MM -
There's not many female fronted bands that stand out in the history of
Rock music. There's even fewer in the world of Heavy Metal.
Today however we get the
chance to speak to one of the true Metal Legends of our time, Doro Pesch.
Former lead singer for Warlock, she's been in the business for over 20
years and has a grand total of 11 albums under her belt. She's been
heralded as everything from 'a female warrior' to 'queen of heavy metal'.
MM - You're about half way through your European tour, how's it gone so
far?
Doro - Superb. Its' the best tour we've done in the last 15 years and it
started in Russia actually and it was great. It was really dangerous and
really bizarre and different. But the fans were aware that this was the
first time we had played St. Petersburg and Moscow. We went all over and
it was really good.
After England we go to Spain and Spain is like the best country for us to
go to. They have the biggest market. I don't know why but it is. So far
the tour has been really good and I really feel that Metal is coming back
so much. We see the people in the first row at shows with their denim
jeans and jackets with all the patches on. It makes us very happy when we
see that.
MM - You've done loads of festivals this
summer and now you're doing something like a 50 date tour. Where do you
manage to find all that energy to keep that kind of punishing schedule up?
Doro - Oh you just do. You know I've been doing it for so long now and I
always try to keep in good shape, plus I'm doing Thai boxing on the side.
I always try to give it all during a show because this one could be the
last, you never know. I really love to see the fans and to do what we do.
If we can do it all again with another tour then that is excellent.
We are highly motivated and when we see the fans it is like I don't need
to get motivated because it comes off them. When I feel a good feedback
from the fans then of course I can sing much better or perform much
better. That a goes hand in hand together. If the audience is in a good
mood then it makes more enjoyable. It's not as much hard work as when the
audience is shy. Even today when we didn't have a that many people out
there they were all in such a good mood, I felt they all had a great time.
MM - You really involve the fans in your
shows. You really know how to pump them up and get them going. There's no
us and them its like one big family.
Doro -Yes, that's all part of the show where we a join in together. I
totally enjoy a that. It is always a big honour to play in front of people
and I enjoy it big time.
MM - You have a new album
out called 'Fight. It's a real mixed bag of heavy, strong, metal tracks
and then some gentle, soft ballads. Which do you prefer out of the two
very different styles?
Doro - Oh I love them both. I love songs like 'Undying' with its deep
sensitivity, and I love the songs like 'Fight' with the heavy aggression.
I really couldn't say which I like more.
It all depends on the song and I like the extremes, I like the heavy
aggression and then I like the soft gentle ones. Whatever connects with
peoples soul and heart, oh I love that. I came to do the ballads because
there's like an extra depth to them and the lyrics to them which I could
not put into an aggressive song. But I love doing them both the same.
MM -'Wild Heart' in particular sounds like
the early days with Warlock. It's very anthem like and you can imagine
when its being played live everyone cheering and joining in.
Doro - Yes that is right. Sometimes when we have so many albums out it is
so hard to pick and choose which songs to rehearse. We have had so many
requests for that song so maybe we will have to add it to our set. I
always tell the fans in the encores that they can call out the songs they
want to hear. Sometimes they call out the name of songs they want to hear
and we are like ... oh shit! Its definitely hard to pick and choose.
MM - The third track off the new album 'Descent' features Pete Steele
dueting with you. Its really dark and moody and quite different from what
we are used to hearing from you, but it comes across really well. Although
it's totally different from the rest of the songs it really fits in. Would
you consider doing any more songs with him or was this a one off?
Doro - Oh I don't know what else Pete is up to so I imagine it is more
like a one time special thing. It was great to have him on the song. We
wrote the song, Joe my guitar player and me wrote the song and we thought
it called for another person with a different voice and so our bass player
Nicky sang it and I thought he'd done it really well. But then we thought
that someone with like 10 octaves down would be cool too and I suggested
how about Pete Steele.
Then by accident I ran into some people who were friends of mine and
friends of Pete's and they asked if I had done another duet on the record
and I said not yet. They knew on the last record I had done a duet with
Lemmy and for me that was the absolute highlight. But I told them there
was this one song called 'Descent' that has this very dark atmosphere and
would sound great with someone like Pete Steele. Then this lady who I met
in New York, but who's actually from Germany, said to me she knew him very
well and that she would call him. I said ... oh no don't! ... but then she
did anyway.
Then I got a message from Pete and my cell phone almost exploded because
his voice was so huge. He said he would definitely be interested in
listening to this song so I went over to his house and played him the
demo's. I was really hoping he would like it. The things I get to do are
always so special and I never expect to be able to do them again because I
know how busy people like that always are. I don't want to take up their
time too much. But you never know!
MM - Well it must have been a great honour for him also to be able to work
with you.
Doro - Yes, I think we got along really well. He is definitely the tallest
person I have ever seen in my whole entire life!
MM - As well as working with Pete, the
album also includes a little help from fellow musicians Jean Beauvoir,
Gene Simmons and Russ Ballard. This isn't the first time you've had famous
friends appear on your albums. They obviously respect you a lot to want to
be involved in what you do.
Doro - Oh that is so nice of you to say that. Yes actually we do sometimes
work with other people on the albums. One time Gene Simmons produced one
of our records which was in 1990, and it was such a big thrill. It was so
great and I have always been a big Kiss fan so having Gene come into the
studio every day was absolutely ungodly. It was so fantastic. On our last
record we had Lemmy come and do two duets with us and that was
unbelievable.
