DORO Interview with Doro Pesch December 12, 2000 What can you say about Doro that doesn’t speak for itself? She is just amazing. I sat with her for an hour and though I was expecting a “tough-gal” type of discussion, she is the sweetest, down to earth, most open person to talk to. She is so easy to just fall in with, you can easily forget you are interviewing and just talk shop and life. There is nothing for show about Doro, she is truly a die-hard metal performer. You kind of walk away with the sense that she is just a big metal fan herself who happens to have what it takes to be part of the big machine. With the amount of drive she has, this lady is going to rock until it’s absolutely, positively impossible for her to do it any longer. With a short set (much too short) opening for Yngwie Malmsteen and Dio, she rocked the house and had everyone on their feet, fist-pumping and head-banging. When it was over it was easily seen that the concert goers loved her and wanted more. Deb: Doro, Metal Flakes is an on-line metal community. Hundreds of metal fans spend time there discussing the genre. We had posted that we were doing this interview with you there, as well as on some other on-line metal community sites, and asked people what they wanted to know about you. So these questions are from the fans. Doro: Oh I love that, that’s great. Deb: All metal heads have a band that made them metal. Who was the band that made you metal? Doro: Judas Priest. Deb: Who are some of your other favorites? Doro: When I was growing up, or now? Deb: Growing up. Doro: T-Rex, The Stones, Whitesnake, Kiss, Motorhead, Dio, Dio, Dio, he was a big inspiration for me singing wise. He is such a dynamic singer. I watch him every night, every show. I enjoy it. Deb: Who do you like now? Doro: The same people I told you before and I love Rage Against The Machine, Danzig, Godsmack, Deb: It’s different now than it used to be. Doro: Ya, I love the older era but I love these two. I still love Metallica too. Deb: What do you think of Rammstein? Doro: Yeah yeah I love them. Visual stuff, fire. (laughs) Deb: What is your desert island CD? Doro: Oh….um…..probably “The Best of T-Rex”. Deb: Your career took off really early in your life. As you are still quite young, and have as much music history as most of the veterans out there in their late 40’s and early 50’s. Being female, do you think that made it harder or easier to get noticed and signed so young, or did it matter? Doro: I think it didn’t matter, I think what’s important is the heart and what you love, when you love something so much, and I always loved the music, and I was willing to go to any lengths just to make my dream come true, and I think it was the honesty from my heart. I can’t say because I’m not a man, but I think it’s really hard to survive in this. I think for a while it was really going away here in the States. Deb: Yes we were asleep for almost one whole decade here. Doro: Ya the 90’s. In Europe it never went away like it went away here but it was hard. I can say that I was always treated good here and with respect. Deb: I have always respected you and that brings me to the next question; There were many “Rock-Goddesses” in the metal industry, most of which were sexy and that was used to sell records and draw attention to themselves. You don’t do that, you are sexy, but it’s secondary to your ability to rock out and put on a real metal show. How did you avoid being placed in that “sex-kitten-metal-babe” category? Doro: I think I’ve just always been myself and I’m not a metal-babe and I think that’s why. I think the truth is what’s always most powerful and even if it’s what somebody says it is about you, you can always be what you are really about, it’s always been about the music for me and I think everybody senses that about me. I know how it is you know, when you don’t look good, and there was a time in my life when I was very sick, and I had chemotherapy and I lost my hair, so I know how it is when you don’t look like people expect you to look, and I think it’s just not important if you are honest. Deb: I’ve heard that you live in Nashville and I’ve heard New York. When not on the road, where do you call home these days? Doro: New York. I always go to Nashville when I start writing for a record. I have a great song writing partner there. His name is Gary Scruggs. I write all my ballads with him, well most all of the ballads with him. Deb: I saw your name on a sign-in board in one of the shops there for stage clothes. Doro: Ya, ya, Dangerous Threads! I love Nashville because of this one person I write songs with and I lived there for one and a half years, and I always go back there to write for a couple of months each year, but New York is home. Deb: Are you an American citizen now? Doro: No, but I have a green card now. Deb: Are you still in touch with any of the former Warlock members? Are any of them working in the industry now? Doro: Yes, actually I met Tommy Henriksen, my former bass player and Tommy Bolan my former Guitar player. I met up with the two of them recently and Tommy Bolan two days ago in New York, he came to the show, and it was great to see him again. He is a singer now! The German guys, I watch the wire for them, and one guy gave up music entirely. Some people choose to do a different thing. With a couple of people I’m in close contact with, my first drummer, (Michael Eurich) I’m in contact with. Deb: Machine II Machine, Force Majeure, True At Heart, Angels Never Die and Love Me In Black are all available in the States as imports. Now with your U.S. record deal with Koch, will any of these be released in the States? Doro: Ya, actually Koch is working on a deal with all of these old albums, which I would just love. They are working on a deal to just buy out the records, which might be really difficult. But I heard that the “Love Me In Black” record, that got free, but everything else Polygram has still. Deb: So you have to get them back from Polygram before you can release them in the States with Koch? Doro: Ya. Deb: You did some Duet work with Lemmy (Motorhead). Recently Rob Halford and Bruce Dickinson (Iron Maiden) also did a duet. You would be considered by many to be the female counterpart to Rob Halford in the metal industry. Have you ever considered or would you like to work with him on a tune? Doro: (Bright eyes, big smile) Oh yeah, god it would be great! That would be great! I will say working with Lemmy on the last record, that was the highlight of my life, it was so fucking cool and Lemmy is the best, he is really. I love him so much. Actually when we did the record I was not planning to do a duet with anybody, it just came about, not by accident, but I saw a Motorhead record, It was the “ No Sleep At All” record, there was like a little photo on the sleeve and it shows Lemmy and me, it was taken in England, 1988, no it was 86 I think. When I saw that photo that sparked the idea so I called him up. I love some songs that he wrote so much. Then I wrote him a letter, I said "Hey Lemmy, it’s me Doro (laughs), you remember? How about we do something together, or write a song together?" Then he called a couple of days later, and said “Yeah I think it’s good idea, let’s check it out". Then I flew over to L.A. and I didn’t expect anything, I just thought maybe we could come up with a good song. Then I checked out the song “Alone Again” which he wrote a couple of years ago, and I just loved it immediately and I was so excited about it. Then when he saw that I was so excited about it he said “Maybe this could be a single for you but what should we do about the B-side?”