YNGWIE MALMSTEEN And GLENN HUGHES To Join Forces For Summer 2023 USA Tour

Yngwie Malmsteen and Glenn Hughes will embark on a tour of the U.S. this summer. Malmsteen will perform his "greatest hits" while Hughes will play a set of classic DEEP PURPLE songs celebrating the 50th anniversary of the "Burn" album.

The dates are as follows:

Aug. 16 - Landis Theater - Vineland, NJ (Glenn Hughes only)
Aug. 18 - Strand Theater - Hudson Falls, NY
Aug. 19 - The Chance - Poughkeepsie, NY
Aug. 22 - The Palladium Times Square - New York, NEW YORK
Aug. 23 - The Paramount - Huntington, NY
Aug. 25 - King Of Clubs - Columbus, OH
Aug. 26 - Arcada Theater - St. Charles, MI
Aug. 29 - Sundown At Granada - Dallas, TX (Glenn Hughes only)
Aug. 30 - House Of Blues - New Orleans, LA
Sep. 01 - House Of Blues - Houston, TX
Sep. 02 - Tobin Center - San Antonio, TX
Sep. 04 - Marquee - Tempe, AZ
Sep. 06 - House Of Blues - San Diego, CA
Sep. 08 - Saban Theater - Beverly Hills, CA
Sep. 09 - Performing Arts Center - Oxnard, CA
Sep. 11 - House Of Blues - Anaheim, CA
Sep. 13 - Oriental Theater - Denver, CO
Sep. 15 - Emerald Theater - Mt. Clemens, MI
Sep. 19 - The Palladium - Worcester, MA
Sep. 23 - Capitol Theater - Clearwater, FL

Malmsteen's latest album, "Parabellum", was released in July 2021 via Music Theories Recordings/Mascot Label Group. Only four of the songs on the LP feature vocals. The album title is Latin, translating as "Prepare For War".

After working with some of the top hard singers of the past four decades, Yngwie now handles much of the lead vocals himself in his own band, backed by a lineup that includes keyboardist Nick Marino, bassist Emilio Martinez and drummer Brian Wilson.

In an interview with Tigman of WPDH Radio 101.5 FM in Poughkeepsie, New York, Yngwie was asked to name the best of the three singers he worked with early on in his career: Jeff Scott Soto, Mark Boals and Joe Lynn Turner. The legendary Swedish guitarist responded: "Here's the way I look at this. So I came to America in 1982 and I joined a band called STEELER. And then I formed a band called ALCATRAZZ. In January 1984, I signed a record deal as a solo artist. So from the point of January 1984, it was never a band — never. There was never a band called RISING FORCE. My first solo album was called 'Rising Force'. I had a band called RISING FORCE in Sweden in '79. And when I hired people for my solo stuff, I would write the bass parts, the drum parts, the guitar parts — obviously — the keyboard parts, the vocal parts and the lyrics. So like an ensemble, like an orchestra or whatever, or even for a performance on Broadway, there's a written piece and the performer is hired to perform the piece. If they, for some reason, don't work out, you put someone else in there.

"For some strange reason, somebody seemed to think that a) it was a band, and b) the guy that was supposed to be the singer at the time was Elvis Presley or something," he continued. "No. So I therefore, [in] 2012, decided I'm not gonna hire singers anymore and I sing myself. I said, 'Good luck to you, guys. See you. Bye.'"

When Tigman noted that none of the singers Yngwie hired over the years "worked out" in the long run, Malmsteen said: "Well, they seem to think because they're the singer and not the keyboard player they're Elvis Presley. And they will soon find out, in my outfit they're notElvis Presley and they will have to move on.

"It's an Yngwie Malmsteensolo career," he explained. "And even now, for the last album I even played all the instruments as well.

"Listen, it's not like, oh, yeah, I minimize these guys — they're all great; whatever — but the thing is that I'm like an artist like a painter or something. Leonardo Da Vinci didn't call someone, like, 'Hey, dude, can you come over and finish half of my painting?' And that's how I work — I paint the whole painting. That's how I work."

