Yngwie Malmsteen: I Don't Need Producers And Singers

JAKARTA - In a new issue of Classic Rock magazine, Swedish legendary guitarist Yngwie Malmsteen discussed the reasons he no longer employs singers, and prefers to take on vocal duties himself in recent years.

"I need to explain something to you," he said. "The way I work is different from other people. I can wake up in the middle of the night and listen to songs that are completed perfectly - including the production. Therefore, I don't need producers, songwriters from outside, and I no longer need singers."

When I had a singer, I wrote a vocal melody like I heard in my head and taught it to [former bandmate Graham Bonnet or anyone else. Until I came to America, I was a singer, guitar player and writer, all I needed to do was hire a bass player and drummer," he continued.

"Throughout my career, there was only a small [time period] when I used a singer. It was easier to do it alone."

A year and a half ago, Yngwie outlined his problem with vocalists when he was asked by WPDH Radio 101.5 FM at Poughkeepsie, New York to name the best of the three singers he worked with early in his career: Jeff Scott Soto, Mark Boals and Joe Lynn Turner. Here's the answer.

"This is how I see it. So I came to America in 1982 and I joined a band called Steeler. And then I formed a band called hajz. In January 1984, I signed a recording contract as a solo artist. So since January 1984, there has never been a band Never. There has never been a band called Rising Force. "

"My first solo album was titled 'Rising Force'. I had a band called Rising Force in Sweden in '79. And when I hired people for my solo job, I would write bass parts, drums, guitar parts - of course - keyboard parts, vocals and lyrics. So it's like an ansambel, like an orchestra or whatever, or even for a show on Broadway, there's written work and the players are hired to present the work."

"If for some reason it doesn't work, get someone else in there. For some strange reasons, someone seems to think that: a) it's a band, and b) the person who was supposed to be a singer at that time was Elvis Presley or something like that," he continued.

"No. Therefore, in 2012, I decided not to hire the singer anymore and I sang myself. I said, 'Good luck, friends. See you soon'."

When Tigman noted that no singer Yngwie had recruited for years who "succeeded" in the long term, Malmsteen said: "Well, they seem to think because they are singers and not keyboard players, they are Elvis Presley. And they will soon find out, in my outfit they are not Elvis Presley and they have to move.

"This is Yngwie Malmsteensolo's career," he explained. And even now, for my last album I even played all the instruments too. Listen, it's not like, oh, yes, I underestimated these people they are all great; but the problem is I'm like an artist, like a painter or something. Leonardo Da Myr did not call someone, like, 'Hey, guys, can you come and finish half of my painting?' And that's how I work - I paint the whole painting. That's how I work."