Never the retiring type, either on, or off stage, Yngwie Malmsteen talks like he plays guitar. When he speaks, it's an unbridled barrage, and much like his dizzyingly edge of the rails soloing, it all comes in quick succession, and can go off at a tangent at any minute. To say he's a one-off, would be something of an understatement; "I was completely in my own world", he says as we sit down for a chat over Zoom; "Everything was from within, all the time. I would sit and play, and something came from, call it whatever you want, God, or whatever that felt like a gift". We joined the Swede to talk about his 40 years a solo artist, and his new album 'Tokyo Live'. Relentless; Eamon O'Neill.
Photo: Warren Blair for eonmusic.
Hi Yngwie, how are you doing and what have you been up to today?
I'm doing superbly well, thank you. Yeah, a lot of interviews. Okay, it's modern technology [Zoom]. I always say as my excuse to these things, I'm not awesome at; I make my living playing a piece of wood; what do you expect?!
You've been busy talking up your new album, 'Tokyo Live'.
I did the 'Parabellum' album [2021], and I started touring on that, and I toured and toured, and then somebody said; "you know, it's 40 years since you started your solo career; let's call it the 40th anniversary tour". So we kept on touring, and then we come to Japan, and the Japanese promotors go; "hey, let's film the show", so it was very apropos, the whole thing. After that show was filmed, I kept on touring, and I haven't stopped yet. So basically, I got the footage and the audio, and I said; "this is great. I'm going to release it to the rest of the world". So I've been doing a lot of interviews on this thing. It's really funny because I was playing amazing shows in Bulgaria and Istanbul and Sweden and everywhere, the whole world, you know, Milan, and it was really awesome, and it could have been filmed anywhere. It's a funny thing, because 40 years ago, in January 1984, I was on tour in Japan with another band [Alcatrazz], and they said; "oh, you must have solo record!", so I signed my first solo deal in January 1984 in Japan, so it was full circle, so to speak. It wasn't really planned that way.
You've touched on some great points, and there's a lot of stuff to talk about. I mean, first off, I caught a show on that tour at the end of 2023, and you were on fire that night.
Thank you. In order for me to do this, it has to be exciting, and in order for it to be exciting, I have to take risks. I take risks by not playing the same set, and by not playing the same solos. Basically, I have skeleton arrangements of songs that constantly change, by the way - this song list - and I take the risk of doing something really cool, or something really kind of shitty. I mean, if you don't take the risk, there's no danger in there. I guess that's why I'm still doing this, and all of a sudden, somebody's telling me It's been 40 years! What the fuck happened? But I feel like I'm still starting out, I don't feel like some old veteran or something.
You certainly don't act like one, because that show was a very physical performance, and you were firing guitar picks at the crowd like bullets!
Yeah, the thing is, it started out being out of necessity, right? When you play on the low strings, you will get little nicks in the pick, so when you want to do like, a two, three, four, five, or six-string arpeggio, there could be some sort of friction there. So I like to have completely new picks, and when I play those things, I just throw them out. Those picks I'm using are Jim Dunlop picks. They come from the store. They came in purple, but I told them years ago; "I want you to make them white for me so people can see them", so I made it out of necessity, and I made it into a part of the show too. I don't like when they're having nicks, so why not just throw it out, or I'll kick it out, whatever. So it's not just being stupid, you know? I mean, it is kind of like a gimmick, I guess, but it's because I need to have a new pick when I play the fast stuff.
How many picks do you order at the start of a tour?
Oh, they're coming in a bag of like, 8,000, 9,000. Dunlop, it's one of the greatest companies. I work with them on a lot of things. They actually make my MXR pedal, they make my straps, they make my strap locks, and they make my wah pedals, and so they're just awesome company to deal with. I call them up - well, we have the contractor - and say; "listen, there's a new tour coming up", and they know what to do.
The first track that you released from the album is 'Top Down, Foot Down', which you're quoted as saying it's "C sharp minor arpeggios in to A, and a fluid C sharp minor melody"; is there something you like about playing in that key?
I love that key. It sounds really nice, and it's exactly one octave to the highest fret on the Stratocaster. So it's like Paganini will play a really high stuff; it's like the highest thing you can do on the Strat, basically. It's easy, and, by the way, just to make it clear to everybody that will say; "well, it's actually not C sharp, it's C major"; NO, because concert pitch, until Richard Wagner, in the late 1800s was not a440; it was actually middle C was actually a B.
I think you'd need to have some balls on you to challenge Yngwie Malmsteen about guitar.
I mean, like, if somebody says; "well, you know, you said C sharp minor, you played; it's actually a C minor". No, it isn't. It is in modern classical concert pitch, but the classical concert pitch that all the great players used. Richard Wagner, wanted to tune up half a step because it made everything louder. With the strings on the violin a little tighter, it made it louder. He wanted everything loud, and that's why that happened.
I'm doing superbly well, thank you. Yeah, a lot of interviews. Okay, it's modern technology [Zoom]. I always say as my excuse to these things, I'm not awesome at; I make my living playing a piece of wood; what do you expect?!
You've been busy talking up your new album, 'Tokyo Live'.
I did the 'Parabellum' album [2021], and I started touring on that, and I toured and toured, and then somebody said; "you know, it's 40 years since you started your solo career; let's call it the 40th anniversary tour". So we kept on touring, and then we come to Japan, and the Japanese promotors go; "hey, let's film the show", so it was very apropos, the whole thing. After that show was filmed, I kept on touring, and I haven't stopped yet. So basically, I got the footage and the audio, and I said; "this is great. I'm going to release it to the rest of the world". So I've been doing a lot of interviews on this thing. It's really funny because I was playing amazing shows in Bulgaria and Istanbul and Sweden and everywhere, the whole world, you know, Milan, and it was really awesome, and it could have been filmed anywhere. It's a funny thing, because 40 years ago, in January 1984, I was on tour in Japan with another band [Alcatrazz], and they said; "oh, you must have solo record!", so I signed my first solo deal in January 1984 in Japan, so it was full circle, so to speak. It wasn't really planned that way.
You've touched on some great points, and there's a lot of stuff to talk about. I mean, first off, I caught a show on that tour at the end of 2023, and you were on fire that night.
Thank you. In order for me to do this, it has to be exciting, and in order for it to be exciting, I have to take risks. I take risks by not playing the same set, and by not playing the same solos. Basically, I have skeleton arrangements of songs that constantly change, by the way - this song list - and I take the risk of doing something really cool, or something really kind of shitty. I mean, if you don't take the risk, there's no danger in there. I guess that's why I'm still doing this, and all of a sudden, somebody's telling me It's been 40 years! What the fuck happened? But I feel like I'm still starting out, I don't feel like some old veteran or something.
You certainly don't act like one, because that show was a very physical performance, and you were firing guitar picks at the crowd like bullets!
Yeah, the thing is, it started out being out of necessity, right? When you play on the low strings, you will get little nicks in the pick, so when you want to do like, a two, three, four, five, or six-string arpeggio, there could be some sort of friction there. So I like to have completely new picks, and when I play those things, I just throw them out. Those picks I'm using are Jim Dunlop picks. They come from the store. They came in purple, but I told them years ago; "I want you to make them white for me so people can see them", so I made it out of necessity, and I made it into a part of the show too. I don't like when they're having nicks, so why not just throw it out, or I'll kick it out, whatever. So it's not just being stupid, you know? I mean, it is kind of like a gimmick, I guess, but it's because I need to have a new pick when I play the fast stuff.
How many picks do you order at the start of a tour?
Oh, they're coming in a bag of like, 8,000, 9,000. Dunlop, it's one of the greatest companies. I work with them on a lot of things. They actually make my MXR pedal, they make my straps, they make my strap locks, and they make my wah pedals, and so they're just awesome company to deal with. I call them up - well, we have the contractor - and say; "listen, there's a new tour coming up", and they know what to do.
