YNGWIE MALMSTEEN On Why He No Longer Works With Singers - "I Want Pure Expression Of Myself, Not Diluted By Having ELVIS PRESLEY In The Band" (Video)

Yngwie Malmsteen performed at this year's Hellfest in Clisson, France, and during his stay the Swedish guitar virtuoso held a press conference. It can be viewed below courtey of Loud TV.

Malmsteen: "In rock and roll, even if you're a solo artist, like Ozzy Osbourne or whoever, they have songs written for them, they have producers and stuff like this. I don't do that. I do everything. I actually do everything, and it's not because I'm an egotistic person that I don't want anybody else to take the credit. No. It's because instead of what you would say a traditional rock and roll Lennon-McCartney, Keith Richards-Mick Jagger (songwriting partnership) - I love all them guys; I think they're fucking great - I work more like an author, like let's say Stephen King or Johann Sebastian Bach. Basically I'm like a painter or an author."

"That's why I don't have co-writers and so on. Because when I did have that, every single time I came out unhappy and I wasn't pleased with the resul, and I only live once. So what I wanna leave behind, what I wanna create, what I wanna put out on records, what I wanna perform on stage, is something that is purely my expression because I have so much inside. I want pure expression of myself, not diluted by having Elvis Presley in the band. Most singers think they're Elvis Presley. They're not. They're just another instrument in my orchestra."

Malmsteen recently announced a string of US tour dates in September / October / November. Support on "The 40th Anniversary Tour" will be provided by Kurt Deimer, who joins the tour on September 27.

Says Malmsteen: "Excited to announce I’ll be embarking on a new USA tour celebrating forty years of my solo career. Can’t wait to see you all on the road - you’re not going to want to miss this