Yngwie Malmsteen is a six-foot, three-inch guitar monster from Sweden.

He left the dark and bitter cold of Stockholm at age 19 and moved to L.A. for a record deal, got famous, and drunkenly crashed a Jaguar E-Type V12 convertible into a tree, breaking the steering wheel with his head. But Malmsteen not only survived. He beat a blood clot on his brain. He remastered the guitar. And then he moved to Miami in the late '80s.

Famous the world over for his neoclassical heavy metal shredding and "arpeggios from hell," Yngwie's new book, Relentless, tells the truth behind how it all happened. He's also got a new album, Spellbound. And next week, he's coming home to Grand Central.

So we here at Crossfade called up this axe master to chat about fast cars, the rock star lifestyle, and the Miami Heat.