The first track that you released from the album is 'Top Down, Foot Down', which you're quoted as saying it's "C sharp minor arpeggios in to A, and a fluid C sharp minor melody"; is there something you like about playing in that key?
I love that key. It sounds really nice, and it's exactly one octave to the highest fret on the Stratocaster. So it's like Paganini will play a really high stuff; it's like the highest thing you can do on the Strat, basically. It's easy, and, by the way, just to make it clear to everybody that will say; "well, it's actually not C sharp, it's C major"; NO, because concert pitch, until Richard Wagner, in the late 1800s was not a440; it was actually middle C was actually a B.
I think you'd need to have some balls on you to challenge Yngwie Malmsteen about guitar.
I mean, like, if somebody says; "well, you know, you said C sharp minor, you played; it's actually a C minor". No, it isn't. It is in modern classical concert pitch, but the classical concert pitch that all the great players used. Richard Wagner, wanted to tune up half a step because it made everything louder. With the strings on the violin a little tighter, it made it louder. He wanted everything loud, and that's why that happened.
I mention it because I went to a taping of That Metal Show a few years ago, and afterwards someone handed me this sheet of paper, which was like your set list, and "C sharp minor" is the first thing written on it.
I've been there many times, but I did that. I was on one of the first shows that they made, but that, I don't think that's the one you saw. I think that was more like 2012 or something.
Is that your handwriting on that?
Yeah, yeah! Okay, well, alright, there you go, that's because I shot two shows in one go., and they wanted me to play a lot of improvised solo stuff, and I just fucking put a key down. I wouldn't stay in C sharp minor; I would go to E and B minor and all that, but yeah, I don't actually know why I wrote that down.
Back to 'Tokyo Live', and it's 30 track double album. That's a lot of Yngwie for your buck, isn't it?
Yeah, it is, and that's why everybody must buy one! I think a lot of the live shit that I put out over the years was like audio from a live video or something. It wasn't necessarily a live album. I did a specific one from Orlando, and I like that one. It's pretty good too, but, yeah, but it is only a snapshot of one moment in time, and it's meant to be that, but when you're going to film and record, you're on a weird kind of plain. You learn how to ignore it, but it's something I think on this one, I completely didn't give a shit. I think that that's why it came out a little more free, and I like that because I don't like it to be stifled and safe. I'd rather than have one fuck up, and let's say; nine great notes and one bad one. That is okay.
You've covered Deep Purple's 'Smoke on the Water' on this release; why that one? I mean, you've recorded some great covers such as The Scorpions' 'Sails of Charon'.
Well, I did another of that type of record called 'Blue Lightning' [2019] and it's on there, and that went to number one in the charts in Serbia, so good idea. I always joke and say I wrote that song, but seriously, I enjoy playing that one, I really do. It might sound goofy, but I think it's a fucking great song, I really do, and it's an awesome song to play really loud, live on the stage. I like it a lot.
As you say, you're celebrating 40 years since the release of your first solo album 'Rising Force'; you still, to this day, perform a lot of those tracks live, so it obviously still means a great deal to you.
Yeah, I mean, there was a time when I stopped playing 'Black Star' because I felt like that was my 'Smoke on Water' almost, and I just stopped playing it. Then I put it back in. I never stopped playing 'Far Beyond the Sun' because it's just a really great live shredder. I love that record. I mean, it was such a strange way it happened because it was meant to be for Japan only. I was in another band, and I left that band in July 1984 and on the plane back from leaving, I wrote; "I'm a Viking, I'm going out to war" on a napkin on the airplane. I wrote the lyrics for that song. I've always been a writer of lyrics and so forth whether I sang them or not, but I was meant to go in the studio and record what should be my first solo album, which became 'Marching Out' [1985], but in the meantime, my 'Rising Force' album was released Japan and in America.
