IT would be fair to say that Yngwie Malmsteen has a bit of a reputation.

According to most interviews with him, the guitarist regards his guest singers as slightly inferior, thinks all music created since 1983 is awful and has a habit of shouting when asked a question he doesn't like.

It's slightly disappointing then to find that in reality he is perfectly pleasant, with a charmingly sing-song Scandinavian accent and a philosophical attitude towards his position as the creator of neo-classical metal.

And he only swore once.

For the latest tour, which hits Manchester on Saturday, Yngwie has recruited former Judas Priest singer "Ripper" Owens. But he says he is not hogging the limelight from the vocalist.

"It's been the whole situation that I've created for myself," he says. "In that I am the songwriter and I produce the records, and once I go on the road I always bring the best guys that I can have.

"I let them have all the freedom they can have, all the attention they can get. On stage we do a lot of the songs that people know, there's a solo spot and I do some improvisations, it's not like a one-man show.

"It's just that when it comes to making the records I basically do all of it."

What about the accusation that he doesn't listen to any contemporary music?

"That's actually true, and that would actually include everything that's contemporary now and the last 25 years as well," he says.

"Basically what it comes down to is that when you're that involved with creating music it's not something that you do for recreation. I have other hobbies. You only have that many hours in the day and I have a family, I like to do lots of other things. I work on cars and I drive race cars and I play tennis and lots of other things.

"It's not like I'm saying there's nothing good out there, it's just that if you get so consumed with creating something and you write a song and you write the lyrics and you're producing and arranging and touring, I don't have any interest in it.

"Plus when I was very very very young, the style that I decided on was formed then and it crystalised then, and I have no intention to go anywhere else with it. I found my way, my vision, and that's where I'm going.

"I think one of the reasons I'm still doing what I'm doing is because that's what I do. I don't follow trends and I don't mind what other people do.

"Having said that, I'm not saying it in an arrogant way, I don't mean it that way at all. It's not because I'm on some sort of high horse thinking that everything else is not good. But when I don't work on music then other things take my time."

A new Malmsteen album is due out around September. He describes it as "in the same vein I guess, but much more, you know? Much more powerful and much more faster and much more heavier. It's pretty extreme, so I'm excited about it."

Yngwie Malmsteen plays the Academy 2, in Manchester, on Saturday.