Interview With Doro

"There is no doubt that Doro Pesch is without doubt the 'Metal Queen', as she has stood the test of time and after 20yrs + she still maintains to carry the flag for females in Metal music, if there are any left. After a successful career with with her former band 'Warlock' this metal queen tyrant still manages to carry forward her true identity which every metal head out there loves to hear. As Doro is about to embark on her forthcoming tour and her new release titled 'Warrior Soul' through AFM Records, Doro tells me what she ahs been up to since the last interview we did together on their last UK tour. Here is what stunning and sexy Doro had to say"

As a female vocalist playing Heavy Metal music, which vocalist have inspired you to become a singer yourself? Who are you main influences?

"Well when I was 3yrs old my 1st ever influence was Little Richard and from that day on I was totally addicted to music and later on I grew up with the Glam Rock music with such bands as T Rex, Sweet, Slade, Led Zepplin, and later on people like David Coverdale, Dio, Rob Halford. For female artist I like Heart, Lee Aaron, Lita Ford, Rock Goddess."

Moving on Doro, could you tell my why you reformed 'Warlock' and why you played the 1 off show at Wacken?

"Yes we played Wacken almost 2 yrs ago now and we met on the 20th anniversary, and I met the band a couple of days before the show and said asked them how cool it would be if we were to play something together. So we did just 1 hour of rehearsals and then we played 3 songs that night, it was great and then we got a phone call from Wacken promoters asking if we could like to do a reunion show together. Before we did that show we got into a heavy law suit with our old manager, so we had to name ourselves as 'Warlock 1986' because it was that line-up of 1986. The problem is that some people claim they have the rights to the name, so it became a whole mess. Back in 1989 our manager stole the bands name and we ended up in court over the name, but for some unknown reason the judge thought it was best if the name went with our old manager. So after a few years had past the manager at that time does not own the rights to the name anymore, so we did the show under that name and we ended up in a  whole lot of trouble. He still had the rights to the name."

Are there any plans to do a reunion album with 'Warlock' in the very near future?

"It depends on the situation with the law suit, if we can do another album under the name of 'Warlock'. It also depends on the guys in the band, as they all have normal jobs now & families. I'm pretty sure they would be interested in doing it."

So Doro, what is the key success to you're successful career as the 'Metal Queen'?

"Well I love the music and I also love the fans too!! Its like their my whole family and the 1st song on the new album is called 'You're My Family' which is dedicated to my fans world-wide. These days I can really appreciate my names more, whereas back in the 80's the success was very different then it when metal music died out a little it was very difficult for the survivors to carry on. So, in the last 5yrs I could see it was coming back and now I can cherish what Metal is all about and I love every concert I'm now doing."

What country would you say Doro, is your biggest fan base as you seem to becoming a lot more popular these days.

"That's a tough question to answer, every country has die hard fans & we played in Turkey for the 1st time and the fans were so excited I could not believe how popular we were over there. We are doing really well in Spain at the moment and other countries. It all depends on the promotion really. We played in Tailand once and we had so many fans out there we couldn't believe it."

OK Doro, would you know talk me through the 2 DVD's have have released so far, those been ' Classic Diamonds' & 'Fur Immer'.

"Well the 1st one was 'Fur Immer', and we wanted to put a lot of work into that DVD, as there was 20yrs history into my career. We had a full live show and then we had some promo videos for Warlock & Doro, interviews etc.. I was so happy with the end results for that DVD. If I had to recommend any of the DVD's to a fan I would have to recommend that 1 first. The next one is 'Classic Diamonds', that one is a concert with a symphonic orchestra which was recorded at Wacken, it also features some live in Hamburg material, some promo videos etc... We recorded 1 cover song on the Wacken set which was a Judas Priest cover of 'Breaking The Law',  and it's my favorite song on the DVD and it also features UDO on vocals and Chris from Savatage on guitar. I wasn't really a big fan of orchestra stuff but when we did it live is was just unbelievable!! "

Have Judas Priest heard the cover song??

"Well I gave the DVD to the band, but I didn't hear what reaction they through about it, pity really!!"

So Doro, could you tell me why you left SPV and how did the deal with AFM come to be?"

"Well I was very happy with SPV, but the contract had ended and we were checking out many different options and then I Met Andy from AFM, who died recently and he was such a great guy to know. Anyway, we had a 8 hr meeting and in the end I wanted to sign to AFM Records, who were totally standing behind us. They wanted to do a lot of promotion for us etc... and I was so happy with them. I'm really happy to be on AFM, and saying that SPV are a great label too!!!"

