It’s not every day you get the chance to share your gratitude with those who have provided you years of pleasure through their art.
Last week, I had the good fortune to personally thank Swedish guitar-god Yngwie Malmsteen for having added colour to my world since my early teens. Now at 40, his music still manages to excite.
The chat was in order to promote his coming tour of Australia, which will see him play The Factory Theatre in Sydney on Saturday, June 13.
Before we got down to business, I shared with the master of neoclassical rock a story from my school days.
I told him of a friend who was desperately trying to convince me that Eddie Van Halen’s famed Eruption solo was the hottest of all time. I played him Malmsteen’s Far Beyond The Sun [click the title to see a performance of the track] and he was lost for words.
Malmsteen found the anecdote amusing.
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In the pantheon of instrumental greatness Yngwie Malmsteen has certainly earned his place among the elder Gods.
A true revolutionary inspired by fellow axe-masters, Jimi Hendrix and Ritchie Blackmore, Malmsteen’s signature sound at its core has as much to do with his understanding and passion for the works of classical maestros Bach and Paganini.
He quickly outgrew the creative confines of his early bands — Steeler and Alcatrazz — and upon the 1984 release of his first solo work, Rising Force, set about blowing the minds of guitar hungry enthusiasts world over.
Such was the dazzling brilliance of his playing, infusing blistering speed with interesting arrangements and emotive melodies, previously unheard in the genre, Malmsteen and the tag virtuoso became synonymous.
Arriving at a time when great guitar players were many — his contemporaries included the likes of Steve Vai and Eddie Van Halen — Malmsteen says he never let outside forces affect his focus.
‘‘I am so determined, so completely unshakable,’’ he said. ‘‘Once I put my mind to something nothing can shake that ... there’s just no way it’s not going to happen. If I say to myself I am going to play a six string arpeggio that’s never been played on guitar before, like a four or five octave arpeggio, and I want to do something like that, it’s not something like, ‘oh yeah this is what you do to reach this level’, no because it’s never been done before.
‘‘I just said to myself, ‘I’m going to do this however I want’. A; it wasn’t being done; and secondly, there was really no pot of gold at the end of the rainbow, where once you do this you will be rich and famous. It was never like that.
‘‘I was being laughed at in Sweden you know but I never gave a s***. I said, ‘this is what I’m going to do. I have a mission and I will criticise myself so harshly’ ... someone may come around and say, ‘that was amazing’, and I will say, ‘well thank you very much, but unless I think it is amazing, it isn’t amazing’. And vice versa. Somebody might say, that’s s*** and I’ll say, ‘well this was one of the few things that I actually did and said was amazing, so go f*** yourself.’’
Malmsteen, 51, said that at each stage of his career, his intent was to follow the vision he had set himself.
‘‘I have had a lot of praise and a lot of criticism and I decided that neither one would affect my way of thinking or my way of creating or my way of going forward, and it’s not easy to do,’’ he said. ‘‘But the thing is once you put yourself out you’re going to have to get out, and unless you’re sure of what you’re doing you might get a bit wobbly ... I never did that, I just went, ‘this is what I’m going to do and I’m really happy if you like it and if you don’t well, I’m sorry’.
‘‘With some frustrations. I mean I did a couple of records that are really a radio kind of thing but at the same time, even those records it was my thing as well. I have always kept a very firm stance .. this is what I am, this is what I do and I’m not going to be swayed either way.’’
As for musical rivals, Malmsteen says the mere notion is ridiculous.
‘‘I never looked at it that way,’’ he said. ‘‘I thought it was great. Steve [Vai] is a really dear friend of mine. When I heard Eddie Van Halen I was blown away. I couldn’t believe how good he was. I was really only a little kid when he came out, and I always thought it was really great and I dug it and thought it was really cool, but I never tried to be like them. I never saw it as a sport.
‘‘I am a very competitive person, yes I am, I play tennis and I’ll make sure that I don’t lose, but art — and music is art — is different. It’s not a competition. I know that a lot of people wanted to make it that way.
