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Joe Charupakorn from Premierguitar.com caught up with Malmsteen recently and talked about his new album, Spellbound. Here are a few excerpts from the chat:

Premierguitar.com: What prompted the decision to play all of the instruments on Spellbound?

Malmsteen: "There was no reason why it happened this way. It just happened. I got inspired, started recording stuff, and all of a sudden it was done."

Premierguitar.com: Was the process much different on earlier releases?

Malmsteen: "It used to be like a cycle. You’d go into the studio and go through the process of writing, then rehearsing, then drums, then bass. Then when you’re done you mix it, rehearse, and then you go on tour for a year, and then you go back in and do the same thing again. Now it’s different. Even if I go some place like Russia for a gig or two, I keep putting stuff down as I get inspired. And when I hear like 15, 20, or 30— maybe in this case more like 100—things I start thinking, 'Wow, I have some really good shit here. I should seriously put this together as a record.' Most of the stuff that you hear on the record is the first time I played it."

Premierguitar.com: Wow. Is the album mostly first takes?

Malmsteen: "Yeah. I’m not the kind of person that likes to sit and do re-takes. Either it's good and you keep it or you don’t do it at all. In the studio, especially a rented studio, the spontaneity was always stifled. You sit there and think, “I better not make a [expletive] mistake.” I hated that. Having your own studio is great because you only play when you’re inspired."

Read more at Premierguitar.com.