Doro Pesch – Solo Artist and Vocals for Warlock

Date: 12/16/07
Interviewed By: Rich Catino

RICH: Hi Doro how are ya?

DORO: Doing very good thank you.

RICH: Now I know you have homes in both the States and Germany so where are you spending the holidays?

DORO: O I am over in Europe right now we are on tour until Christmas. Its really nice in New York with the decorations and I know it just snowed their so it must be nice in the city. We just finished playing a show here in my hometown Dusseldorf Germany which was fantastic, we had all sorts of special guests singing on “All We Are” like Schmier from Destruction and Mille from Kreator, ya it was great. It was a huge metal festival with many great bands like W.A.S.P., Saxon, Primal Fear and U.D.O. played. It was the Metal Christmas festival Hahaha. But that was the only festival appearance now its just the normal tour.

RICH: I recently saw your show at BB Kings in New York which was great and I reviewed it for this website. I didn’t have a photo pass so there are no pictures but the review is still posted.

DORO: Ya ya good. O I’m glad you liked it. Yeah I want to read your review thank you for doing it. Please give me the address for your site. Well when we come back in March I will make sure you have a photo pass.

1. Now is this E.P. “All We Are: The Fight” out now in the U.S.?

DORO: Yeah it is. There was this great event a few weeks ago with my friend Regina Halmich who is the undefeated boxing champion and she used my song “All We Are” as her entrance theme. And the record company then called and said they would like to have it as a single so we decided to make it special and add some more songs and then you have the videos as well. I think it’s a nice package, ya know. It was really cool.

2. The other songs on the E.P. “Thunderspell”, “Everything’s Lost” and “On My Own” are those all more recent recordings?

DORO: Well “On My Own” is new and is a duet with Marc Storace from Krokus. The video is new also. The Led Zepplin song “Babe I’m Gonna Leave You” was actually part of a tribute album a while ago. “Everything’s Lost” was available here on a limited edition cd which didn’t come out in the States.

3. So re recording “All We Are” was done just for the boxer Regina Halmich?

DORO: Yeah it was done just for her and we didn’t even know it would have received so much attention. The single and everything was not planned.

4. How far along are you in the writing process for the new album?

DORO: Ya... we actually should have it done by the middle of next year and the American tour starts in March/April and I would like to play a few of those new songs, ya.

5. How are the new songs sounding and what could you compare them to?

DORO: Ya.. they are covering the whole spectrum of Doro like some really fast, anthems, sing along songs, a couple ballads. A nice variety like “Warrior Soul” in that direction. Real pure Heavy Metal with no computers or anything like that, ya.

6. Are you doing anything different with the music or using any different instruments on the new album?

DORO: Umm well we are not that far into the production we are still writing the songs but ya we would like to have some great great special guests on it,ya. Nothing is a hundred percent confirmed yet so I don’t want to say anything.

7. Do you compose the music and write the lyrics?

DORO: Ya ya like definitely all the lyrics and then composing I do some on my own and then I will do some writing with my guitar player. When we first started (in Warlock) the music always came first because I didn’t know how to speak English well. But now the lyrics I start with first because I like to have a great message in the music whether it’s a great rock song or anthem or a ballad.

8. And who is in the Doro band?

DORO: Well its been the same guys I have had for many years. Nick Douglas has been playing for me for seventeen years, Johnny Dee has been on drums since 1993, and Joe Taylor came into the band in 1993 and Oliver Polati on keyboards/guitars has been with several years. Then you have Chris Caffery who came on board for the last tour as a great special guest as Joe Taylor took a little breather from touring but now he is back and will do the next leg of the American tour. Do you know the Highline Ballroom? That’s where we will be playing on the 23rd of March (website http://www.highlineballroom.com ). I heard the stage is really nice and big.

RICH: Actually I do know of the place. Grave Digger will also be playing their in March. I have heard it is a really nice place and a lot of well known artists have already played that venue.

9. Are you touring with somebody else like a co headline or special guest thing?

DORO: No this time we are doing this on our own but we may have Joey Belladonna (ex Anthrax singer) on some shows so that would be nice having all the Anthrax fans in the crowd but this is not confirmed yet.

10. How long is the U.S. tour?

DORO: It starts March 20th and goes until the end of April. We will be hitting all the places we didn’t do before, like we didn’t do Florida last time, ya so I’m excited.

11. How about the Warlock catalogue. Are there any plans to reissue any part of it?

DORO: O that’s a tough question I don’t know. I know there are a few Doro albums “Love Me In Black”, “Live” and “Calling of the Wild” which were never released in the States so fans may have to check the bootlegs Haha. I know “Love Me In Black” was a little different but still an excellent record. Do you know Munsey? He does radio in the NY/Nj area and he’s a great friend of ours. Well he did get a few of the old Warlock albums reissued several years ago so that was at least a nice start.

12. How about live shows. Are there any Warlock concerts that could get a DVD release?

DORO: Well there is a Doro DVD out called “Fur Immur” which is a double DVD and includes some old classic Warlock footage that I highly recommend for the fans.

13. How about the current wave of female fronted metal bands. Which ones do you like?

DORO: O man there are so many great ones. I love Angela from Arch Enemy she is really a great frontwoman and I did a duet on the latest After Forever album the song is called “Who I Am”. I thought the song had an interesting story to it do check it out. Lacuna Coil is really good, Nightwish. I actually just did a gig with Tarja (ex Nightwish singer) for my boxer friend Regina who did her last fight a few weeks ago. Man Tarja has such a fantastic voice I love her. I like good quality music as long as its done well ya then I am all for it. It doesn’t really matter what style of metal it is as long as it is done well I am for it and all these women who are singing in metal today are really strong. I am real happy to see so many of these women fronting Heavy Metal.

14. You have been the Queen of Metal for so many years. How much longer do you see yourself doing music?

DORO: O man I would love to do it as long as I can and as long as the fans still want to see me. It does get tiring sometimes on the road you know. Sometimes you have to take a break for a bit but as long as I am healthy and can headbang (laughs) then I will continue to sing Heavy Metal. I mean look at Lemmy from Motorhead, Saxon, Udo Dirkshneider, Black Sabbath, Kiss they are still doing it.

15. Do you ever get involved in any side projects?

DORO: Ya actually we wrote the music to a small independent film called “Anuk: The Path of the Warrior” and I also played a part in it. It was a lot of fun, really tough to make though, it was shot in the mountains of Switzerland where it was so cold and you couldn’t shower for a few days Haha and all but it was so worth it. The people who made it put so much heart and soul into it which made the process well worth it.

16. What are your plans for the future?

DORO: Ya well we have the 25th anniversary coming up in December of 2008 so I would like to do some special gigs around the world for it, maybe a show in my home town, Spain, Moscow, New York, LA with special guests. We are already putting in the calls to people but we want to make it something special. I want a huge stage you know do it right, I know the fans will love it. I know all the Warlock fans will love it.

And thank you Rich for taking the time on a Sunday to do the interview. I look forward to seeing you in March.

RICH: Doro it was a pleasure, happy to give you the press and I will see you in March. Good luck with the rest of the tour and happy holidays.

Official website: http://www.doropesch.com