In America, kids went into record stores and paid five times the price of a normal album and waited two weeks to buy that album imported, to the extent that it hit the Billboard charts; no marketing, no promotion, no nothing, just the fucking sales. So the label, PolyGram Records, they said; "oh, we've go to put this one out. We're missing out on this thing!". So basically, 'Rising Force' and 'Marching Out' came out at the same time in the rest of the world, so that's really weird how that whole thing happened. The label in Japan, they said; "we want an instrumental". I said; "I don't want to do instrumental", but they said; "no, we want the instrumental!" I'm like; "I don't want to do that", and then it turned out to be like, the instrumental kind of blueprint. It's crazy. It's funny how it all happened.
I've been there many times, but I did that. I was on one of the first shows that they made, but that, I don't think that's the one you saw. I think that was more like 2012 or something.
Is that your handwriting on that?
Yeah, yeah! Okay, well, alright, there you go, that's because I shot two shows in one go., and they wanted me to play a lot of improvised solo stuff, and I just fucking put a key down. I wouldn't stay in C sharp minor; I would go to E and B minor and all that, but yeah, I don't actually know why I wrote that down.
Back to 'Tokyo Live', and it's 30 track double album. That's a lot of Yngwie for your buck, isn't it?
Yeah, it is, and that's why everybody must buy one! I think a lot of the live shit that I put out over the years was like audio from a live video or something. It wasn't necessarily a live album. I did a specific one from Orlando, and I like that one. It's pretty good too, but, yeah, but it is only a snapshot of one moment in time, and it's meant to be that, but when you're going to film and record, you're on a weird kind of plain. You learn how to ignore it, but it's something I think on this one, I completely didn't give a shit. I think that that's why it came out a little more free, and I like that because I don't like it to be stifled and safe. I'd rather than have one fuck up, and let's say; nine great notes and one bad one. That is okay.
You've covered Deep Purple's 'Smoke on the Water' on this release; why that one? I mean, you've recorded some great covers such as The Scorpions' 'Sails of Charon'.
Well, I did another of that type of record called 'Blue Lightning' [2019] and it's on there, and that went to number one in the charts in Serbia, so good idea. I always joke and say I wrote that song, but seriously, I enjoy playing that one, I really do. It might sound goofy, but I think it's a fucking great song, I really do, and it's an awesome song to play really loud, live on the stage. I like it a lot.
As you say, you're celebrating 40 years since the release of your first solo album 'Rising Force'; you still, to this day, perform a lot of those tracks live, so it obviously still means a great deal to you.
Yeah, I mean, there was a time when I stopped playing 'Black Star' because I felt like that was my 'Smoke on Water' almost, and I just stopped playing it. Then I put it back in. I never stopped playing 'Far Beyond the Sun' because it's just a really great live shredder. I love that record. I mean, it was such a strange way it happened because it was meant to be for Japan only. I was in another band, and I left that band in July 1984 and on the plane back from leaving, I wrote; "I'm a Viking, I'm going out to war" on a napkin on the airplane. I wrote the lyrics for that song. I've always been a writer of lyrics and so forth whether I sang them or not, but I was meant to go in the studio and record what should be my first solo album, which became 'Marching Out' [1985], but in the meantime, my 'Rising Force' album was released Japan and in America.
In America, kids went into record stores and paid five times the price of a normal album and waited two weeks to buy that album imported, to the extent that it hit the Billboard charts; no marketing, no promotion, no nothing, just the fucking sales. So the label, PolyGram Records, they said; "oh, we've go to put this one out. We're missing out on this thing!". So basically, 'Rising Force' and 'Marching Out' came out at the same time in the rest of the world, so that's really weird how that whole thing happened. The label in Japan, they said; "we want an instrumental". I said; "I don't want to do instrumental", but they said; "no, we want the instrumental!" I'm like; "I don't want to do that", and then it turned out to be like, the instrumental kind of blueprint. It's crazy. It's funny how it all happened.
Photo; Warren Blair for eonmusic,
I was learning to play guitar around 1990, and with the likes of yourself, Joe Satriani and Steve Vai bringing out incredible albums; would you say that was a real golden time for the solo guitar instrumental album?
