Former YNGWIE MALMSTEEN vocalist Michael Vescera says that he was amused by the Swedish guitarist’s disparaging comments about some of the singers that have worked with him in the past.
In a recent interview with Metal Wani, Malmsteen said that he had no interest in collaborating with vocalists like Joe Lynn Turner, Jeff Scott Soto and Tim “Ripper” Owens ever again. “I’m very comfortable singing myself, first of all,” Yngwie said. “Secondly, there’s a certain disconnect when you write the song and you have someone else sing it for you. And it’s kind of like a fakeness about it. I always wrote everything — I wrote all the lyrics, I wrote all the melodies, everything; it’s just somebody else sung it. And to me, the singer is nothing else than a different… like a bass player or a keyboard player — they’re not more important than any other musician. And they, unfortunately, seem to think that they are. And I’ve kind of had it with their sort of… self-absorbed sort of way, and I’m very much against it. No. I don’t like that. I don’t like any of those people, and I don’t like to do anything with them ever again.”
[metalwani_content_ad]
Asked in a new interview with All That Shreds if he had any comment to make about Yngwie‘s apparent attempt to minimize the contributions of the aforementioned singers, Vescera said: “Funny stuff! I know Jeff, Joe, Tim and even [fellow former Malmsteen singer] Mats Levén quite well, all great guys and awesome vocalists. I’ve moved on from the whole Yngwie thing, and just wish everyone the best.”
Back in January 2015, Vescera — who recorded two full-length studio records with Malmsteen as well as an EP, various videos and the “Live At Budokan” DVD in the 1990s — said that Yngwie “could have been the biggest guitarist in the world today” had he not “destroyed his career” by “burning bridges and pissing people off.” Speaking at a press conference in São Paulo, Brazil for the “Metal Singers” tour, he said: “It’s unfortunate, because he changed the face of guitar. And to be where he’s at today is kind of sad.”
Insisting that he didn’t “have anything bad to say about Yngwie,” Vescera described his time with iconic axeman as “an experience.” He added: “There was some crazy shit that went on. But I wish him well, and I hope he straightens out his stuff and comes back. But… you know, we would need about two years [to tell our] stories [about] him.”
Via Blabbermouth.com