Kat Dibbits from Theboltonnews.co.uk spoke to Swedish guitar legend YNGWIE MALMSTEEN recently about a number of topics including his most recent recruit, former JUDAS PRIEST/ICED EARTH singer Tim "Ripper" Owens. Malmsteen says he is not hogging the limelight from the vocalist.

"It's been the whole situation that I've created for myself," he says. "In that I am the songwriter and I produce the records, and once I go on the road I always bring the best guys that I can have.

"I let them have all the freedom they can have, all the attention they can get. On stage we do a lot of the songs that people know, there's a solo spot and I do some improvisations, it's not like a one-man show.

"It's just that when it comes to making the records I basically do all of it."

Read more here.

As previously reported, in a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, Malmsteen has invited fans to join him at Fender University on August 21st–24th, at the home of Fender guitars in Corona, California.

According to a press release, "Yngwie will be attending Fender University as a 'visiting professor' where he’ll spend time with students playing guitar, talking technique, and sharing stories from the incredible life of the guitar legend." For more information on enrollment, visit www.fender.com/university.

Malmsteen will take part in two more in-store autograph sessions during his current UK tour.

Malmsteen is now scheduled to appear at Professional Music Technology locations in Birmingham (July 10th - call 0121 359 5056 for more details) and Manchester (July 12th - call 0161 877 6262 for more details).

Prior to his scheduled gig on July 14th at Carling Academy in Newcastle, England, Malmsteen will take part in a in-store autograph session at GuitarGuitar in the same city, at 2:30 PM.

According to HMV Japan, Malmsteen will be releasing his as-yet-untitled new album on August 6th in Japan. Street dates in Europe and North America will be announced soon.

During a recent chat with Paul Marshall from Marshall Guitar (watch video below), Malmsteen is still putting the finishing touches to the album. He says that the artwork is being finalized, the masters are done and the songs just need to be put into sequence. About working with new singer Tim "Ripper" Owens (ex-ICED EARTH, JUDAS PRIEST) Malmsteen says it's a very exciting combination.

Upcoming Yngwie Malmsteen tour dates:

July

10 - Birmingham Carling Academy - Birmingham, UK
11 - London Shepherds Bush Empire - London, UK
12 - Manchester, Manchester Academy 2 - Manchester, UK
13 - Sheffield Carling Academy - Sheffield, UK
14 - Newcastle Carling Academy - Newcastle, UK
16 - Gothenburg, Sweden - Trädgårn
17 - Stockholm, Sweden - Berns
19 - Rockperry Festival - Vaasa, Finland