You know, I really don't think I'm the right person to answer that, because I never viewed things in that way. I mean, I was never part of a wave of any kind. When I was a little kid, I was recording and writing stuff because my my uncle had built a recording studio long before I was even born, and by time I was eleven or twelve years old, I got to go in there and just mess around. I was just recording and I'd come up with crazy shit that was like neoclassical metal, really big. I used to call it 'symphonic rock', something, whatever. There were no terms like that, that you guys made up after I came out, but anyways, I never followed any trends, because when I was little kid in Sweden, there was no radio, there was no MTV; there was a black hole of fucking nothing! Your older siblings or friends in school might have a record like Alice Cooper 'School's Out', and it was cool. When I was eight years old I got Deep Purple 'Fireball', and I heard the double bass drums and stuff like that, but I never heard Zeppelin, I never heard Black Sabbath, I never heard anything like that.
So to make a long story even longer, I never followed any trends of any kind, ever. I remember clearly I was in sixth or seventh grade when the punk and new wave hit, and I was already a pretty accomplished musician by that time. I was recording and playing, doing crazy shit already, and I said; "what the fuck is this?", so I never followed anything.
So you weren't influenced by anything going on around you; you just did your own thing?
I did my thing. I sent a cassette tape to Guitar Player magazine 1982, and I just did it out of... not desperation, but; why not? type of thing, because in Sweden I couldn't get a record deal. I was 17 years old. and nothing was going on. I had my eyes on England all the time, because I would buy Melody Maker and the NME, and I would be sitting on a train; "oh, that's cool, I could actually go to England. It's only over the water", and then I sent the cassette tape over and they come back, and go; "you've got to come to America, man! We've never heard anything like this before. What the fuck are you doing?!" type of thing. And I go; "what do you mean? I don't have money for fucking tickets to go there!", but a couple of months later my mother bought me a ticket and I flew to America with a guitar and a toothbrush.
I was completely in my own world. Everything was from within, all the time. I would sit and play, and something came from - call it whatever you want - God or whatever, and it was just; "wow, this is amazing", and that's something that felt like a gift. And I never tried; "oh yeah, I'm going to learn that". Yeah, I learned the Blackmore solos, but that was only part of learning to get around the guitar. That became outdated a long ass time! By the time 'Made in Japan' was done, I was done with that, and I was 10 years old then. So, basically, what I'm trying to say to you is I was always doing my thing and everybody would tell me in Sweden; "oh, you're never going to make it. You can't do like that. What the fuck you doing? You can't play like that, nobody's going to fucking buy that"; That's all I heard all day long.
Yeah?
But I had this weird vision. I said myself - I was very serious young man - "I'm going to do this, or I'm not going to do anything at all. I'm going to fucking die trying, and I'm going to die on this hill". Oh, I was very serious. And then I was drafted in the army! That was no fucking good, so I had to get out of that fucking thing. I got my discharge papers by the time I was actually in America already! You're not supposed to leave the country! But anyway. it's a funny, long answer, I know, but the thing is that that's the only way I can react to that. I can't see it as a golden age, because; "oh, by the way, remember the '80s? Yeah, party, party?" Listen; you know what I think is the fucking best ever time? Right now. Right now, I'm on the beach in a fucking convertible Ferrari, I'm talking to you, the sun is shining, and I just wrote some extreme arpeggios last night. Things are good. I don't think about what happened before, or even what's going to happen next. I'm just, you know, this is great.
You know, I really don't think I'm the right person to answer that, because I never viewed things in that way. I mean, I was never part of a wave of any kind. When I was a little kid, I was recording and writing stuff because my my uncle had built a recording studio long before I was even born, and by time I was eleven or twelve years old, I got to go in there and just mess around. I was just recording and I'd come up with crazy shit that was like neoclassical metal, really big. I used to call it 'symphonic rock', something, whatever. There were no terms like that, that you guys made up after I came out, but anyways, I never followed any trends, because when I was little kid in Sweden, there was no radio, there was no MTV; there was a black hole of fucking nothing! Your older siblings or friends in school might have a record like Alice Cooper 'School's Out', and it was cool. When I was eight years old I got Deep Purple 'Fireball', and I heard the double bass drums and stuff like that, but I never heard Zeppelin, I never heard Black Sabbath, I never heard anything like that.
So to make a long story even longer, I never followed any trends of any kind, ever. I remember clearly I was in sixth or seventh grade when the punk and new wave hit, and I was already a pretty accomplished musician by that time. I was recording and playing, doing crazy shit already, and I said; "what the fuck is this?", so I never followed anything.
So you weren't influenced by anything going on around you; you just did your own thing?
I did my thing. I sent a cassette tape to Guitar Player magazine 1982, and I just did it out of... not desperation, but; why not? type of thing, because in Sweden I couldn't get a record deal. I was 17 years old. and nothing was going on. I had my eyes on England all the time, because I would buy Melody Maker and the NME, and I would be sitting on a train; "oh, that's cool, I could actually go to England. It's only over the water", and then I sent the cassette tape over and they come back, and go; "you've got to come to America, man! We've never heard anything like this before. What the fuck are you doing?!" type of thing. And I go; "what do you mean? I don't have money for fucking tickets to go there!", but a couple of months later my mother bought me a ticket and I flew to America with a guitar and a toothbrush.
I was completely in my own world. Everything was from within, all the time. I would sit and play, and something came from - call it whatever you want - God or whatever, and it was just; "wow, this is amazing", and that's something that felt like a gift. And I never tried; "oh yeah, I'm going to learn that". Yeah, I learned the Blackmore solos, but that was only part of learning to get around the guitar. That became outdated a long ass time! By the time 'Made in Japan' was done, I was done with that, and I was 10 years old then. So, basically, what I'm trying to say to you is I was always doing my thing and everybody would tell me in Sweden; "oh, you're never going to make it. You can't do like that. What the fuck you doing? You can't play like that, nobody's going to fucking buy that"; That's all I heard all day long.
Yeah?
But I had this weird vision. I said myself - I was very serious young man - "I'm going to do this, or I'm not going to do anything at all. I'm going to fucking die trying, and I'm going to die on this hill". Oh, I was very serious. And then I was drafted in the army! That was no fucking good, so I had to get out of that fucking thing. I got my discharge papers by the time I was actually in America already! You're not supposed to leave the country! But anyway. it's a funny, long answer, I know, but the thing is that that's the only way I can react to that. I can't see it as a golden age, because; "oh, by the way, remember the '80s? Yeah, party, party?" Listen; you know what I think is the fucking best ever time? Right now. Right now, I'm on the beach in a fucking convertible Ferrari, I'm talking to you, the sun is shining, and I just wrote some extreme arpeggios last night. Things are good. I don't think about what happened before, or even what's going to happen next. I'm just, you know, this is great.
Photo; Warren Blair for eonmusic.
You were always unique; would you say that enabled you to get through the '90s? Did grunge really affected you at all?
Well, it did in a certain way, because in America, up until the grunge wave, America was very formatted, so if you didn't sound a certain way in the '80s, you couldn't be on MTV or or radio, whatever. Then everything changed overnight with this grunge thing; if you didn't sound like that, you couldn't do it. But I would still play shows and stuff, even though the shows were not as big in America, but in Japan and parts of Europe and in South America, there was a brilliant market, and now it's completely global. I mean, I say this to everybody, like; "oh, you like Japan?" Yeah, Japan's great, but I could play in Wisconsin, and it'd be the same fucking craziness there, anywhere in the States, anywhere in South America, anywhere in Europe, anywhere in Asia. I am so blessed, and I count my blessings every day because I was always doing it on my own terms.
You're famously a Fender Strat guy, but I have read that in the early '80s you did some other endorsements for Aria Pro and Schecter, and I'm guessing you must have been approached all the time by guitar brands.
I can tell you this story and you're going to enjoy it. When I was a kid, there was really two guitars, maybe three; [Gibson] Les Paul, Strat and the [Gibson] Flying V too, maybe. I always liked these, and Les Pauls too; I have all of them! I have everything, but the Strat was sort of like the destruction weapon; that's the one you go to war with! So I was a Strat guy even before I could afford a real Fender one.
I used to have like, Ibanez Stratocasters, Aria Pro Stratocasters. They made exact copies back in the '70s, really good ones, and then when I was about 12, my mother said; "we need to paint the house", big, two story house. I said; "oh, how much are you paying the painters? 2,000 krona?!" Okay, that's £200 about. It's 1976 / '75 and I'm like: "I'll paint the fucking house!" I painted whole house the whole summer, and I went to the store and I picked out the Strat. I wanted a brand new Strat. It was a cream, white one with a maple neck, just like the one I love, and it was like £10 short or something, the equivalent, and the guy goes; "no, I can't change that". I'm like; "no, please I've been working all summer. Give me that guitar!" And he goes; "No, can't do it. You can have this one, though", and he had a guitar in the back, it wasn't even on the wall; "here's an old 1968 one. You can have this one, but you can't have the new one". So I was bumming out that I had to walk out of the store with a 1968 Strat. That's the funniest part.
So that began your love of the Strat.
Then I got more and more Strats and so on, and by the time I came to America, everybody wanted a hockey stick guitar that was painted funny with the humbucker and the fucking tremolo - what's that called? - The Floyd Rose thing, and I didn't do that. And nobody used Strats! Nobody! Look back at that time; nobody played a fucking Strat. 1984 I came out with the 'Rising Force' album, and the Strat on the cover. Do you know that Fender never gave guitars to anybody? Ever?
I didn't know that.
They never gave Richie Blackmore, Jeff Beck, Jimi Hendrix; everyone had to buy their guitars. You want a guitar? You buy it. Now, here's the thing, when I came on the scene, I came on the scene with a splash, so to speak, and you name the guitar company, they asked me to use their guitars. Every fucking guitar company in the world, and I said; "no, I'd rather pay for a Strat than use your guitars, thank you very much". Even Gibson Gibson said,; "we'll build you anything!" I said; "well build me a Strat". Yeah, and they did!
So, 1986 Long Beach arena, California, Dan Smith, the new owner and CEO of Fender came to my show and said; "we're going to make the Yngwie Malmsteen Stratocaster". I'm like; "what? Nobody ever got a guitar for free, let alone one with a name on it". He said; "you made the Stratocaster the most popular guitar again. We were going to stop making the fucking thing because nobody wanted to buy it". And listen, he said; "you single-handedly made it the most popular guitar". And then they gave me the signature guitar. 1986 they started, and they gave me the first one 1987, long before Clapton, and long before Beck. That's a fact. So what was the original question?
Were you approached by anyone else?
Everybody under the sun! Everybody, and also every amp company in the world, every fucking one. Oh yeah, by the way, and then this Aria Pro shit? That was only because when I was in Steeler, the bass player wanted to get a guitar for free, so the guy came to the rehearsal and said; "oh no, we want to give to YOU!". so he's going to give me guitars, and I said; "give me a Flying V with a Strat neck and a scalloped neck", and this guy laughed at it. I was never really using them, and the Schecter thing, the same. So that's what that is.
Yngwie Malmsteen's 'Tokyo Live' is out on 25th April 2025. Order here.
Well, it did in a certain way, because in America, up until the grunge wave, America was very formatted, so if you didn't sound a certain way in the '80s, you couldn't be on MTV or or radio, whatever. Then everything changed overnight with this grunge thing; if you didn't sound like that, you couldn't do it. But I would still play shows and stuff, even though the shows were not as big in America, but in Japan and parts of Europe and in South America, there was a brilliant market, and now it's completely global. I mean, I say this to everybody, like; "oh, you like Japan?" Yeah, Japan's great, but I could play in Wisconsin, and it'd be the same fucking craziness there, anywhere in the States, anywhere in South America, anywhere in Europe, anywhere in Asia. I am so blessed, and I count my blessings every day because I was always doing it on my own terms.
