The night before his good show in Madrid, Mitch Malloy offered a press meeting in which he answered quite a few questions from the media. Of course, AOR-Europe was there and here is a briefing of what he said:

How did you get the chance to come to play in Spain?
Well, the staff at my record label suggested me after being contacted by José Herrera (the promoter) the possibility to do some gigs here in Spain. As you know, I've just done a UK tour for a week, and then I had a free week before going back to England to play the Gods. So, never being to Spain before, I thought it was a good chance and I said ok. We arranged the terms with José and here I am.

Reports on the UK tour has been really good. What do you think of the reaction of the British fans, and what can we expect here in Spain?
Well, the reaction of the Brittish fans has been fantastic. Very, very good, I had a great time there. I hope it's the same here.

Is that true that you were called to replace Sammy Haggar in Van Halen some years ago?
Yeah, that's true. Well, that was quite some time ago. I was called by Eddie Van Halen. I flew from my home in Nashville, Tennessee to California. I was in the studio with Van Halen, did an audition with the band, and latter Eddie called me and said that I was in the band. Then I flew back to Nashville and things got complicated. It'll take a while to explain all that happened. It never became a reality. But Eddie and I are very close friends to this day, we call each other often and talk.

Are you satisfied with what you acomplished with "Shine"?
Yes.

Would you work possibly with Desmond Child again?
[Laughs] He is very, very busy. Desmond is busy writing with whoever is on the top ten charts at the moment. I am not one of them, so I'd say not in the near future.

It's been a long gap between your second album, "Ceillings and Walls" and the release of "Shine". What have been you doing all this time?
I left New York and moved to Nashville, where I got a solo artist contract with Chrisalids Music Publishing to write quite a different style of songs that I was used to. So I just stepped away from rock music for a while. For me it was very good 'cause "Shine" came as a result of that break so I think I got back fresh with this record. So I basically worked on my songwriting, I wrote songs all the time, not recording, nor playing live very much just writing and writing songs. Then "Shine" came up and that's basically what I intend to do in the future, this kind of songs.

The musicians on your live band are the same that recorded the album?
Just one of them. The musicians that will play with me tomorrow are great. It's the best live band I've ever had. The drummer is sensational (you'll see) and the guitarist is very very good. I'm really pleased with them.

Do you feel as some said that "Ceillings and Walls" was a step backwards on your career?
Well, you know, I don't see it that way. "Ceillings..." was a record that I was somehow forced to do by the record label, so being that said, I did the best work that I could with it. Once done, I didn't think back of it very often, but I don't feel it was a step back, just the next step after what I had done before.

Then you have tried to go back to the fans of your cassical first record with "Shine"?
Well, some of the fans liked "Ceillings and Walls". So they told me. I just do the best I honestly can, but yes, it seems that the fans are coming back with "Shine".

How do you see the present state on the melodic rock scene? And what kind of music do you listen to lately?
The melodic rock scene, as we all know, is now small. But it doesn't really matter to me, just as long as you are here, and I'm here. Tomorrow I'm playing here, that's enough for me. If I sell a hundred thousand that's great, but a hundred is enough as long as people who get the CD like it. And the music I listen to lately... well, I don't really listen to much music nowadays, I'm busy writing all the time. Sometimes I try to listen to what happens on the radio, and mostly I don't like it.

After Sep 11th dreadful events, many US artist have decided not to come to Europe. Why did you decide to come and play?
Well, first of all those attacks were a terrible thing, I watched them on tv and I was in a shock state for days. But I have no fear, I have a lot of faith thus I'm not scared. Actually I wrote a song about what I think should be a positive reaction to those events called "Don't Run Away", I'll play it tomorrow. just a few days after the attacks I was playing and my mother was coming to the show, but she was so scared she didn't fly to see me playing.

Back on the 80's it was almost unlikely that the greatest American melodic rock bands would come to play in Europe. Now that the strongest labels supporting melodic rock are all based in Europe (like N&T/Frontiers in your case), has somehow forced US bands to cross the pond and play in Europe? Economical reasons behind that I guess?
Absolutely right, this is where the audience is, and we go were the audience is. It's something perfectly natural to us.

There are rumours floating around that you were somewhat involved on the boybands scene. Tell us the truth, are you the voice behind N'Sync?
No. (Silence) I do a lot of things, but I haven't done that. [Laughs] If I feel like doing this I will, I do whatever I want.

What do you think about file sharing programs on the internet like Napster and such, a lot of artists are against it and also a lot of them are in favour. What's your position on this issue?
I think it's a two edged sword. For an unknown or relatively new act can be good, but for a big artist can be really bad.

Any chance of a future collaboration with other musicians like Gary Hughes?
Well, you never know what's gonna happen in the future. I've always been opened to collaborate with other musicians. I've never met Gary Hughes, we're on the same label, but we haven't met, so I can't tell you if I would do something with him, but why not?

"Shine" was first sold at your website. Did you think at that time it would be never be released and distributed properly?
I don't think I really thought that, I had offers to release the record before it was finished, and after it was finished. So, I always had that option.