Yngwie Malmsteen Discusses His New Album Perpetual Flame - Page 3

Now I’m getting a bit out of my depth here, but I would say your music is more Bach or Vivaldi influenced than, say, Purple.

Let me tell you, yesterday I was doing something for television with VH1 and their thing was to ask everyone, ‘who was the most influential heavy rock band Black Sabbath or Led Zeppelin?’ When it came to me I said Deep Purple. They looked at me like I was crazy. But it was hearing the power of In Rock that did it. I can remember seeing Hendrix on television and watching him burn his guitar. Then I listened to In Rock and that was it. I knew what I wanted to be.

When I heard some of that early Genesis stuff, you know Selling England By The Pound, I could hear all these classical progressions. You know it was the symphonic stuff that I really wanted to do and the hard rock of Purple, In Rock. I always wanted to do that, the double bass drum, the works. When I heard the violin, Paganini, that was it. I knew where I wanted to go with it all. I wanted my guitar to be played like a violin.

You are known for your improvisation. Is there still room for that in the studio?

Yes, absolutely, always.

Is there anything on this tour or album that is technically harder than the rest to do?

A lot of it is quite technical. I would say “Caprici Di Diablo”. That instrumental thing. That’s technically hard, fast intricate. I always try and push myself that little bit more.

How do reviews affect you?

No, not too much. You see if someone doesn’t like it, then I know that I’ve done my best at that particular time. I’ve put what I can into it and that’s what it is. Yes, sure I like good ones but as long as I’ve done what I wanted to with it. That’s it. People either like it or not. As long as I am happy with what I’ve done and how I’ve done it, that’s important.

I wanted to ask you about the Concerto (Concerto For Guitar And Orchestra). That must have put you under pressure playing with classically trained orchestras.

Well yes, I always try and put pressure on myself. I am not sure what they thought, in Prague, when I first walked in and they saw me. You know ‘who’s this?’, type thing, but when they opened it up and saw the score they could see what I was trying to do and where the music should go. Tokyo, wow, now man that is real pressure, studio audience and everything. Yes, that was me, really pushing myself. I am very proud of it.

Article Author: Jeff Perkins

Jeff is a writer who lives in France. He writes CD/DVD box sets, music reviews and has had a book published about David Byron of Uriah Heep. He is 'busy' exploring the music of Europe with his wife Debbie and dog Dylan. It's Dylan that does the writing of course. …

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