Doro Pesch, born in Dusseldorf, Germany began her career as lead singer at the age of 15 after a yearlong bout of illness in the hospital, and she hasn’t stopped since! She began as lead singer of 80’s metal band Warlock then went solo. Resilient and healthy, strong and proud, Doro has been traveling the world playing heavy metal for 30 years. Currently, Doro is finalizing plans with guest performers and reviewing fans’ request polls to make set lists for her upcoming Strong & Proud North American Tour. In this interview, Metal Queen Doro talks about what it was like to be a woman through the ups and downs in the Metal industry, her resilience during the 90’s grunge era, and what it takes and the rewards of living a life of her word.
Doro and I both live in the NYC area, so we talked about the Gramercy show…
What special things do you have planned for the Gramercy show?
It’s going to be a great show at The Gramercy Theater. The show is on a Monday so everyone has to rest up on the weekend to rock on Monday! Bob Bliss of Overkill is coming up, and Jeff Waters of Annihilator is flying in from Canada, and Caffery of Savatage and the Huntsmen Orchestra is coming up playing probably playing on “Metal Tango”. And some ladies from Metal too! Maybe some guys from Twisted Sister are coming up, so it’s still in the making. New York City will be extra special.
And the other dates of course have other highlights and the fans they can request their favorite songs. We have a little poll on Facebook or on the Doro Pesch website the people can tell us their favorite songs and every city will have a different set list.
Are you including Warlock songs?
Yes of course! It’s all one. Anything from the last 16 or 17 records, everybody can request their favorites. I’m sure there will be some fun stuff. Maybe songs we never played or haven’t played in a long time. So yeah!
What are the top 5 requests so far?
We opened it just a couple of days ago, but “All We Are” is clearly number one and “Metal Tango” second. But anything goes! And we play all the highlights of the last 30 years, some old school metal songs, from speed metal, ballads, anything. But I would hope that people would request the Dio song “Egypt”. I always loved to play that. Or the song on the Raise your Fist record called “Hero” which is for Ronnie. We will prepare, and we will know maybe a couple weeks before or a week before a show so we can rehearse and make it nice. Some new songs that make it on need to be played more in order to make it become second nature.
In the beginning, when I started in the 80’s there were maybe only a handful of women doing it like Heart, Lita Ford, Joan Jett, and Girlschool. Now I think there are much more women doing it which I think is great. Extremely talented, very powerful personalities like, for example, Tarja Turunen, or Angela Gossow and Alissa from Arch Enemy. I think it’s much more balanced. I think there could be even more! It’s still not 50/50 but it’s going really well. And I must say, in the audience, I almost see sometimes 50% men and 50% women. At the big festivals in the audience I think it’s already way different than in the 80’s. In the 80’s I saw 99% metalheads and 1% girls, but I think that it’s now really balanced.
Back in the 80’s was when it got bigger and bigger, and then in the 90’s when Grunge took over, that was a disaster for all us metalheads. I saw tragic things that all my friends went through. They lost record deals so they couldn’t even tour anymore. It was like a domino effect.
Then I read it was picking up in 1999, and I went to the record release party of Ronnie James Dio for the Magica album. I talked to Ronnie, and he said, “Doro, I love the version you guys did of ‘Egypt’”, because that was for the tribute album to Dio way back when (Ronnie James Dio: This is Your Life). I said, “Really, do you like it? I’m so glad. It means so much to me that you think we did a good job on it! I love your songs, especially that song…. Always my favorite!” So we had a great talk and he said, “What are you doing?” I said that I was working on a new record, I just got my record deal back in the States and I feel Metal was starting to happen again. He said, “Yeah man I agree! I feel it too.”
I finished the record; it was called Calling the Wild in 2000. Then I did an interview with a radio station. The interviewer asked, “Do you have plans for touring?” And I said, “Not yet! We are trying to find a tour. Maybe I can open up for somebody? Or maybe I can do my own club tour?” And she said, “Tell me which person or band you would love to open up for.” And of course I said Ronnie James Dio. And she said, “He’s calling up in an hour. Shall I suggest it?” So I said, “Okay! Okay!” And then a couple of hours later I got a phone call back, and I said, “Yeah, we talked to Ronnie. Let’s do it!” And then we helped him tour in 2000. It was greatest tour! It was a couple of months later the tour took place.
And then I thought, “Oh yeah, Metal is definitely coming back in a big way.” Now the last 14 years it just grows bigger and bigger and more and more countries! The festivals are getting bigger and bigger. I was just doing all the summer festivals in Europe and in a day it was 100,000 people and then the last day of the 3 days and 12 hours later the festival was completely sold out for next year. Last year it sold out in two days. And I thought that it was a good sign. In 1990, when Metal were starting to go not so well, then in 1993 everybody was saying Metal has gotten so small, and why are people doing the festival? But they were the fans. Then the fans put on the Wacken Open Air Festival which is now one of the favorite Metal festivals in the world. And other festivals too! There are some great ones in Europe like Sweden Rock Festival which has 50-60 thousand people. We played all over! And I thought yea… Metal is definitely good. And they were all sold out, and I thought “Wow, man! I don’t even recall that in the 80’s!” And so I think it’s really good!
