YNGWIE MALMSTEEN: “SINGERS HAVE THE ELVIS PRESLEY SYNDROME”

It is very interesting to listen to what Yngwie Malmsteen has to say. The legendary Swedish guitar hero is a large personality, often misjudged but always respected. This time Malmsteen stroke back with some sayings, that will be discussed. In a Malaysian press conference, he was asked why he chose to handle lead vocals himself on his latest album (“World On Fire”, 2016). And he answered: “When I started out when I was a kid in Sweden, I had a band called Rising Force, I was the singer. Then I came to America and I was playing with Steeler and Alcatrazz, they had their own singers. I always thought that singers have the Elvis Presley syndrome — they think they’re Elvis Presley. They’re not Elvis Presley. Because I write the music, I write the lyrics, I write the vocal melody lines — I write everything. Just because I let somebody sing something doesn’t mean they’re more important than the bass player or the keyboard player or the drummer. Because I write all the parts — I write the drum parts, the bass parts, the keyboard parts, the guitar parts and the vocal parts — like a classical composer. And I really kind of got tired of dealing with their bullshit, really. So I decided to sing myself”.