‘‘I remember very clearly when I came onto the scene in the States all the papers would write, ‘Yngwie Malmsteen giving Eddie a run for his money’ and stuff like this. I never said that myself, but that was the way a lot of people were talking back then. I think it can be looked at as fun. Some people took it seriously.’’
For Malmsteen the live stage is still where he is most at home.
‘‘It’s the most natural way of playing in my opinion,’’ he said. ‘‘Whereas in the studio it’s all under the magnifying glass — and speaking of the studio, I’m in the studio recording a new album now. A lot of people over the years have tried to recreate on stage what they did in the studio. I’m the other way around. I wanna create the feel of live in the studio and it’s hard to do. The stage thing is the most natural thing because it just feels as though it’s what it’s supposed to be.’’
Malmsteen says daring to follow his instincts has been a key to creative longevity.
‘‘I’ve always been really honest with myself and what I do,’’ he said. ‘‘You only live once and I’m only here once — that I know of — and I’m not going to waste my time by doing half-arsed stuff and I’m not going to waste my time by diluting it by doing things that are safe and what you are supposed to do and so forth.
‘‘I have to do what is true art and sometimes I am not really sure exactly what that is but I follow it. It’s almost like I follow something and that comes down to the way I improvise, the way I solo, the way I write, the way I perform on stage. It’s not something that is prearranged. A lot of people seem to think that I do that and I don’t do that at all, I just let it go and I completely go with it and that of course entails a few risks. You may f*** up, or you may come up with something you’ve never heard before and that’s what I am trying to do.’’
Malmsteen said that improvising played a big part of live success, starting with the creation of the nightly set list.
‘‘Let’s say I’m playing a tour of 40 nights for instance,’’ he said. ‘‘If I’m playing everything the same for 40 nights I would kill myself. I wouldn’t be able to do that. I have to make it exciting so that every time it’s like a complete challenge ... completely new, maybe doing the same song but not the same solo and not the same intro. That to me is how I have kept on doing this.
‘‘I don’t make up the set list until the last minute. Every night is a different set list. I tell the guys to come into my room and I say, ’hey, we’re going to do this set list and everybody writes down the set list and then I go on stage and do something different.
‘‘I’m in the studio now and what I do is I sit in front of the TV or whatever and I’m playing something and go, ‘this is pretty cool’ and I’ll get excited and I’ll run up to the studio and I put it down. That’s what I find exciting, when something happens out of the blue like that. If you keep it exciting like that then it’s probably exciting for other people too.’’
As well as releasing studio and live releases and regularly touring the globe, Malmsteen has always found time to release instructional pieces for those looking for insights into his style.
He has also staged guitar clinics around the world. Obviously, he is well aware of his influence on current and future guitar players.
‘‘I think it’s good to have someone mentor — almost like a teacher but its not ... something that’s there to be inspired and look up to and work towards,’’ Malmsteen said. ‘‘I think that’s very very good, but it comes to a point where you have to — all depending on what your goals are - and I’m not just talking about guitar playing, but any form of musicianship or art — there comes a point where you have to make a choice, like, ‘do I want to be perfectly copying or reciting this or do I want to create something that people are going to want to recite later?’.
‘‘But it’s not easy to do because sometimes to get difference backfires. I just happened to be very lucky in the sense that I got wholly rooted in the Marshall stack, double bass drum, smoke machine, bombastic, noisy metal sound, but I just play it from the tonality of it where it’s not only pentatonic notes, it’s more interesting melodies and scales. That’s what I decided to do. Everybody should find their own thing.’’
Earlier this year Malmsteen was inducted into the Swedish Music Hall of Fame. He is also named in the Time Magazine list of top 10 electric guitar players of all time.
Of the coming Australian tour, Malmsteen said he was excited.
‘‘I’ve always had the best experience down there,’’ he said. ‘‘What you guys have got is something I call a good vibe all round ... before the show, during the show, after the show, at the hotel, whatever. I’ve always enjoyed the people, the food is nice, the weather is nice, everything is nice. I enjoy it very much.’’
For tickets and tour details click here.