What advice would you give women entering the Metal industry?
I tell you, I never said I was any different. I just did what I said. I love music, I love Metal. I was always treated really good by these bands that we toured with like Judas Priest, or Ronnie James Dio, WASP, Motörhead, and it was always fantastic! I think just be yourself. Believe in yourself. Do what you feel is right. Do what you love, and then do it if possible every day. Keep at it. Find good people around you who will support you or help you. But if nobody helps you, then just believe in yourself, and do it yourself. And I think, go for what you really feel, and don’t let them change you. And just work hard and don’t ever, ever, ever give up. Then eventually you will make it. When we started, doing records was most important. Now I feel playing live is more important than doing the record. Yah, but the record industry changed, so I would say go with the times and do whatever is necessary. Follow your heart and soul. It’s not even a job! Music is a wonderful thing.
That’s great advice. It’s like your theme for this tour, Strong and Proud . Be strong and proud.
Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! And make the most out of yourself. When I started music I was 15 years old and for a year I didn’t know if I would survive I was so sick. If I ever survive I want to do something that makes people happy. I want to do something meaningful! Then I get out of the hospital. For one year I was in the hospital, two weeks later I had my first band. And from then on I thought, yeah, I want to do something and not waste any time, not party all the time. Do something! What makes other people feel good, what makes them happy, gives them energy and power and when I see other people feel good about it, then I feel so good about it and that keeps me strong, always inspired and motivated.
DORO – Raise Your Fist In The Air (OFFICIAL MUSIC VIDEO)
[embedplusvideo height=”350″ width=”600″ editlink=”http://bit.ly/1vSju91″ standard=”http://www.youtube.com/v/OCOGy0CvR9Y?fs=1″ vars=”ytid=OCOGy0CvR9Y&width=600&height=350&start=&stop=&rs=w&hd=0&autoplay=0&react=1&chapters=¬es=” id=”ep9382″ /]
I understand you are a women’s rights activist and also an animal rights activist. Can you tell me about some of the things that you do for these causes?
I am so happy that you asked that question. The first time I got in touch with people who were protecting and saving animals, I did a show actually with an orchestra. It was called Rock for Animals and Animals in Need . There were many guests, and it was wonderful. Then we went on tour, and it was all for the cause animals in need. I really love animals so much. The only thing you can’t have when you tour so much. It wouldn’t be fair to have an animal. I just adopted 2 horses. They were heavily abused. You can’t ride them anymore, but I give money to get medicine and food and all. They have a good life now I hope. So I’m very much into that, and worldwide I try to connect with the people who have the same feeling and passion.
The Terre des Femmes is a human rights organization, and they mainly specialize in support for young girls who have a lot of difficulties to go through. In some countries there are some mentalities, women are not treated good, and there is a lot of pain and suffering. I thought I am a woman touring all over the world, and I see sometimes girls and women are treated so bad, so I wanted to support that organization. And I wrote a song for that organization! It’s on the Raise Your Fist on the limited edition record called “Sealed in Blood”. There is also a version in German called “Freiheit” which means freedom, liberty.
I’m also supporting young musicians and young bands in the Wacken Foundation. The Wacken Festival has a foundation to support young musicians all over the world. We have contact with bands from Brazil, Argentina, America, South America, all over Russia. You can get support if you want to do a tour, or do a record, or make a demo. So that’s what I do, when I’m not on tour. I want to help young bands because I was helped so much and so supported, and I learned so much from great people.
It sounds like you have a wonderful life. Congratulations on 30 years of success!
Sometimes it’s so tough, so hard like everybody’s life I guess! It’s a lot of joy and so rewarding when I feel the fans! That means so much to me. But it’s tough to be a musician, I must say! All these 30 years, I thought, ‘man I wouldn’t want to wish that on my worst enemy. Some times were definitely hard. You have to be Strong and Proud to survive!!
Doro’s band consists of: Nick Douglas (bass, keyboards, backing vocals), Johnny Dee (drums, percussion, backing vocals), Bas Maas (guitars, backing vocals), Luca Princiotto (guitar, keyboards, backing vocals).
Connect With DORO:
TWITTER | FACEBOOK | WEBSITE | YOUTUBE
By Jen Rubino, RockRevolt Magazine Journalist
Request your favorite DORO song for your city’s setlist here.
DORO North America Tour 2014 setlist poll
Go see DORO 30 Years – Strong & Proud North American Tour:
10/10/2014 Route 20 Outhouse – Sturtevant, WI
10/11/2014 Pov’s 65 – Spring Lake Park, MN
10/12/2014 Mojoes – Joliet, IL
10/14/2014 Agora Ballroom – Cleveland, OH
10/15/2014 Altar Bar – Pittsburgh, PA
10/16/2014 Hard Luck Bar – Toronto, ON
10/18/2014 Salle Multi – Quebec City, QC
10/19/2014 Petit Campus – Montreal, QC
10/20/2014 The Gramercy Theatre – New York City, NY
