Who Is Joe Lalaina?
Joe Lalaina has written about Yngwie more than any American journalist since 1984. He's done various cover stories for GUITAR WORLD and GUITAR SCHOOL magazines and has developed a special friendship with Yngwie through the years. As a tribute to both Joe and Yngwie, we've begun compiling our favorite Malmsteen/Lalaina articles, which we'll add here as often as our workload permits. We start off with the following interview the fan club conducted with Joe in February 1992.
Interview with Joe Lalaina,
Dragon's Fire, Volume 1, No. 2
Fan Club:: How did you first get interested in Yngwie?
Joe Lalaina: The first time I heard his playing was shortly after the release of the first Alcatrazz album, No Parole from Rock 'n' Roll. I'd recently started working for GUITAR WORLD and got hold of a promo copy. When I went home and put in on my turntable, I was mesmerized. His guitar playing was so unlike anything I'd ever heard. I called a friend of mine to get a second opinion, and he was equally blown away. Yngwie's playing was steps above anything else on the guitar scene.
Fan Club: You've been writing about Yngwie since the start of his career. How has his music changed over the years?
JL: Now he puts more emphasis on writing good songs and isn't really concerned with outflashing other guitarists. To him, writing a song with a memorable hook is more important than the guitar solo. The solo is really just icing on the cake. But he still loves that icing.
Fan Club: People routinely say that Yngwie is a tough interview, but clearly you've managed to communicate well with him. What do you do that puts him at ease, and why does he trust you?
JL: We've been friends since the time of his Trilogy album, and we've been getting closer ever since. I think the reason we started to get along so well is that a lot of journalists were writing bad things about him--many of them were actually just frustrated guitarists envious of Yngwie's talent--and my writing was always very positive. He could sense that I really loved his music, and that came across in my writing. In one of my articles I mentioned that Yngwie was the most influential guitarist since Eddie Van Halen. I think I was the first journalist to state that, and Yngwie appreciated it greatly. Yngwie is a very genuine guy, and if you're loyal to him, he'll be just as loyal to you. Over the years he's encountered many people, and some of them might not have approached him properly. If you act like a jerk to Yngwie, he'll be even more of a jerk back to you.
I've interviewed a lot of musicians since 1984, and Yngwie is one of the nicest, most sincere guys you'd ever want to know. Unfortunately, it's hard to get to know him well unless you can see him in different situations over time. His personality is really complex and unpredictable. I've spent a great deal of time with him in hotels, on tour, in restaurants and clubs, and at his home. One of the things I find so intriguing about him is that he's consistently interesting--both his personality and his guitar playing. He's so much fun to be around, and he's very intelligent
Fan Club: What do you think of the Fire & Ice album?
JL: At first I didn't think he'd be able to follow up Eclipse with something equally as great, but he really out-did himself on this new album. It's really one of the best records he's made, and there's so much good material on it. I hope it gets promoted properly, because it really deserves to be heard. The first single is "Teaser," which is the most commercial song on Fire & Ice. I hope the powers-that-be will release "Cry No More" as the next single and video. "Cry No More" has so much potential, it's so melodic, and it beautifully showcases his guitar style. It'll appeal to a wide variety of music fans. It's the kind of song that you can listen to only once and then you'll want to hear again and again.
Fan Club: Have you met his current band lineup [Svante Henryson, Mats Olausson, Bo Werner, Goran Edman], and what's your assessment?
JL: I've met the whole band except for the new drummer. I was on the road with Yngwie in England for several dates of the Eclipse tour, and it was a blast traveling from town to town on the tour bus. They're all great guys and great players. I'm especially a big fan of bassist Svante Henryson. His bass work is light years beyond what's happening on the bass scene, but his playing on record offers only a hint of his talent. Some of the stuff he plays at soundcheck would really blow your mind.
Fan Club: To change the subject, will you be the one to write Yngwie Malmsteen's official biography? All fans assume, of course, that some day there will be one.
JL: I'd really like to, and Yngwie wants me to do it. But it isn't likely to happen unless, first of all, Yngwie's career in the States really takes off--so there is a demand for an Yngwie bio--and second, if there's a publisher willing to offer me good money to write it. It wouldn't be right for me to bust my butt writing it and not get paid well in return. If there are any interested publishers who happen to be reading this, they can reach me at GUITAR WORLD.
Fan Club: What plans do you have to interview Yngwie again in the near future?
JL: I've returned recently from his home in Miami, and we did a big interview to coincide with the new album. You can read about it in GUITAR WORLD very soon, hopefully by the time this newsletter comes out. I also put together an essay for Yngwie's best-of compilation, The Yngwie Malmsteen Collection, on Polydor Records.
Fan Club: Finally, how did you get started in the music journalism business, and what advice would you give to readers who aspire to the profession?
JL: I've been fascinated with the English language ever since grade school. When I went to college, my mother wanted me to study accounting, and I did for a while, but I hated it. It was so boring. I eventually switched my major to English, which was at Lehman College in New York. Then I started to write for the college newspaper, and the first thing I wrote was a album review of Led Zeppelin's In Through the Out Door. I received an internship at GUITAR WORLD during my senior year, and I've been working there ever since. My advice to aspiring music journalists is they should first of all want to get into music writing not because they want to get backstage and mingle with the stars, but because they really love the music and want to express their love of it through the printed page. I really turns me off when I read a poorly written article. I also think that journalists should be known for their by-lines, not their photos. We're not the stars; we just write about them. [That's why you won't find any photos of Joe on this Website, although we tried! -- Fan Club webmaster.]
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