Legendary Swedish guitarist Yngwie Malmsteen has confirmed to Rob Rush Radio that he doesn’t plan on bringing out a lead vocalist with him on his upcoming tour. “No. No singer. Just me,” he said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET).
“Let me make it really easy for everybody to understand: If I do something, it’s because I wanna do it,” he continued. “If I don’t do something, it’s because I don’t wanna do it. I don’t have anybody telling me what to do.
“I’m the luckiest man in the world. I feel like I’m so blessed. I’m so grateful for everything that’s happened to me, and mostly because I have creative freedom. And that’s why I’m so grateful. So the reason I’m doing what I’m doing now is because that’s what I wanna do. It’s not because I have to or maybe I should do this. No, I’m very specific, and I know exactly what I want. I have a very clear vision — crystal clear — about everything I do. The songs are already in my head before recording. I know what I’m doing exactly. I don’t need a producer, I don’t need a co-writer — I don’t need any of that stuff. And that’s just for me — I’m not saying it’s bad for other people. Other people, it’s good for them. God bless — that’s great. Whatever’s good for you, go ahead with it. But you’ve gotta understand, it’s a very individual thing.
“I consider myself more like a painter or something,” Yngwie added. “A painter, he paints the front, he paints the background, he paints the sides. He doesn’t [ask someone else], ‘Hey, can you come and paint the other half of my painting?’ I can’t work like that. I’m sorry.”
Yngwie‘s new album, “Parabellum”, will be released on July 23 via Music Theories Recordings/Mascot Label Group. Only four of the songs on the LP feature vocals. The album title is Latin, translating as “Prepare For War”.
After working with some of the top hard singers of the past four decades, Yngwie now handles much of the lead vocals himself in his own band, backed by a lineup that includes keyboardist Nick Marino, bassist/vocalist Ralph Ciavolino and drummer Brian Wilson.
This past April, acclaimed hard rock vocalist Mark Boals, who appeared on four of Yngwie‘s studio albums, including the hard rock classic “Trilogy”, told “Waste Some Time With Jason Green” about the neoclassical guitar virtuoso’s recent attempts at singing: “Unfortunately, I can’t unhear it. But I knew what his voice was like from before. I think when we were recording [1999’s] ‘Alchemy’, he came to me and said, ‘Man, I’ve been taking voice lessons for eight years. What’s wrong? What am I doing wrong?’ And I said, ‘Well, Yngwie…’ His voice, it just doesn’t sound good; it doesn’t have a good sound; it doesn’t have a pleasing sound. He can sing notes, but they don’t sound pleasing. I didn’t know what to tell him. But that’s the fact. He tries really hard.”
Mark continued: “A singer is a totally different ballgame than being [an instrumental] musician. You can’t just just pick up a [Ronnie James] Dio-model voice and put it on and sing like Dio, or put on an Ian Gillan voice and sing like Ian Gillan. You’ve gotta work with what you have; it’s a physically limiting thing, and it’s a talent. Just like playing guitar. I can’t pick up a guitar and play like Yngwie, so I don’t know why he thinks he should be able to just step up to a microphone and sing like me or anyone else.”
