Maximum Metal has issued an interview with Swedish guitar hero YNGWIE MALMSTEEN. The following is an excerpt:

Q: Being a virtuoso comes with it's own rewards and pitfalls, one being the misunderstood artist aspect... what is it that people often misunderstand about you or your music?

A: "Oh wow, it would be easier for me to list the things that people didn't misunderstand. I don't think people understand me at all. People have said that I was into magic, living in a dark castle somewhere... I mean even when I did Overture 1383 on the Marching Out album, people were wondering what the significance of the year was and it was when Lowenbrau started brewing their beer, which I was drinking a lot of... that's where I was then. I think people have a certain idea of what I am doing and a lot of times I think people think that everything I do is figured out, none of it is - it's all improvised. I'm perfectly aware of music theory and all; I have a PHD in that, but once you have that you don't think about it... it's like spelling. The hardest thing for me has been to try and capture the live feel in the studio. A lot of people want to make the live show sound like the studio but I always wanted to do the opposite. It's so difficult to do, but I'm getting better at it. I never do second takes anyway, if you can't get it right away then I will do it again later. There's no let's do it again, and again... no, fuck that shit."

Read the full interview at this location.

On Thursday, February 3rd, Malmsteen sat in with house band, THE ROOTS, on Late Night With Jimmy Fallon (NBC-TV).

Check out footage from the show below: