Doro Pesch: Heavy metal energizer

On August 17, 2018 Doro released her long-awaited double album “Forever Warriors, Forever United” on Nuclear Blast. We had a chance to talk to the incredible queen of heavy metal about the new record.

You got new album out, so how do you feel about it?
Oh, it’s my first double album and it’s called «Forever Warriors, Forever United». It has 25 tracks in total and I love them all the same! I couldn’t tell you which one is my favourite. «Forever Warriors» is a bit more heavy, has more anthems on it, and «Forever United» is more soulful and more personal. The whole record started with a first song called «Living Life To The Fullest». When Lemmy passed away, I was so shocked, so heartbroken. I wrote this song for him! I was on a plane on the way to his funeral and this melody and the words had just popped out. I was deeply sad and it really struck me that you never know what the next day holds for you or will you be alive in a year. I recorded this song in a couple of days after Lemmy’s funeral, then came some more and more songs.

So that’s how it became a double album, right?
Yes, I realized the record is shaping and I wanna do it now and put all I have on it. There is one song called «Soldier Of Metal», we had it pretty early and that was a working title for the album, because I always felt like a soldier for all my fans, that I can guard them and they can always rely on me. I loved this song and I sent it to Geoffrey Gillespie – the artwork artist who made album covers for me before — and asked him to paint me something for a new record with such a title. Then we had more and more songs coming, when it became like 40 of them, I called the record company and said: » Man, I have so many songs, it would be such a shame to get rid of more than a half of them. Can I make a double album!?» They said that it’s very rare these days and may be that’s not the best idea. But in a couple of months they called back and said: «Ok, Doro, do it!» Apart from the new heave stuff and anthems, some beautiful ballads, there are some cover versions as well. Even one song is in Italian, it is called «Caruso». We also have a song that is in a soundtrack for a movie that is called «Anuk III – Die Dunkle Flut». I did all three Anuk movies, I played as Meha, the main female character, the little warrior girl. We wrote all the music for it and the song «Bring My Hero Back Home Again» is featured on my new album, and that’s another bonus song on the «Forever Warriors «.

There are so many guests on this recording…
…which you probably all know very well. I’m so lucky! The key anthem track «All For Metal» has tons of great metal musicians, who can also be seen in the new official music video: like Johan Hegg (Amon Amarth), Mille Petrozza (Kreator), Ross The Boss (Manowar), Jeff Waters (Annihilator), Chuck Billy (Testament) and many more. Warrel Dane (Sanctuary, Nevermore) is also there. He was a good friend of mine and I asked him to be my guest on the record when I met him last year on Wacken. He was doing so good, he told me he was working on the new material, but that was unfortunately the last time I saw him… And we were great friends since 1988, when we did a tour together in America with Megadeth and Sanctuary. Many-many fans are also there, singing in the video. It’s a really nice anthem to sing along, you can already check it on YouTube. Actually we played it live for the first time in Russia, on a city festival in Novokuznetsk, in the beginning of July. We were very nervous at first, thinking how to deliver it better, hoping to remember the chord changes correctly and so on, because no one knew how peoples would react. But it all really, really well! Now we’ve played it a couple of times and now we do it much faster. But that first time was memorable!

It was the celebration of 400 years of Novokuznetsk and we were invited to play by the Mayor, who is a big metal fan himself. The whole show was great, everybody singing all the songs. The fans came there from all over the country, wow! That was my first time in Siberia and we were all super excited and we were treated so good! The guys in the band were surprised there was even a German pub with German beer in the hotel where we stayed. As for me, I care more about the fans, and I was so happy to see so many of them. The festival fireworks were impressive too, I guess, the biggest I’ve ever seen. It was mind blowing!

Wow, amazing! I hope you can come again soon with a new material!
Yeah! There’s a tour in the making, and I hope that by the end of this year or in the beginning of the next year we will come to Russia! When the album is out, I would love to make a poll for this tour set list and ask fans which songs they wanna hear the most! «All For Metal» would be there, that’s a given, but all the rest is to be decided and I wanna make my fans happy… oh, I have a hard time choosing them myself, I love them all so much! So I’m very excited how would they react and which songs would touch their hearts the most.

