Yngwie Malmsteen arrived in America in the early 1980s and, thanks to his white-hot neoclassical shredding, he soon found himself in fine demand. According to the Swede, Kiss and David Lee Roth both tried to sign him up to their bands, while he was apparently in the running to join Ozzy Osbourne and Ronnie James Dio at different times.
In addition, he says he received two offers in the space of 24 hours from UFO and Alcatrazz, both of whom looked to bolster their ranks with his abilities right at the start of his career.
A Guitar Player Spotlight column had helped shine a light on the upstart virtuoso, and he first traveled across the Atlantic to feature on Steeler’s only album. When that project fizzled out, he wasn’t short on offers from potential suitors.
“I played around with Steeler; we were all over the Sunset Strip,” he tells the Eddie Trunk Podcast. “I remember one night we played in Orange County, and Phil Mogg of UFO came there. I love that band, it was great.
“So, he was all like, ‘Hey, I’m putting UFO back together. I’ve gotta get a great guitar player, so come to my house tomorrow.’ I said, ‘Yeah, I’ll be there.’”
UFO had briefly disbanded following the dismal response to 1982 album Mechanix. They’d go on to employ their former roadie Tommy McClendon for the gig, but if Malmsteen’s story is to be believed, the Swede was his preferred pick.
“The next morning, I get a phone call from somebody,” Malmsteen continues. “I don’t know who it was. Some manager or something, from what became Alcatrazz. And that was the same day I was gonna see Phil.
“So, they (Alcatrazz) come and pick me up, and they bring me to this rehearsal room. And I started asking these guys, like, ‘What are your songs like’, and all that stuff. ‘Well, we don’t have any songs yet.’ I said, ‘What’s your direction?’ ‘We don’t have a direction yet… But you got the gig!’ I said, ‘Well, let me think about it. I gotta go see somebody.’”
Playing out like something of a heavy metal love triangle, Malmsteen then went to see Mogg and heard UFO’s pitch. Though the band had his heart, the opportunity wasn’t what he was hoping it to be.
“I went to Phil Mogg’s house, and he was super cool, but he didn’t really have his stuff together as the other camp did,” he explains. “So, I called them (Alcatrazz) from Phil’s house and said, ‘Okay, I’ll do your thing, but a couple of conditions: I write the songs, and we get a new drummer.’”
The Alcatrazz camp, clearly knowing what Malmsteen would bring to the table, heeded his commands. The fact the arpeggio fanatic has writing credits on every track of No Parole from Rock ‘n’ Rollwhich was released in October 1983, is proof of that.
“It would have been awesome to be in UFO too,” the Swede ruminates. “But that would mean I would have to do a lot of their classics and stuff like that – I was more into the fresh start thing.”
Malmsteen would forge a solo career off his one album with Alcatrazz, and his spot in the group was eventually taken by Steve Vai for 1985’s Disturbing the Peace.
Speaking to Trunk back in 2021Malmsteen revealed they weren’t the only two offers that came his way.
“I was offered a gig with David Lee Roth,” he said. “There was some murmur about the Ozzy thing. Ronnie James Dio talked about it all the time.
“When I actually lived in Sweden, I was offered a gig in Kiss. They wanted to talk to me. They called me up, and the guy said; ‘Are you hot?’, and then he asked me, ‘Are you six feet tall?’, and I’m metric, so I said, ‘No, I’m 192,’ and he goes, ‘What the fuck’s that?!’ So, they never called back!”
He adds that there were also “murmurs” of joining Deep Purple, but an offer never materialized. But, since that one album with Graham Bonnet and company, Malmsteen never joined another band, forging a path as a solo artist instead.
When he did work with other guitarists, as he did on the G3 tour, Joe Satriani said he presented unique challenges.
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