Interview by Tony Cannella
Doro Pesch is a true professional. For over 30 years she has navigated the often treacherous waters of the music business and through it all she has somehow remained one of the nicest and down-to-earth people in the music biz. We recently caught up with Doro and she was kind enough to give us her thoughts on a variety of subject. As always, she gave us a great interview and was an absolute pleasure to talk to. So, without further ado, I give you the Metal Queen!
First off, thank you for the interview Doro. You are about to embark on a brief U.S. tour. It’s only a couple of dates. Do you have any plans to do more shows in the U.S. later in the year?
Yeah, yeah. This is the first leg of the U.S. tour and there will definitely be more shows later on. It’s still in the making. We wanted to do something right after the Monsters of Rock Cruise. I hadn’t been to Florida in a long time so we thought, “OK, then let’s do something right after Monsters of Rock“. Yeah, so later on this year, but it’s not confirmed yet but there will definitely be more shows.
You mentioned that you are getting ready for the Monsters of Rock Cruise. Are you excited about doing that?
Actually I’ve done cruises many times. The first one was 70,000 Tons of Metal, I think it was 5 or 6 years ago and I’ve done the Full Metal Cruise twice which is done by the Wacken people, I did the Monsters of Rock Cruise two years ago and now I’m very excited to do it again. It is a big ship with tons of great people. In general the fans on the cruise are so excited, so relaxed, it’s like going on vacation with your best friends and everybody has such a good time. There is no stress, they don’t have to go to work the next day, and nothing keeps them from enjoying the show. I enjoy it a lot and my band does too.
Do you have anything planned to do anything with any of the other bands on the cruise? Like jams or anything like that?
We probably will. We’ll see when we get there. Hopefully something will work out. It’s not planned yet but I’m sure something will come up.
Your last record, “Raise Your Fist” was released four years ago. When can we expect some new music?
The new record is actually in the making. I have a couple of songs which I think will be really good. I wrote a couple of songs with Joey Balin – who I did the “Triumph & Agony” album with – we started song writing and I think we have some killer things on the way. I went to the funeral for Lemmy in L.A. a couple of weeks ago and I thought, “Oh man, I want to write a song for Lemmy“ and the title might be “Living Life to the Fullest”. I just recorded a little demo and I think that it will probably be on the next record. There is a single coming out in April and it’s for the next record but I didn’t want to wait, I thought it has so much magic I want to put it out right away, because who knows what will be next year, it’s called “Love’s Gone to Hell” and it will come out on the 1st of April. We shot a video for the song with the help of all the fans – we did it with Kickstarter, it was the first time I did something with crowd funding. I am so happy that we did it, it worked out great and I think the video looks great.
I saw the clip online of the making of the video and it looks very high quality.
You know, me being from the 80s, I like big productions. We’ve always had really high class, top-notch videos back in the 80s and I wanted to do something like that for that song. For a normal rock song maybe it’s cool to be in a rehearsal room or on stage just shooting a little video but I feel that this is a big song and it deserves the best. That’s the first thing for the DVD that is coming out in June. It will be a single, you can get it in different formats: vinyl and CD Maxi-Single; there’s extra stuff on it. There is two songs off the DVD, one song is a duet with Hansi Kursch from Blind Guardian it’s for “Rock Till Death” and “Save My Soul” is on there live, so you get a little taste of the DVD.
Can you talk a little bit more about the DVD?
It’s coming out in June and it’s called “Strong and Proud: 30 years of Rock and Metal”. It’s the whole 30th anniversary celebration. There is a cool movie on it that is 1 ½ hours long and it’s a documentary of one year all around the world celebrating 30 years. It sounds really good too and there will be a live CD as well.
You mentioned that you were working with Joey Balin on a few songs for the new record. Can you fill us in on who else you are working with on this record?
My band, of course. I’m still working with Andreas Bruhne – who I’ve been working with since 1996. We wrote many songs on “Raise Your Fist” together, like “It Still Hurts”, “Freiheit” and “Raise Your Fist” so we will do some stuff together (for this record). I will see how we will record it. I love to work all over the world in many different studios. I recorded one song with our bass player Nick Douglass already and it’s called “Fight for the Fire” and we recorded it in New Jersey with my good friend Mike Goldberg. Mike is a dear friend and a great engineer, we have worked together since 1995. There are some great songs in the making and I want to do it worldwide.
Lyrically, what do you look for in inspiration when you’re writing a record?
Actually, it just comes out. It’s not that I sit down and think of a new song, when it comes out – almost shoots out – like an idea or something that you’re thinking of, that’s the best. When I went to Lemmy‘s funeral, I was flying to L.A., I was really sad and I was thinking of all these great memories, we always had such a great time being on tour or a festival or in the studio, he was so full of life, full of energy. I had this idea in my head – the melody and the lyrics – I thought this song needs to be called “Living Life to the Fullest”. I sang it on my little cell phone and I sent it to Andreas because he knows my connection and friendship to Lemmy – he’s a big Motorhead fan, as well. Usually I like it when I get the melody and the lyrics at the same time. Sometimes you really feel it, my heart is beating fast and I feel there is something going on and then it is definitely worth it to work on the song.
The last time I saw you was at your 30th anniversary show in New York. Can you talk about some of your favorite memories from that show?
The favorite memory was definitely performing with all the guests. We had great people on stage like, Bobby “Blitz”(Overkill) – I love his energy, I think he is one of the best frontmen, Jeff Waters from Annihilator, it was great that he came, Jean Beauvoir and the ladies Veronica Freeman and Leather Leone. It was awesome. I always feel it is such an honor to work with great people. We’re all friends. I’ve known Jean Beauvoir for a really long time, we did some songs together. It means a lot that people take the time to come and celebrate a special event. In the end, having everybody singing “All We Are” that’s the icing on the cake.
I have to tell you that was one of the funnest shows I’ve ever been to.
I’m glad you say that Tony, I felt it too. Unfortunately we couldn’t use the footage (for the DVD), it was not allowed. We had to make sure that we get permission before. Yeah, the place didn’t allow us to film and I was so shocked because we wanted to film it and that would have been the last thing on the DVD for the 30 year thing, so we just got some photos but we were not allowed to use any footage.
I have one final question, Doro. Thank you for taking the time to do this. You’re always a great pleasure to talk to. Do you have any final words for your fans to wrap this up?
Thank you Tony. I’m looking forward to seeing all of the fans on the short leg of the tour. I love touring the states. I’m so happy that everybody is still into it and comes to the shows. I want to thank everybody for their tremendous support for all these years – It’s been more than 30 years now. I will never, ever give up and I will do it as long as the fans want to see it and hear it. It’s always an honor to play for the fans.
Links
facebook.com/DoroPeschOfficial