How have you been choosing among your friends who you gonna invite to play on a record and «All For Metal» track, in particular?
Oh, over the years, I was lucky enough to work with so many great musicians. When we wrote «All For Metal», we didn’t even know we would have guests on it. But last year I was on Wacken doing just one song with Amon Amarth, which I did with them on their album, and it’s called «A Dream That Cannot Be». They wanted to record a DVD, so Johan Hegg asked me to do it together on stage on Wacken and another German festival called «Summer Breeze». Usually when we are doing the whole show, I am super busy and focused, and I don’t have time to walk around. But as I was doing just one song, I had some time to talk to everybody and hangout in the sun. I had a demo of «All For Metal» with me and the first person I asked was Jeff Waters of Annihilator. Then I met Warrel Dane and he was immediately singing it and we were dancing around, so we recorded him too. Then I asked Johan Hegg, obviously, and we recorded him too. On a next festival it was the same: I recorded Mille of Kreator, Ross The Boss and other guys. Besides I met Tommy Bolan who was my ex-guitar player, and we did a couple of festivals together and «Monsters of Rock» cruise. He is a great, super energetic guitar player and I thought that he should definitely be on that record. He was happy to play, to do a solo and sing too. And the last one to ask was Chuck Billy, whom I met on one winter festival in Germany. So it was all coming out very naturally while we were all hanging out together backstage, as we all know each other for a long time. We also recorded the fans singing along on a fan club meeting, where they came from all over the world: Brazil, Argentina, Russia, Europe, everywhere… I was so happy, for me that was the utmost necessary ingredient – my dear fans!

Another special guest on this album is Doug Aldridge, he plays a very nice guitar solo on a song «Heartbroken». I think he is a great player and I met him in so many festivals around the world, I’ve seen him with The Dead Daisies and I remember him from Whitesnake. But this time we were on tour and that was in a little club in Las Vegas, where I asked him to join us on stage and play a solo. We were thinking which song to chose that we all know and we played «Breaking The Law». That was the first time I saw him playing live. I was so impressed with his tone, his guitar playing, his soulfulness. So I said: «Doug, if we ever gonna write a new record, would you consider to be a guest player on it». He told me he would be happy to do that. Then, when we wrote «Heartbroken», I thought it would be really nice for Doug!

And Johan Hegg is also featured on a very passionate song called «If I Can’t Have You No One Will». It’s pretty dark and very heavy, so his voice is awesome on it! We wrote the music all together with Tommy Bolan, who my is now with us on many festivals and other gigs, Johan wrote the lyrics, This song would probably be the next video we are going to publish online. Yeah, so many great people on this new record!

Besides there was this French bulldog, named Pike, he was a dog living in the studio, where we were recording, and he always made me feel so good! I love animals so much and having this dog in the studio made the whole production 10 times better!

Oh, that’s so lovely! Can you tell me what is so special for you in a song «Caruso»?
That song is written by Lucio Dalla, and I heard many times from Luciano Pavarotti. Caruso is one of my favourite classic singers. He is long time dead, but he had such a great voice. When I was a little girl, my Dad was a big classical fan, so I had it on my mind for a long time. I love the melody, I think it’s such a special song. Besides it’s a first song in Italian. My guitar player Luca is Italian, so he could help me a bit. I think he coached me really well, because when we played it for his Mom, it made her burst into tears immediately. I thought that’s good that it can touch a heart so deeply! So as I was making a double album, I decided that I wanna put there some songs that I personally love. There is also another very special song to me – «Don’t Break My Heart Again» by Whitesnake. That was my very first concert I have ever seen live, it was in 1980. It was such an unbelievable show, man!

