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Interview with Doro Pesch - Doro
Doro has a new album out. It's called Fight and you can read the review here. I had never heard any of her music before and had been very surprised by how much I liked Fight. We set up an interview and here's how it went...
Doro: Hi Steen. This is Doro calling
Steen: Ahh hello! So, how are you?
Doro: I'm very good, and yourself?
Steen: Very good. Have you been doing interviews all day?
Doro: Yes yes and TV shows and I went to the box training and all kinds of stuff...
Steen: Busy day
Doro: Yeah yeah, like always, but it's good, it's good
Steen: Great, so you have a new album out. How do you feel about? Are you satisfied with the result?
Doro: Yeah, I'm super excited and of course nervous and all these feelings. I'm going to the boxing match on Saturday where the song Fight is the new anthem for this boxing champion...
Steen: Yeah, Regina Halmich
Doro: Yeah god, and that will be great. I hope she wins.
Steen: Let's hope she wins. The song must give her some extra power.
Doro: Yeah, I hope so. We have been friends for so many years.
Steen: So did you just decide to write a song for her or...
Doro: Actually it was a total coincidence. We talked new-years eve and wished each other happy new year and stuff. Then I was asking her what she was doing and she asked me what I was doing and I said "I'm just in the middle of writing a new album". Then she says "Ahh Doro you know I always enter the ring with All we are" and "Oh it would be great if there was a new song for me" and then I said "I have two demos which I might want to send you" and then I sent her "Always live to win" and "Fight". They were like really really raw versions and first she said "Always live to win" and then she called me up later and she said "No, you know what, Fight is even heavier" and I want to have "Fight". Then I made it even nicer.
Steen: Yeah Fight is definitely a heavy song.
Doro: Yeah and we played it live a couple of times at some summer festivals and God, it got over really well and the audience really got into it.
Steen: Actually I must admit I'd heard any Doro or Warlock stuff before, but I got this Fight album and I was really surprised by the power of the album. I liked it a lot.
Doro: Super. That makes me happy. You never know if the music goes up to the taste. When somebody likes it I'm happy.
Steen: What about the recording sessions. Did everything go as planned?
Doro: Actually we started last summer and the band are all Americans and one guy is from Hungary. We were in our studio here in Germany and we're rehearsing and then I presented a couple of new songs I wrote in Nashville with somebody I always love to write with, his name is Gary Scruggs. I always go to Nashville first when I start an album to get everything out of my system, what's really important and stuff. I told the band, if they wanted to check out the new songs and then they listened to them and they said, hey how about if we play them right now and we started rehearsing these songs and it felt so good. It felt so natural and then we planned that we would record the whole album together, the whole band with everybody together in the same room to make it almost like a live recording. That's what we did. We did pre-production in Germany and the real recording in Pensylvania. Theres actually not much technical stuff. The studios were good but more pretty pure...
Steen: Yeah, well the record seems pretty straight from the heart.
Doro: Yeah totally.
Steen: What about the production. Did you aim for that sound right from the start?
Doro: Actually I really don't plan things out so much, I always do it right from the gut and do whatever instinctively feels good. Actually we were really happy about how it came out. In our band everybody can play what they feel and we have a good understanding, sometimes an understanding without words and then everybody does like to write things in the songs.
Steen: So, you have a good understanding between all the members
Doro: Yeah very very good. And we never had a fight ever. All these ten years. It's unbelieveable, but it's true.
Steen: Thats great. You have some guest musicians on the album too. I really love the Descent song with Pete Steele. It has a great atmosphere.
Doro: Yeah I know and it was so cool singing with Pete Steele, god. I always loved his voice and we had this song Descent which my guitar player and me wrote a couple of months ago. And I thought, "Wow man, this song actually calls for Pete Steele's voice". Then by accident it all came about. We had some mutual friends and I was in New York then and a lady is asking me how the record is going and I say "Quite well" and she asks me if there's another duet on the record. Because on the last record we had two duets with Lemmy and that was the personal highlight for me. I said I'm not sure if I want to have another duet, because with Lemmy it was so great and she said, if you could choose somebody who would it be? I said there's this one song called Descent and Pete Steele would fit so good on it. Then she said "I know him! I could always call him" and I say "No no don't" but she did anyway and a couple of days later Pete called me and said "Let's check it out" and then we did it and he was super sweet and such a nice person.
Steen: Wow, that's pretty lucky.
Doro: Yeah haha
Steen: Well, it turned out great.
Doro: One of my favourites too on the record
Steen: I also read somewhere that Chris Caffery from Savatage played guitar on one of the songs.
Doro: Yeah on Salvaje, the Spanish song and on Descent.
Steen: I thought I heard his playing on Salvaje, but I wasn't really sure. So it is him then. How did get in contact with him?
