JEFF SCOTT SOTO: 'YNGWIE Is To His Genre What JIMI HENDRIX Was To Electric Guitar'

February 5, 2009

Rushonrock.com recently conducted an interview with legendary hard rock vocalist Jeff Scott Soto (TALISMAN, JOURNEY, YNGWIE MALMSTEEN). An excerpt from the chat follows below.

Rushonrock.com: How do you look back on the whole JOURNEY experience?

Jeff Scott Soto: I can't say one bad thing about the time I was actually in the band. I can't fault one moment of one day until the time I was let go. Until that day they were amazing times and I wouldn't trade them in for anything. I really thought I was in JOURNEY for the long haul after so many years of chopping and changing.

Rushonrock.com: So you were as settled as you ever have been?

Jeff Scott Soto: I thought I'd found my natural home. There was every intention, as far as I was concerned, to do the JOURNEY thing for a long time. We were talking about touring a long way down the line and writing a new album. But now I look on it as a blessing in disguise. I get to build my own legacy rather than work on improving someone else's. Who knows? I might have got bored singing JOURNEY songs for the rest of my life. Now I have my own thing that I'm building. It was a good experience while it lasted but in this business you just learn to move on.

Rushonrock.com: You also moved on from your first big break working with Yngwie Malmsteen. How do you rate him?

Jeff Scott Soto: He absolutely is a pioneer. He is to his genre what Jimi Hendrix was to the electric guitar, what Jimmy Page was to rock and what Eddie Van Halen was to metal in the '80s. He's more of an icon than simply one of the best musicians I've ever had the pleasure to work with. To be an icon, rather than the best in your field, is a bigger title or reputation to uphold. But Yngwie can do it and I'm proud to say we're still friends.

Read the entire interview from Rushonrock.com.

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