doro pesch doro

Interview by: Mary Evans

Date: 03 May 2009

Venue: Academy, Manchester, UK

Photos by: Mary Evans / AFM Records

© Mary Evans Hi Doro, last time we caught up we talked about how 2008 would mark your 25th anniversary as an artist… so first of all congratulations on making it to 25 years! How does it feel to have made such a milestone?

It was great and the show in December in my home town, Düsseldorf in Germany, it went so well. People from all over the world came to visit… of course from England, Spain, Greece, New Zealand even, America, Mexico… it was awesome! There were like about 9,000 people there and it was the biggest show we ever did on our own. We had the biggest stage set and the warlock was coming up behind Johnny’s drum riser. It got done the day we played and took like a year to build and it is so huge we can only have it one more time, probably at Wacken. It all went well and so many guests came. It was definitely one of our best shows. It went really well and we worked for it for like one and a half years so when it really went good, we released the record shortly after that like end of January and that did really good. It went to #11 in the German charts, in the normal pop charts, where usually metal never makes it that high. That was very surprising and very nice. In Spain the Celebrate single went to #3 in the singles chart and that is the first top ten single we ever had after 25 years!

That’s some present then isn’t it!

Yeah! Because usually we never concentrate on singles, it was always albums and selling the albums but that was great.

So now we kicked off the tour two weeks ago in the UK and that is very exciting. We haven’t been here in a little while and even though we are the support band, you know, it’s great and we went to cities where I’ve never played to before. This is a good tour and we get along great. It all feels good and from next week we go from here to Spain and Germany and Russia, and then to China again.

We were in China last November / December and we got invited again which is great because you always need like an invitation. So China again and then doing all the summer festivals like Wacken and one festival with Warlock in Spain, the Metalway Festival, and yeah in December we had like a little Warlock reunion and we said ‘Ahh ok, why don’t we do one festival!?’ We got along good, except the bass player, he gave up music so Nick our bass player is filling in. Yeah so we do all the festivals and then in September a long American tour and then probably we’ll come back here later in the year.

Last time we were talking you’d said how you hadn’t really done any festivals in the UK and since then you’ve played Hard Rock Hell…

Hard Rock Hell was awesome! I think the fans really enjoyed it. We enjoyed it a lot! We were at Hammerfest and I was talking to the people because Saxon were playing and we had two days off…

I am hoping that we play there next year. I really loved it. In Europe there are so many festivals but in the UK there are not so many so, Hard Rock Hell was awesome. I would love to do more and actually we made some good connections here on the tour with some promoters and they saw the band, sometimes for the first time, so I think we’ve got some good things in the making.

So what has the crowd reaction been like for you on this tour?

You will see it tonight if it’s the same as all the other cities! It’s been great and I couldn’t be more happy. It’s awesome!

Will you be playing much new material?

Well today we only have 30 minutes so I have to see what we’ll play but usually we play The Night of the Warlock and Celebrate and of course All We Are, I Will Rule and You’re My Family from the last album, so we always make a little mixture but today we’ve not got many songs. We will give it our all! But you know, we are always flexible so whatever it takes! Even being here is great, I haven’t been in Manchester for a long time so it’s perfect!

So we’ve just been talking a little about your new album [Fear No Evil released in February], could you tell us a little about it for those who haven’t as yet heard it?

Yeah, actually I think it very much sums up all the last 25 years. It has many anthems like Celebrate, Running from the Devil, Night of the Warlock… on one hand there is a lot of good old school songwriting on it, like Night of the Warlock has a long intro. I was always a big fan of long intros. On the other hand there are some very heavy songs on it, like I think Caught in a Battle is one of the heaviest songs we ever had and then some nice ballads. I love ballads… and one duet with Tarja Turunen, Walking with the Angels, and the last song is 25 Years. It is more like a very emotional song with a more Pink Floyd feeling and yeah I think it describes all the last 25 years pretty much. Lyric wise some songs are very emotional, some are very personal, some are very political. I Lay My Head Upon My Sword and Caught in a Battle, they are more political. I think it’s a good record and so far I think the fans have liked it a lot.

Which is your favourite song from the album at the moment?

[thinks] I like them all, I think you can imagine! I guess one ballad on it, Herzblut, I think that’s very nice but we don’t play it because when you don’t have much time it doesn’t make any sense to play a long ballad but Herzblut and Night of the Warlock, I like those! And Celebrate because everyone is singing on it, so these really are my favourites.

Not only have you been touring and working on and releasing your own material since we last spoke but you’ve done a duet with Tarja (ex Nightwish) for her new EP [The Seer] along with the song on your album. How did that come about?

Actually we met, we have a mutual friend. She was a boxer and for thirteen years she was undisputed… her name is Regina Halmich and she is from Germany and I wrote two anthems for her and she finished her professional boxing career last year. I was there and I wrote a goodbye anthem and Tarja was there too to perform something special and we met at soundcheck and we got along really good. We met each other before in Wacken, I think 2002, but we never talked long and just said Hi, but this time we did and we said ‘Oh man it would be awesome to do something together’.

A year later I was working on the record and I wanted to write a song about angel power and I thought it would be so nice if somebody with a more angelic voice would sing on it and then I sent her the demo and then she said ‘Oh I love it, I have a song and maybe you could sing the second part?’ and it was The Seer, so we swapped songs and it was actually great. We performed the two songs on the 25th Anniversary.

Have you worked with anyone else recently?

Well everyone on the Celebrate single! There were so many people on that! Apart from that, one of the guys you might know, he was the guitar player for Sisters of Mercy and I worked a lot for this new record with him and yeah that’s about it! There’s always something, but it’s good.