Doro: Actually he was on tour here in Europe and we have the same tour manager. I talked to my tourmanager and we were talking about summer festivals and so on and then I said "I need another guitar player for some different feels and some different licks" and he said well I'm just here on tour with Savatage and I know Chris Caffery would love to play, because on the last record Al Pitrelli played some solos and he used to be in Savatage. So the connection was there already and I thought "Wow, Chris Caffery, that would be awesome" and two days later they had a day off and Chris Caffery flew over from Spain to Germany and played all day and all night and we had so much fun too. Then he went back on the tour the next day.
Steen: So now you're friends...
Doro: Yeah, actually with all the people I work with there's always like a really a great friendship developing.
Steen: Yeah I could imagine that you have a lot of friends in the music business, now that you've worked with so many people throughout your career.
Doro: Yeah it's true, but I love doing stuff with other people too and when they put their good vibes on the record and they're playing, I really like it. And I like singing on other records too, like I just did a duet with UDO Dirk Schneider on his album. I really like it when people click and they have a good understanding, but it can only work with people that you really have the feeling that you will get along with. I would never want to work with people where I have the feeling that it wouldn't work out so good.
Steen: So, about the songs on the new album. What kind of subjects do you deal with?
Doro: The title Fight is there for a reason. I mean everything is such a big fight like a fight to survive, a fight for the music and a fight to live your dream.
Steen: You must have had some rough years being a woman in the music business.
Doro: Actually I must say that for all the musicians it's very difficult to survive, I think. I think it doesn't really matter if you're a woman or a man. It can be just as hard to get attention.
Steen: You have to be productive all the time...
Doro: Yeah, that was one of the reasons why it is called Fight and then the other reason was that there's this other song on it. It's an anti-war song called "Fight by your side" which we wrote during the Jugoslavian war many many years ago, but it didn't make the album back then and this time when the 11th September happened in New York I thought "I need to have this song on the record". It's an anti-war song and I'm totally against war and in this time and age I think it's a good song to get people to talk about it and I know everybody has a different opinion. And the title song Fight is the anthem for this great friend of mine, the boxing lady Regina Halmich.
Steen: Yeah, I actually visited her homepage today and it plays the song Fight right on the front page.
Doro: Oh, really. I haven't even checked that yet. Super. She's a great friend of mine and I've been a big boxing fan for many years and she always went into the ring with "All we are" and now Fight is the new anthem.
Steen: That's great. I really love the song undying. Is that based on something you've experienced.
Doro: Yeah, I wanted to write that song to give other people hope, who have experienced the same kind of tragedy we have. Our guitar player passed away a year ago. He was the second guitar player and it was super heavy for us. While we were on tour he died. He had cancer and then a year before that my father died and these two tragedies were really heavy for me and the whole band. I wanted to write a song about it that other people could maybe relate to. It's a very personal song but on the other hand I really believe that they are still here in some other shape and form around us and I sometimes feel their presence.
Steen: Well, that's actually what I believe too, so I really related to the song in some ways.
Doro: That's good. I wrote that song and "Fight by your side" with this guy in Nashville I always go to, to get all the important stuff out of my system. His name is Gary Scruggs and he's super sensitive and when I have stuff that's really important to me then I always go there and I know he's like...
Steen: Yeah, you can really talk to him...
Doro: Yes, and he understands and he would never laugh about an idea. We have a good understanding.
Steen: Great to have a friend like that.
Doro: Yeah, he's definitely one of a kind.
Steen: I noticed some of the songs have a live audience in the background, which you've mixed in. Did you do that for any particular reason?
Doro: Yeah, actually we are just about to do our live DVD and a couple of the songs we have played already on the summer festivals and in general we had a little tour. Then we recorded some stuff and then we thought the fans were so good that we put them in a couple of songs. So it's a real live audience from our gigs.
Steen: Okay! So you're doing a live DVD. When is it going to be released?
Doro: Next year. It's probably long time enough. I want to put everything on for the die hard fans, like all the bootlegs, some black and white video stuff and it's like really rare.
Steen: All kinds of extras then?
Doro: Yeah I want to put everything on that the fans really might like. I might make it different from other DVD's. And some good concerts of course.
Steen: So, is it going to be a whole concert or various clips from different concerts?
Doro: We don't know yet. I guess it will be a double DVD and maybe one great concert and many other important things, like the last summer festivals, The Sweden Rock Festival, Gods of Metal and Wacken. There's some good footage and I would love to see songs from each concert.
Steen: That sounds really awesome
Doro: Yeah, but it's probably taking a couple of months to get it all done, but I will take care of it.
Steen: Going back a little in time. How did it actually happen that you got into the music business?
Doro: Well, I grew up and music was always my biggest love. I think when I was three years old I discovered music. I got a single from Little Richard. It was the song "Lucille" and I couldn't stop listening to it. All the time and I drove my poor parents crazy and then you know the thought was there or the idea was there that I wanted to become a singer. Then I was 10-11-12 years old and I listened to all these glam rock bands like T-Rex, Sweet, Slade, The Stones, Led Zeppelin and then a little bit later I turned to heavy metal when I was 16. I was in the hospital for a year and I was really really ill and for one year. I didn't know if I would survive and then I thought "If I survive then I will do something with my life". Then I got out of the hospital and two weeks later I had my first band and everything fell into place. Then many many bands later it was then Warlock and suddenly we got offered a record deal and everything took off.