. Then I suggested and asked him if we could record “Nothing Forever” together and he liked the idea so much he said “Yeah”. Then we just did it in two weeks in L.A., and man it was so good, we had so much fun. The recording process was great, and just singing out with Lemmy was so good and we had the best conversations. I never planned out to have a duet with anybody, it was just, meant to be. On any recording it’s never planned out I always just follow how I feel. Deb: Who else would you like to work with? Doro: Like you said, Rob Halford would be great, and Ronnie (James Dio) would be great. You know now while we are on tour here together I’ve enjoyed every concert so much. Every single concert it blew my mind how great he sings. He is a great person, we became really great friends on this tour. Deb: Metal has always been the bastard-child in music. It’s a tough road to make your way through. What keeps you going, especially considering the 90’s in the States where it was dead for nearly a decade, it has to be hard? Doro: That’s right I think, but it’s always worth while even when there are only a couple of people loving it so much you know. The love for the music but foremost the love for the fans. I always like feedback and stuff like that and I like the positive energy, that held on for years and years. I always knew that we still had a strong fan base in America, even when the industry wouldn’t take care of it. Deb: You are right we got ignored for years. We had Metallica and Guns & Roses for a couple of years . Doro: Right, right, and then the grunge stuff, I mean I was a big Nirvana fan, but everything else wasn’t. In Europe we still had fans and that same kind of power, but here, in America, when the record companies were dropping everybody, and like you said, it was dead. It’s coming back now, I get some phone calls again, and we are on tour here now, and there are some definite big signs and the tour is always sold out. Deb: Well those of us that were in our teens in the 80’s and were spending our parent’s money on the music are now in our 30’s and we have our own money to spend, and it seems we are being marketed to again. Doro: That’s right, I sometimes just wonder because sometimes when people get over 40 they don’t go to every concert anymore, like when you were young, like when I was 16 I went to every concert, I never missed one. I must say we have a good mix in the audience. many young people and many older people too. Die-hard metal heads, (laughs) I love em. Deb: Road life tends to confine performers to hotels, venues, busses and planes. How do you stay in such good shape while traveling? Do you work out, are you able to? Doro: The road is the work out and when you have to do something you have to do something. It’s like being involved, you just have to give your best. I always compare it to this cause I think the music business is a fight and you are always a soldier and you always have to fight. But I love it so much that nothing, nothing else matters. When I see the fans there, that’s all I need. I’m doing tai-boxing I love it, so that keeps my body in shape. Deb: There is a photo of you taken in 1986 in black and white where you have a tattoo of a sword piercing through a heart with a banner. Now you have some sort of tribal band instead. Was the other just a stick-on for the promo photo or was the other tattoo altered? Doro: Actually I have a little heart, that is a home made, self made one, which is this one (shows a small heart shaped outline on left arm) then I put the fake one, that was something that was in the record (given) as part of the record. I put that over my real home made one. Then I have this tribal one, that’s the new one (shows band on right arm). So I put the fake one over the real one and now I have this real one. Deb: I saw that you did some German television on a show called Forbidden Love. Was that just an opportunity you took, or is acting something you are interested in doing more of? Doro: I love music, I’m not too interested in acting. That was just a fun thing to do and they played the music, they played the live record, they wanted to use the live record and I got to drive this awesome car. You know they said I could choose the best car and the new car was a Ferrari. They said I could have a scene in the movie and they could play a song off the live record, so I said o.k. Then it came about that the bass player and me are up for this horror movie, which is like an independent movie, it a horror movie, so maybe we will do that, but it’s just for fun. I never liked anything about musician turned actor, there’s something about that, I mean for fun I think it’s good, but I would never give up music for it. Deb: What are your favorite types of movies? Do you like comedies, horror or dramas? Doro: Real movies, I love that movie “Deliverance” you know with Burt Reynolds. I love that movie. “Midnight Express”, I saw that and was like wow!. I like real movies that touch, no bull-shit. Deb: What do you like to do outside music? Do you have any non-music hobbies? Doro: Tai-boxing. Deb: Tai-Bo ? Doro: No this is tai-boxing. Tai-Bo, I never tried that, I just saw that dude on tv constantly. I started doing the tai-boxing five years ago and I love it so much. I love sports, but I enjoy the tai-boxing. I don’t have much time to put to it but that’s my only other interest. Deb: Have you thought about what you will do with your life when the Doro machine rolls to a stop? What are you considering doing after you stop recording and touring? Doro: I would just like to do this till the day I die, die on stage (laughs) I will do this as long as I can. If I couldn’t do this physically anymore or the body doesn’t keep up with it then I would quit, but I hope I will always we able to do it. Deb: What about family? Have you ever considered getting married and starting a family? Doro: No, no never, never. Nobody can put up with this life. After a year when you come back home, it’s hard. Deb: Briefs or thongs? Doro: (laughs) The best thing is leather underwear, but it’s not comfy on the road. So it’s a silk, black, black is always the color, lacey thong. Official Doro Website

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