How long is you're contract with AFM and are you happy with them?

"I'm very happy with the way things are going, we have 1 more album to do within the contract and then a option I think."

Lets talk about you're new album 'Warrior Soul', so why the title?

"Well actually the name of the album came from a movie that I appear in last year. I wrote a song for the movie which is the title track on my new album. I actually play a part in the film were I am playing a hunter who becomes a warrior and she fights along side the main character and I wrote the song for the main character. I later on called the guy who does my album covers, Geoff Gillespie and asked him if he could make another painting which is more back to the roots. I told him the title of the album and left the rest for him to do. He did some work and sent it to me, which I decided if I liked his ideas or not. The 1st design was the correct cover for me, I loved it and that is the one that you can see now. It's so good I love it!! The tattoo which I have on the cover isn't really, that is the fantasy of the cover, but I'm think of having it on my leg anyway!! I think the movie worked hand in hand with the record, because the film was filmed in Switzerland and so was some of the record was also recorded. It was mixed in Germany and New Jersey, USA."

Are the songs wrote as a  team effort or is it you that writes the lyrics and a certain member of the band who writes the music? Also I have noticed there are 2 songs on the new album that are sang in German, these are 'In Liebe Und Freundschaft' and 'Ungebrochen', what do they mean in English?

"Well every song was coming out totally different, some of them I wrote by myself and some were wrote by the band and some were wrote with the guitar player Joe, so every song was wrote in a different way. Well 'In Liebe Und Freundschaft', means in love and friendship and I was standing in front of my fathers grave and we were best friends and I loved him so much. The other song is 'Ungebrochen', that is a little punk kind of riffing song and it was originally wrote for a TV show 'Ungebrochen Metal', which is Unbroken Metal, so that is were that song came from. 

So Doro, how well have you been receiving album reviews so far for the new album?

"So far so good, I would say 90% of the reviews are great!! 10% are ok and I don't mind what they say about those. Not everybody can like the same music or album. When the fans say they like it then we are happy as a band. This album has so much variation, there are some mid tempo songs, some ballads and some up tempo songs with double bass drumming, so I feel it is the heaviest album we have done in a long time."

What kind of recording period did it take to record the album?

"It took about a year to record this album, because of my acting part in the film, that prolonged the recording period of the album."

I have just been listening to Destruction's lates album and I noticed that you amongst others appear on the song 'The Alliance Of Hellhounds', how did that come about?

"Well Schmier contacted me and he sent me the song and asked me if I wanted to do the song, and I jumped at the chance and said 'Yes', it's a great song."

When the band is getting ready to tour, where do you rehearse?

"Well that depends on where the tour will begin. I just got a new place in New York on Long Beach, so for 15yrs I lived in NY and my father got sick and so I moved back to Germany. The only stupid thing is that I'm never there I'm always on a tour bus, that's my home!!

Out of all the previous Doro album's you have recorded, which would be you're favourite one?

"Wow, that's a tough question to answer. I would have to say that my least favourite would have to be 'True As Steel', that was the 3rd Warlock album and we were under so much pressure from the manager and producer and we didn't have a say in anything really. I think the demo songs for that album sounded a lot better than the end results of the album."

What is the biggest festival that Doro has played to so far?

"I would have to say Donnington 'Monsters Of Rock' festival in the UK in the 86, there were 100.000 people I think, we loved it!! If you had to ask me which is my favourite festival, then it would have to be Wacken!!"

"So when do we expect to see Doro on tour?"

"Well we start the tour on 15th April for 8 months and I think we have 8 shows planned in the UK, so it would be nice to meet you again Jason."

Moving on, what do you think of Nick's reunion CD he did with his old band 'Deadly Blessing'? I loved that debut album from the 80's it was awesome Power Metal. Would love to see Doro & Deadly Blessing tour together!!

"Well I thought it was great!!! I really enjoyed hearing that new album. I have no issues if anybody within the band wishes to do a solo project etc... I'm so happy for them all as I know they will come back to Doro band."

Well Doro, I would like to thank you for taking you're time out and for doing this interview. Do you have anything you wish to say before we come to a close?

"Yes I do, thank you for ur support Jason, I appreciate you're support. To my fans I hope you enjoy the new CD and I look forward to see in you all on tour soon.

ED: Wishes to thank 'Metal' Mike Exley for arranging this interview, thanx bro!!

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