We also recorded the version of Motorhead’s «Lost in the Ozone». I think it has the most deep and sincere, sad lyrics. Lemmy was such a great lyricist! He is usually known for his attitude, his bass playing, for his singing, but when he was writing lyrics, he was incredible! Lemmy was my best friend, along with Ronnie James Dio, and I miss them so much! So I dedicated this double album to Lemmy Kilmister… Yeah…

…Yeah…. (We keep silence for a moment in memory of Lemmy and Dio). Have you ever thought of writing down all your memories and tour stories in a book?
Yeah, but right now I wanna dedicate all my energy to the upcoming album. In this moment, that’s all I can think about. And I wanna tour the world with it, come back to Russia too, and to see all my fans again, sing the new songs with them. Probably, that’s a thing to consider in the next couple of years, but now I’m so much excited about the new record, I can’t focus on anything else. I love making records and I love touring, so I wanna make the best out of it. The book is an intense project too, so when the time is right, I wanna concentrate fully on it. That’s not an easy thing to do. Once I’d already started to write a book, but in a couple of weeks I stopped. Oh, man, it was not the right time and all was too sad. We have many great memories, but Lemmy and Dio is not there anymore, you can’t call them, you can’t talk to them, meet them, like you used to, and it still really hurts. It’s too heartbreaking for me now! I don’t want to write down too many painful thoughts, so I have to let the time pass and think about a better way to tell the stories, so they can be touching on many levels and not just sad.

For sure! I wish you to overcome that pain and hope that one day there would be the right time for a book too, because all you do is so inspiring! Your songs are like the «Redbull« of heavy metal, if I can say so.
Hahaha, oh, thank you! Redbull of heavy metal – that’s a great comparison (laughs), I would never forget that, thank you! I like to empower people, I wanna give them all the good energy and make them feel their life is full of great moments. Even with the sad songs, I wanna touch their hearts, because it’s important to share the feelings to know that you are not alone in what happened to you, especially when you are heartbroken. Then there are uplifting anthems like “All For Metal” or “Blood, Sweat And Rock’n’Roll’“ or “Freunde Fürs Leben”, that means – friends forever, which, as I thought, could be the last song, because I imagine friends, arm in arm, drinking beer, all together. May be that’s a nice idea to have a Russian version of these song later too.

I think these days, when the whole world is in the turmoil, it’s very important to stick together, be united and do the good things, fight the evil and be great friends, support and help each other. I think music is the super power for this! It wasn’t always the case, you know, in the beginning of metal it was all dark and destructive, with fighting demons and magic. I don’t think it’s the right time to sing about it now. So my idea is to give out really positive feelings and make people feel truly energized.

How do you recharge your own batteries and keep the energy?
Oh, I should do better, but actually I do nothing special for that at all. I’m always on the run from one gig to another or 24-hours in the studio all week, no sleep, no food, and so on. It’s non-stop. So far I feel I’m in good shape, but I should definitely take care of myself much more. Sometimes it’s so intense or stressfull on the road or while you are in the studio, that you don’t think of everything else or you forget you need some proper time to rest. So yesterday I came from the Masters of Rock festival, we did our show and I sang one song with Gene Simmons late at night, then I just came home and I’m doing interviews all day. Sometimes it’s tough, yeah, but I just stay positive. When I see the fans that is enough motivation for me, when I look into their eyes and I see how much they love the songs and enjoy the show, these are all my vitamins and food, and sleep. Plus I’m a big fan of martial arts. In Siberia, I just had a chance to meet the world champion in Thai boxing, his name is Artyom [Levin], that inspired me. Meeting good people, not only from sports, is very empowering. So I do martial arts a bit, but when you have a new album coming, you are into mixing, promotion and summer festival gigs, you forget about everything else. I should live healthier, but so far, so good.

So you are like a marathon runner! But we all wish you to take care!
Thank you! Yeah, it feels like this when you are dedicated to something, but the hard moments go away as soon as I am on stage and think only about giving out my best. My fans are my life elixir! They make me feel at home in every part of the world, I feel immediately connected with them on stage and their care and attention always touch my heart and empower me! In rock and metal we are all brothers and sisters! We have freedom to sing about the stuff that we find really important, in the scale of the world problems or personal feelings, we can share our feelings straight from the heart and feel that we are understood! It’s different on pop music, for example. I’m so happy to belong to the metal scene, because in metal we are all united! That’s a sacred thing for me, that we can count on each other and feel the hand of a friend when we are in need or when we are all happy! Let’s stick together, let’s love what we do, that’s what metal is all about!