I love doing stuff with other people. We also did a duet with Jean
Beauvoir on his new record and a one with UDO Dirk Schneider for his
record. Its always great to work with people who were my idols. It was
funny because I had just got the phone call from Pete when two days later
I got a phone call from UDO asking if we would do a duet on his record. I
went over to Germany and we did it right there and then. It is a really
big honour for me to be able to work with people like that. Everybody was
so unique and different we really got the magic going. It was great.
MM
- What was your favourite track when you were recording them and which one
do you enjoy performing live the most in front of the fans?
Doro - Oh that is a hard one. I think probably 'Undying' and 'Fight'. It
is so hard to say because I like them all for different reasons. But
'Undying' means the most to me because we lost our sick guitar player two
years ago. Just before that I lost my father so I wanted to do a song like
'Undying which meant a lot to me personally.
But 'Fight' was great to do
as
well, I loved to scream it all out. It was like the first time we recorded
it vocally we knew it was right. The first take was the one we used, I did
try to sing it again but it wasn't the same as it didn't have the same
spontaneity that it did the first time.
MM - What influences your songs? Is it real
life or fiction or a bit of both?
Doro - Well every song is different but usually its emotions and
experiences. Its usually real life, especially for the ballads as they are
always about real personal sensitive stuff. I wrote 'Fight by your side'
as an anti warfare song. I wrote it way back during the Yugoslavian war
but the A & R man didn't think we should have some political stuff on the
record so we eventually left it off.
Then after September 11th I said I really need to record that song. It's a
song that caused so many discussions about it, especially in America
because of the war. To try and resolve war with fighting, well I just
don't think that can lead to anything good. So that song is very important
to me. So a lot of our stuff could be personal, it could be political,
every record is different. The title 'Fight' is meant only in the most
positive way.
MM - The song 'Shed No Tears' which you did
with Jean and is included on his new album, did you originally do that for
his album originally or was it to go on one of your albums?
Doro - Yes originally it was to go on my album. But then we had so many
ballads and I just couldn't get rid of any of my ballads like 'Undying'.
'No Tears' had come in that little bit later and Jean had said he would
really like to include a duet for his record so it worked out well.
MM - I know you are quite a big fan of
boxing and Thai boxing in particular. I'd heard a rumour that you were
going to stand in for Sam Fox and do a boxing match in October. Did that
go ahead?
Doro - Yes it did, it was good. I think it was totally even but like in
most boxing I think it is a scam and I lost by one point. But I think the
TV station gave the other girl one point extra. I thought it was totally
even and we all felt like perhaps I had won. But I guess that's boxing for
you.
I went in three days before the fight and the other lady had been training
for three months. Also I was on tour and stuff. It was stressful but it
was fun. It was a big challenge but I loved it. It really was great, I
would do it again but just not while we are on tour. The day before we
shot a DVD and then the following day we had another concert again. I was
so exhausted but it was such good fun. I love boxing but Thai boxing with
all the hands and feet and knees and elbows is my favourite!
MM - So you have a DVD coming out?
Doro - Yes it coming out in April and we want to put everything on it from
this tour. There will be two DVDs, like a diary DVD and a one with some
cool stuff on for the fans. Maybe some bootleg shit that I have collected
myself. I have some old black and white videos that maybe some fans might
like to see. I want to do something that is not as commercial as the other
one. I really want to do this one for the fans.
We filmed the day before the boxing match and it was in this old cave that
was 2,000 years old. It was such a nice place to film. So that will be one
DVD and the other will be all old history stuff. We will see what we can
get from the other record companies. I would love to get all our old
videos on it but it might be hard because they might not let us have them
for free. We will have to wait and see, it will be interesting whatever we
have on it. After the tour I want to take care of it.
MM - Will that be released worldwide?
Doro - Yes. There is this DVD of old that is put out that was a show over
here in England years ago. It is exactly the same video but they keep
putting it out with different names and its always the same fucking video!
It's now out on DVD and they've changed the cover but it's just the same
show with different packaging and the fans are so upset.
It's from a show back in 1984 and perhaps it you are a die hard collector
and you want it with a lot of different logos it might be OK, but for the
regular fans it's bad. It's always the same songs. I want to do this new
one for them.
MM - The title track off the new album
'Fight has actually been adopted as the official anthem for female boxing
champ Regina Halmich. As a boxing fan yourself you must feel pretty
excited about that.
Doro - She has been the world champion 28 times and I really like female
boxing and I support it. I don't know how big it is over here but in
Germany it is not as big as the male boxing, but I support it. She's a
great friend of mine and she always used to go into the ring with 'All We
Are'. We always call each other on New Years Eve and wish each other well.
She said that she would love for us to do something together again and I
told her about the new record and said that I had two songs that would
maybe fit perfectly. She choose 'Fight' and that's what she is using now.
Sadly by this time our time was up and Doro
was whisked off to do another interview. We'd like to thank Doro for
agreeing to take some time out to talk to us and to say it was a great
pleasure to meet her. If you haven't caught one of her live shows yet then
keep any eye out for her tour in the Spring of next year.
All content and images
are copyright of
unless otherwise stated.
Today however we get the
chance to speak to one of the true Metal Legends of our time, Doro Pesch.
Former lead singer for Warlock, she's been in the business for over 20
years and has a grand total of 11 albums under her belt. She's been
heralded as everything from 'a female warrior' to 'queen of heavy metal'.
MM - You have a new album
out called 'Fight. It's a real mixed bag of heavy, strong, metal tracks
and then some gentle, soft ballads. Which do you prefer out of the two
very different styles?