Malmsteen previously floated the Elvis Presley comparison in reference to his former singers during a 2018 press conference in Malaysia. Asked why he chose to handle lead vocals himself on his then-latest album, 2016's "World On Fire", he said: "When I started out when I was a kid in Sweden, I had a band called RISING FORCE, I was the singer. Then I came to America and I was playing with STEELER and ALCATRAZZ, they [had their own] singers.

"I always thought that singers have the Elvis Presley syndrome — they think they're Elvis Presley," he continued. "They're not Elvis Presley. Because I write the music, I write the lyrics, I write the vocal melody lines — I write everything. Just because I let somebody sing something doesn't mean they're more important than the bass player or the keyboard player or the drummer. Because I write all the parts — I write the drum parts, the bass parts, the keyboard parts, the guitar parts and the vocal parts — like a classical composer. And I really kind of got tired of dealing with their bullshit, really. So I decided to sing myself."

In 2017, Malmsteen gave an interview to Metal Wani in which the iconic axeman said that he had no interest in collaborating with vocalists like Jeff Scott Soto, Joe Lynn Turner 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."

"Burn" is the eighth studio album by the English rock band DEEP PURPLE, written and recorded in 1973, and released in February 1974. The album was the first to feature then-unknown Coverdale on vocals and Hughes, from TRAPEZE, on bass and vocals. "Burn" was recorded in Montreux, Switzerland, in November 1973, with the Rolling Stones Mobile Studio. With the addition of Coverdale and Hughes, DEEP PURPLE's hard rock sound incorporated elements of soul and funk, which would become much more prominent on the follow-up album, "Stormbringer".

The phenomenal "Burn" title track started things off at full throttle and challenged the seminal "Highway Star" for the honor of best opener to any DEEP PURPLE album, while showcasing the always-impressive drumming of Ian Paice. The fantastic slow-boiling blues of "Mistreated"'s greatness qualifies it for the highest echelons of hard rock achievement, and therefore ranks as an essential item in the discography of any self-respecting music fan.

"Burn" hit No. 3 on the U.K. albums chart, No. 9 on the U.S. Billboard 200, and No. 1 in Austria, Denmark, Germany, and Norway.

In 2004 "Burn" was remastered and released with bonus tracks. "Coronarias Redig" was recorded during the "Burn" recording sessions, used only as a B-side for the "Might Just Take Your Life" single in 1974. It appears as a bonus track (in remixed form) on the anniversary edition re-release. The 2004 remix version of "Burn" was later used in "Guitar Hero: Warriors Of Rock".

In 2005 an unauthorized documentary about the album was produced as part of "The Ultimate Critical Review" series. It featured a brand new interview with Hughes.

Glenn's band will feature Søren Andersen (guitar),Ash Sheehan (drums) and Bob Fridzema (keyboards).

"It was 50 years ago, in the summer of 1973, that the 'Burn' album by DEEP PURPLE was written at Clearwell Castle in the Forest of Dean Gloucestershire," reminisces Glenn. "It was recorded in October in Montreux, Switzerland. We all became one in this centuries old castle in the U.K. countryside, it felt like DEEP were a new band, with David [Coverdale, vocals] and I as new members, we couldn't wait to start working on new songs. The atmosphere was electric, in such amazing surroundings.

"All the songs on 'Burn' were written in the crypt/dungeon, underneath the great hall," he continues. "We worked on a new song every day, and we were in the flow. Musically we would play, and work out ideas, and David and I would come up with vocal melodies that would later have lyrics. I remember it like it was yesterday.

"As you could imagine, Ritchie Blackmore [guitar] was in full prankster mode, Jon [Lord, keyboards] had warned me, and he rigged my room one night with a speaker that was hidden, and had ghostly voices delivered to my bedside.

"The title track was the last song to be written. We came back from the pub, and went down into the crypt, and magic happened."

Concludes Hughes: "It's time to celebrate 'Burn', and I'm really looking forward to seeing you."