You're famously a Fender Strat guy, but I have read that in the early '80s you did some other endorsements for Aria Pro and Schecter, and I'm guessing you must have been approached all the time by guitar brands.
I can tell you this story and you're going to enjoy it. When I was a kid, there was really two guitars, maybe three; [Gibson] Les Paul, Strat and the [Gibson] Flying V too, maybe. I always liked these, and Les Pauls too; I have all of them! I have everything, but the Strat was sort of like the destruction weapon; that's the one you go to war with! So I was a Strat guy even before I could afford a real Fender one.
I used to have like, Ibanez Stratocasters, Aria Pro Stratocasters. They made exact copies back in the '70s, really good ones, and then when I was about 12, my mother said; "we need to paint the house", big, two story house. I said; "oh, how much are you paying the painters? 2,000 krona?!" Okay, that's £200 about. It's 1976 / '75 and I'm like: "I'll paint the fucking house!" I painted whole house the whole summer, and I went to the store and I picked out the Strat. I wanted a brand new Strat. It was a cream, white one with a maple neck, just like the one I love, and it was like £10 short or something, the equivalent, and the guy goes; "no, I can't change that". I'm like; "no, please I've been working all summer. Give me that guitar!" And he goes; "No, can't do it. You can have this one, though", and he had a guitar in the back, it wasn't even on the wall; "here's an old 1968 one. You can have this one, but you can't have the new one". So I was bumming out that I had to walk out of the store with a 1968 Strat. That's the funniest part.
So that began your love of the Strat.
Then I got more and more Strats and so on, and by the time I came to America, everybody wanted a hockey stick guitar that was painted funny with the humbucker and the fucking tremolo - what's that called? - The Floyd Rose thing, and I didn't do that. And nobody used Strats! Nobody! Look back at that time; nobody played a fucking Strat. 1984 I came out with the 'Rising Force' album, and the Strat on the cover. Do you know that Fender never gave guitars to anybody? Ever?
I didn't know that.
They never gave Richie Blackmore, Jeff Beck, Jimi Hendrix; everyone had to buy their guitars. You want a guitar? You buy it. Now, here's the thing, when I came on the scene, I came on the scene with a splash, so to speak, and you name the guitar company, they asked me to use their guitars. Every fucking guitar company in the world, and I said; "no, I'd rather pay for a Strat than use your guitars, thank you very much". Even Gibson Gibson said,; "we'll build you anything!" I said; "well build me a Strat". Yeah, and they did!
So, 1986 Long Beach arena, California, Dan Smith, the new owner and CEO of Fender came to my show and said; "we're going to make the Yngwie Malmsteen Stratocaster". I'm like; "what? Nobody ever got a guitar for free, let alone one with a name on it". He said; "you made the Stratocaster the most popular guitar again. We were going to stop making the fucking thing because nobody wanted to buy it". And listen, he said; "you single-handedly made it the most popular guitar". And then they gave me the signature guitar. 1986 they started, and they gave me the first one 1987, long before Clapton, and long before Beck. That's a fact. So what was the original question?
Were you approached by anyone else?
Everybody under the sun! Everybody, and also every amp company in the world, every fucking one. Oh yeah, by the way, and then this Aria Pro shit? That was only because when I was in Steeler, the bass player wanted to get a guitar for free, so the guy came to the rehearsal and said; "oh no, we want to give to YOU!". so he's going to give me guitars, and I said; "give me a Flying V with a Strat neck and a scalloped neck", and this guy laughed at it. I was never really using them, and the Schecter thing, the same. So that's what that is.
Yngwie Malmsteen's 'Tokyo Live' is out on 25th April 2025. Order here.
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