Doro

By: Nina McCarthy, Music Journalist [email protected]

In October I had the privilege of interviewing Doro Pesch at Palace Theater in CT. I first met and interviewed Doro in 2009 and was excited to catch up with her. Opening the show was my friends and local band Sinners Inc. Due to time constraints and Doro not feeling her best, we did the interview after the show, so we were tired and sweaty, but had a great chat.

BRR: First of all, it's an honor to chat with you again. You are the Queen of Rock and Metal. Now you're celebrating 30 years of performing live. Can you explain how it all began and why you decided to pursue music full time?

Doro:​ Actually, the first time I really fell in love with music, I was 3 years old. Back then there was no Metal but there was a song by Little Richard called “Lucille” and I heard it and that was it. I heard it over, and over, and over again. I've loved music ever since then. I joined my own band when I was 15. It was called Snakebite. We didn't even know we were doing Metal, it was so young. The scene was so small, especially in Germany. There weren't any magazines, no fanzines, and of course no internet. Then I had another band Beast and Attack before we started Warlock in 1982. We went to some Metal shows. My first one was Whitesnake and then Judas Priest and Dio. We thought, “Oh wow!” and wanted to take it serious and make a record. In 1983 we were offered a record and we did “Burning the Witches”. We had no expectations what so ever. We thought maybe a hundred copies we would sell to all our family and friends. Then in the first month there were like 25,0000 and we wondered how everyone knew about this little​ band. Then actually our second album ​Hellbound got a lot of excitement. We played our first shows in England, which was very important because back then to get American records you had to prove yourself to England, which was very hard. We played a couple shows in England, the Marquee Club. It was my first show in England and it was a very famous club and everyone came down and I did pretty good. We did a TV show and back then England had great TV shows with all Metal. One year later, we got the Great Monsters of Rock Festival in 1986 and that was actually the big break. The fans just loved us. There were 100,000 diehard Metal fans there. A couple of weeks later we got the tour as support act for Judas Priest. I went to America a couple weeks later for three days. I had a little promotion tour in New York and I stayed. I loved it. I love America.

BRR: I'm glad you stayed!

​ DORO​: We did ​Triumph of Agony in the United States, one of our best albums. The fans love “We Are” and we play it every concert.

BRR: Can you tell me about the Strong and Proud 30 Years of Rock and Metal DVD? I haven't seen it yet, but I'm dying to.

DORO:​ Those 30 years we celebrated in one whole year and recorded video all over the world. It was so great. It took 1 year to build the stage and it looks massive. We had great guests. The whole DVD is 8 hours long. It has a 2 hour documentary. It's

really a nice movie even for people who don't know us or people who have everything. Its really, really nice. That's the reason it took 1 and a half years to do it. We did one show with orchestra and guests and a full Metal show in my former hometown, Dusseldorf. We recorded in NY but weren't allowed to use it because we didn't have permission to record video at that club. We actually had to pay a fine. Bobby Prince was there and Jeff Waters and many others. The camera guys weren't aware that we weren't allowed to film so they filmed backstage guests saying “Congratulations on your 30th Anniversary!” and then we had to pay a fine. So that full show is not on the DVD but it's in the documentary. I think it looks and sounds beautiful. The cover artwork is done by Geoffrey Gillespie, the guy who did all our album covers ​Triumph and Agony was his first one and I loved We use him almost every time, except when a record calls ​ for like the ​Classic Diamonds album with the orchestra and more classic black and white shots. There are many packages. There's a yearbook, all 8 discs, 2 blu rays, 3 DVDs and a live CD, and 60 pages of pictures in the limited edition yearbook. Everyone wants to get it and I don't even have one myself. It just came out and it did really well in Germany. It hit #2 on the charts and in England #3. Like I told you, England was always so hard to crack, and Sweden it hit #3, Finland #1. Here it did good on the CMJ charts on the radio, which in Europe there's no radio for Metal. Theres like 3 stations and one has a radio show once a month. Europe is big with festivals and live music but radio is very rare. It's only the Top 40 shit.

BRR: Wow! Thats interesting because they are always having big festivals. So, after these years of touring and performing extensively, I read that you still get stage fright. Is that true and how do you overcome it?

DORO:​ You just do it. It's like bungee jumping. You just dive in. Sometime before big shows I can't sleep for like 2 weeks and it was the anniversary and I wanted to do extra good. It does get better when you're on tour.

BRR: I also read that your stage clothing is all handmade. Who makes it?

DORO:​ Yes, it's handmade and not leather. A great girl named Ute Mazetocha. I actually get the stuff all over the world, but she's the one who actually makes. She's my age and she's an ex-punk girl and she's so great.

BRR: You are in the process of recording a new record with one song dedicated to Lemmy. I know you were close to him. Can you tell me more about the song?

DORO:​ Yes, it's called “Living Life to The Fullest”.

BRR: Definitely fitting for him.

DORO:​ Its mid tempo-ish and it's a great cause and I hope we will do right by Lemmy. It's not done yet but I think it will sound great. We have some other songs recorded already, probably half of the record, but not done with the finishing touches. When I go back, I'll do more and I hope it comes out next year.

BRR: I know you like doing duets. Is there anyone you'd like to do a duet with that you haven't already?

DORO:​ One dream just came true. I always wanted to do something with Amon Amarth and I just did on their album called JomsViking. It's a song called “A Dream That Can Not Be”. I saw them live and thought what a great band and thought I'd love to do something together. A couple of months ago I got an email and they said, “Hey Doro, we’re doing a new record and there is one song we’d like you to do a duet on”, and I was like “Wow!” There are so many great people out there!

BRR Mike: Have you ever done anything with Primal Fear?

DORO:​ No, not yet. I just went on tour with Mat Sinner though. He's doing Rock meets Classic with many singers from different bands and a big orchestra. We did 25 gigs in Germany. It was long. But Primal Fear, is that something you'd like?

BRR Mike: Yes, that would be awesome!

BRR: We were discussing that on the way here.

DORO:​ I like them. One song I love so much is “Fighting The Darkness.”

BRR: I work a lot with local bands so I always like to ask what advice would you have for aspiring musicians?

DORO:​ Do what you love. Always be yourself. Always give 150% and follow your heart. No one can tell you exactly what to do. You know best. Follow your heart soul and instinct. It usually takes longer than expected. There's no such thing as overnight success.

BRR: Things are so much different now then when you started out.

DORO:​ Yeah, totally. Never, ever, ever give up! I see so many support bands on the road and I know it's hard and then they split up and I think “Oh shit, they were so close to getting somewhere”. Sister Sin was one we played with recently and they awesome and we had a great tour together but they just split up. We had another band from Sweden called Crucified Barbara and they were together for like 17 years and they were fantastic and they just split up. They were some really great bands. It is hard.

BRR: I appreciate your time. It was great catching up with you. I know you are in a rush so Johnny can catch his flight, so I’ll let you go, but first let's get some pictures.

(All photos taken by Mike M photography ​[email protected] unless otherwise noted)