Ok, because in the last interview we did we covered lots of things I thought we could so some more random sort of questions…

What is the best thing about being you?

[thinks] To have a great relationship with the fans where I really feel it’s my family and I always feel at home wherever I am in the world, where there are fans I know, I feel like my heart is home, so it’s great!

What is the strangest gig you’ve ever played?

laughs Yeah, one time, it was a long time ago we were invited to play on New Years Eve in Luxembourg and they said well it will be like a huge metal festival and then we came up there and it was like a little poster, handwritten, and it said ‘Warlock Dancing Party’ and I thought ‘Oh my god, oh my god!’. And at night, it was in the beginning of our Warlock days and there were like twelve people there and all older people and they were trying to get partners… In Germany we call it “ball der einsamen herzen” and it means when you have a party for lonely people who…

Like a singles club?

Yeah, that, and there were twelve people and they were all sitting there with balloons and we started playing and everybody sat there sticking their fingers in their ears and I thought ‘Wait, it’s New Years Eve’! We played Burning the Witches and I tried to get everybody to sing along and they weren’t sure but they got drunk and were singing along and dancing on the tables and everything. It was not our typical metal crowd but I think, in the end, people had fun and it was the first and last time they saw a metal show but we tried to make it work.

You’re stranded on a desert island… name five things you’d need with you!

Ohh, my dad who is unfortunately in heaven, he is not anymore alive, but my dad I would love to have and my mum! The fans! The die hard fans, you know, the hardcore die hard fans! Then of course amplifiers and PA and stuff to have like all the preparations to do a gig and then I guess my band, to do a good show!

So you don’t need food, you just need people!? You’ll catch fish from the water!?

[laughs] Well, you know I think the fans they go to any lengths!

They’ll make sure you get fed then! What’s the one thing you can’t leave home without when setting off on tour?

The one thing I can’t leave!? [thinks] Oh man, my cell phone, it’s going non stop! I have like four cell phones so it’s crazy! But it’s great so you can always stay in touch, even when you’re not on the same countries. So yeah, the cell phone, it’s a curse but on the other hand it’s great!

To see really great movies, like when you have long trips and you have nothing more to do so you can definitely catch up on all the great movies and it always inspires me, even the funny ones. We have a pretty young guitar player, Luca, and we showed him for the first time Spinal Tap. It’s always funny to get people hooked on stuff! Even funny movies, I love like Spinal Tap and the movie with Mark Wahlberg, Rock Star, I think it is so funny. Sometimes they are hilarious or so silly, but always fun and always dead serious! Everyone takes it so serious.

Can you describe the rest of the guys in a few words?

Nick is the bass player! Nick Douglas is his name and he’s been in the band for twenty years and he’s a total sweetheart. He’s great musically and as a human being. He has a very warm heart and he’s very soulful. He’s very intelligent and understanding. Yeah, he’s awesome!

The second guy who has been in the band a long time, he joined in 1993, is our drummer Johnny Dee. He came from the band Britny Fox. I remember, I first saw the video of Britny Fox, it was Girlschool like way, way back I guess twenty years ago and I always got a great vibe off him but never knew him. Then we needed a new drummer and we had one drummer before, and then he whatever, something went wrong and I thought ok we call Johnny Dee and I went to Philadelphia just to check him out for one day, we shook hands and I thought ‘That’s the guy!’. Johnny is a great guy and a great drummer!

And usually we have another guitar player, Joe Taylor is his name… he came from the Lita Ford band and now he has his own solo project and he is just opening up for Black Label Society in the States so we have somebody else playing guitar… it’s Bas Maas, and he’s from the band After Forever…

Yes, I thought I recognised him!

Yes, we are long time friends and we did a whole South America tour together and he was the first choice. When I called him I said ‘We are doing an American tour, are you in the mood to do it?’ and he said ‘Oh absolutely’ so we’re really having a good time. It’s really good!

And Luca he’s our keyboarder and rhythm guitar player. He’s from Italy and his band is The Clairvoyants and I met him on a promotion tour in Italy. He’s younger but he’s very cool, very nice, very gentle, a great player.

Do I have all the guys!? Well, usually we also have Oliver Palotai but he plays sometimes with Kamelot and he has a solo project too. But you know, I’m always happy when the guys have something to do because it’s so hard to be a musician and to not have another job, so I’m always happy when they do their own thing or do a solo record. I’m very, very supportive of them and we always try to fit each other’s schedules so that’s cool.

And if you were to describe yourself in a few words?

[thinks] I would say gentle, always in a good mood and always giving everything, like always 150%. I am a total metal head, I’m always thinking about the music 24 hours, there’s always something like between making records, or the studio, or writing songs or being on tour. Music is like my whole life and there is nothing else existing besides that. I’m definitely married to metal and music. But I would say, pretty ok! [laughs]

Ok so do you have a message for your UK fans?

Yeah! I’m so happy to be back here and it’s the first time we started in the UK and I’m happy to be on tour with Saxon, we were always getting along great. They were always my idols when we started, like the whole British wave of heavy metal, like Saxon, Maiden, Judas Priest, so that’s awesome.

I hope that we’re coming back later in the year on our own tour and I want to thank all the fans for their great support all these years. It was my main motivation and inspiration in the last 25 years and I hope there will be 25 more years to come. We always enjoy it and the fans mean the world to me. It’s the most important thing to me in the world and I thank them for being there and their support and love.

I’d just like to thank you for your time and all the best for tonight and the upcoming shows!

Thank you!