Lightning Strikes

Seldom given to false modesty, the Swedish shred maestro talks blues (kind of ) and gear (that he designed), and almost unleashes the fury on us. Twice…

- Ed Mitchell

"The problem with you guys is you all ask the same questions. No offence.”None taken. This is the Yngwie Malmsteen we came to see. We haven’t even sat down yet and the big Swede has already damned our profession as a shower of turnips. It doesn’t feel personal, though.

Malmsteen has flown into London for a couple of days to talk about his new album, Blue Lightning. He’s dressed head to foot in expensive looking leather gear. He looks years younger than 55 and ready to do battle. He’s already done a load of interviews fielding a barrage of similarly themed questions about his lifelong devotion to Strats, Marshalls, Jimi Hendrix and cadaverous 18th-century-born virtuoso violinist, Niccolò Paganini. Now it’s our turn.

Our opening gambit is, “The release of Blue Lightning comes 35 years to the month after your solo debut, Rising Force…”

We barely get to finish the question when we notice Malmsteen’s wry smile and barely perceptible shrug. He’s clearly not in a nostalgic mood. We decide to pursue a fresh line of enquiry… The new record Blue Lightning is Malmsteen’s ‘blues’ album. It features a mix of original tunes and covers including Jimi Hendrix’s Purple Haze, The Beatles’ While My Guitar Gently Weeps, and Paint It Black by The Stones. It might surprise you that Malmsteen, the man who put neoclassical shred on the map in the 80s, is now doing a blues record – but he’s always had an element of the blues in his trick bag, and from a young age, too.