative or positive, it should be taken with a grain of salt. Just aim at what you have to do.”