Steen: So, you've had a pretty good career as far as I have read.
Doro: I mean there were always ups and downs and stuff, but it was always fun for the most part and the fans were always there. We have always had a strong fan base.
Steen: Have you played pretty much all over the world?
Doro: Pretty much all over. On the last tour we hit some countries we had never played in before, like Russia. On this tour we will play a couple more countries. I haven't played in Scandinavia for so long and on the summer festivals tour we played at Sweden Rock festival and it was so great. The fans were great and the reaction was super and we're definetely coming back to Denmark in November.
Steen: Great!
Doro: We will play everything from the first album to the new one. Everything that people want to hear.
Steen: Well, Fight has convinced me to go back and listen to some of the older albums, so I'll check those out.
Doro: Pick up the Triumph and Agony album. That was one of my most favorite albums. It's the last Warlock album and I love it. It's old but it's pretty good I think. But I guess every record has some really nice songs.
Steen: So, about your immediate future plans. You're going on a tour next month?
Doro: Yes, Actually we are doing a little acoustic tour all over records stores and so on and then in October we start the big tour. Then we will be on the road for a year or something. Then the DVD.
Steen: Great. Well, let me see if I have anymore questions. I think that's pretty much it.
Doro: Hey Steen. That's a nice name RevelationZ. I like it.
Steen: Yeah, Thanks!
Doro: We'll let you know when we come on tour. The promoters are just checking venues and dates.
Steen: Great! So, do you have any last words for our readers.
Doro: Yeah, I can't wait to play in Denmark again. It's been too long and I remember it was always fantastic. I'm dying to get back there and to do a kick ass show. And I'm looking forward to see the fans again so much. I love them.
Steen: Well, thanks for the interview
Doro: Thank you Steen. You sound like a really nice person and...
Steen: Oh, I am... (laughter on both sides)
I cut out a little small talk here... But we get to talking about the concert in Denmark...
Steen: We have a nice concert place here in Aarhus, but you'll probably only play in Copenhagen.
Doro:Probably, Is it far away?
Steen: Nah, it's like three hours by train. But we're used to it. Most of the the good concerts happen in Copenhagen, so...
Doro: I remember the last time I played there. I wanted to go back into the hotel and my parents were there as well. I wanted to show them around a little bit. Then this guy didn't want to let me back in because he thought I was a prostitute and there was a big fight going on and I couldn't go back to my room. Then the tour manager had to grab my stuff in the room and then we left. Then we got an apology one day later.
Steen: Big mixup...
Doro: Yeah, you know these heavy metal clothing. Some people don't know what it is about. But it was fun actually. Not at the time, but...
Steen: But looking back it must be a funny memory.
Doro: Yeah, but Steen have good one, looking forward to see you in the near future.
Steen: Yeah and good luck with everything
Doro: Same to you. Bye bye...
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Written by Steen - 8/19/2002 |
This article has been shown 7155 times. Go to the complete list.
RevelationZ Comments
| Comment by LadyH (Anonymous) - Thursday, August 22, 2002 | Thank you for this great stuff.
There are special statements and that's amazing. I've never heard so much about the comming DVD.
Thanks a lot !!!
eye on you
LadyH
http://www.dorokult.de
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| Comment by Steen (Staff) - Thursday, August 22, 2002 | 
View Profile
Comments: 518 | | Hey, I'm glad you enjoyed it. I really like the new CD, so now I'm looking forward to seeing her live.
Posted by Steen (Staff)
Thursday, August 22, 2002 |
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| Comment by joecanz69@aol.com (Anonymous) - Friday, August 23, 2002 | doro plese come to long island ny to tour my wife loves you rock on .
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| Comment by Bjarne P. (Anonymous) - Tuesday, July 9, 2002 | You are actually pretty good at this Steen....Keep up the good work ;-]
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| Comment by lu x x (Anonymous) - Sunday, February 29, 2004 | i think that was a good review i liked it when you said fight is about fight for yoour dreams fight to survive thankyou
x x
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| Comment by rh (Anonymous) - Sunday, June 5, 2005 | doro yum
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| Comment by Stuart (Anonymous) - Monday, March 5, 2007 | Holy shit Steen,your so famous you have Doro giving you phone calls :) Thats awesome(ok so ive just discovered this interview, Im a little behind the times). If only she could have heard our vesrion of All We Are at Sweden Rock. I reckon she would have appreciated it!
Also I think Barry would be in heaven if Doro gave him a call, hes got quite a thing for women in leather.
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| Comment by ein arschloch (Anonymous) - Wednesday, May 9, 2007 | kannse mir mal ne CD
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