DORO – Triumphs And Agonies (June 2016) | Features / Interviews @ Metal Forces Magazine

DORO – Triumphs And Agonies
Anthony Morgan
June 2016

Doro Pesch

Düsseldorf, Germany-based metal vocalist Doro Pesch entered the music sphere in 1984 fronting the Warlock band, whose debut platter Burning The Witches arrived in March of that year. 2014 marked 30 years since Doro’s arrival proper, the frontwoman wishing to mark the occasion. June 2016 live DVD set Strong And Proud documents Doro’s efforts in this regard.

“We thought that for the 30th anniversary, we wanted to do something really nice and special,” Doro remembers. “We celebrated the 20th anniversary a while ago; Lemmy came up, and we also did duets with Udo Dirkschneider and Biff (Byford, Saxon). Then for the 25th anniversary, we celebrated big with the Scorpions, and then for the 30th anniversary, I thought ‘Man, how can I top that?’ I think the 20th and 25th anniversaries were so awesome, but then I thought ‘Let’s celebrate it for a whole year, and let’s record like two or three shows.’

“And then many fans asked for… I was doing a tour with an orchestra in 2004, and we played Wacken. We did one record – it was called Classic Diamonds (September 2004). It was really special, so I thought ‘How about we do one show in my hometown, a full metal show with guests? And then one show with orchestra and guests, and then doing the Wacken show?’

“Then I talked to the guy who always does our DVDs. I said ‘We’ve always done nice things. What do you think? I’d love to do something special with people maybe the fans haven’t seen yet,’ and he said ‘Shall we do a whole movie, like a real big documentary.’ I said ‘Yeah,’ so we got cameras the whole year with us. Then there’s a documentary behind the curtain. It’s like two to two-and-a-half hours long, and it shows really nice things. Everybody had something to say, like the band and the road crew, all the guests. I think it’s a really nice movie; it was very intimate, very human, sometimes funny, and sometimes very interesting.

“Then of course there was the big Wacken show with the big stage and pyrotechnics, and then the two shows in my former hometown – one with an orchestra, and the other a full metal show. The whole DVD I think is actually seven or eight hours long, so there’s lots of stuff on it. Tons of songs, and tons of songs which I grew up with and loved by artists that I love. I was born and raised with the New Wave Of British Heavy Metal, so of course I had some guests like Biff – we did ‘Denim And Leather’ again (Saxon, from the October 1981 album of the same name), and ‘You’ve Got Another Thing Comin’ (Judas Priest, from July 1982’s Screaming For Vengeance).’

“Phil Campbell (Motörhead guitarist) was there – we did ‘Breaking The Law’ (Judas Priest, from April 1980’s British Steel). Blaze Bayley (ex-Iron Maiden), we did ‘Fear Of The Dark’ together with the orchestra (from the May 1992 album of the same name). I did all kinds of songs which I love so much and which inspired me. With Udo Dirkschneider (ex-Accept), we did three songs; ‘Balls To The Wall’ (from the December 1983 Accept album of the same name), ‘Princess Of The Dawn’ (from March 1985’s Metal Heart), and ‘Dancing With An Angel’. ‘Dancing With An Angel’ is a song that many fans like. It’s a ballad – it was on Udo’s album (Man And Machine, July 2002). I asked the guests which songs they wanted to do, like maybe their favourite songs of their career. Then we all got together, and talked about it.

“Each show in Dusseldorf was three-and-a-half hours long, and the Wacken show was one-and-a-half hours. The video director said ‘You’ll have to kick out some songs because it’s much too long.’ It was supposed to be a two-DVD set and a two Blu-Ray set, but for DVD there are time limits, so I had to kick out so many songs. Man… it was so heartbreaking, so I asked the record company if we could make it a three-DVD package. They said ‘Okay, let’s do it.’ I think there are 28 bonus songs, so for fans who are maybe not familiar with every song, or sometimes for the fans love some songs which are not played at every show, it was just to make it really special and involved for the 30th anniversary.”

Doro Pesch

It would be remiss of Metal Forces not to touch on the topic of the aforementioned Lemmy. A friend of the singer’s, the Motörhead frontman died on December 28th, 2015 at the age of 70 following a short battle with an extremely aggressive cancer. “I would say that Lemmy was like my best friend in the music scene,” she shares. “I met him in ’83, ’84, and we hit it off right away. We became great friends right away, and then we toured together many times. I had the great chance to work in the studio with Lemmy a couple of times. Our first collaboration was in 2000 on the Calling The Wild album (September 2000); he wrote a beautiful song called ‘Alone Again’, and then we covered ‘Love Me Forever’ (from February 1991’s 1916) – the Motörhead classic. Then our last duet was for our last album Raise Your Fist (October 2012); it was ‘It Still Hurts’, and we recorded it in LA. I think it’s such a soulful ballad.

“Lemmy was one of the most soulful people I have ever seen; very intelligent, very straight from your heart, and very unique. He was definitely my mentor, and my best friend in the music business. We all miss him so much, and I know that all of the fans out there can totally relate. I think he was one of a kind. I would say for me, it was always Lemmy and Ronnie James Dio (ex-Black Sabbath / ex-Rainbow). They were my biggest heroes and I’m super-sad that they are not with us any more, but I’m so glad that I had the chance to listen to the music, to get to know them, to go on tour together, and to go to the studio together – it’s unforgettable. Me and Lemmy, we always text messaged when we had a birthday or at Christmas, or when a new record came out. We were great friends, and I’m so sad.

“I wanna write a song for Lemmy. I went to his funeral, and then I had this little melody in my head. It’s called ‘Living Life To The Fullest’, and I wanna put this song on the new record in memory of Lemmy. Probably the new record will come out in 2017. I loved him so much, and he was a great, great person to talk to. Very, very deep, and one of those spiritual, very intelligent people. There was a time in my life. It was 2000. My dad, which was my best friend… I’m an only child, and my dad was my best friend, He was a great father, and he died. I was so devastated, and really not feeling well. One day later, my phone rang and it was Lemmy. I told Lemmy what happened, and said ‘I’m so devastated. I’m so down. I don’t even know if I can do anything any more.’ It hit me so, so hard.

“He said ‘Doro… You know what? Let’s do something together. Come to LA, and we’ll do a couple of songs together.’ I said ‘Lemmy… I’m so sad. I can’t do anything any more.’ He said ‘No, Doro… Let’s do it. Let’s do it, and I promise you we will spend some time together. Let’s do it.’ Then I went to LA, and that was the first time we collaborated – where we did the two songs, ‘Alone Again’ and ‘Love Me Forever’. He was such a great friend to me. He was an angel, I tell you.

“In some ways, I think he saved my life because I was so sad. I was destroyed, and Lemmy… He always had good things to say; he was very deep and very gentle, and a total gentleman. I will never, ever forget that. It was one of the saddest times in my life, but also one of the greatest times in my life. Somebody took care of me, and that was like ‘Wow’. That it was Lemmy was unbelievable.”

The passing of Lemmy was a sad occasion. “I got a phone call in December,” Doro reveals. “It was a woman. She called me, and said ‘Doro… Just to let you know, Lemmy is not doing well at all.’ When we went on tour, there were times where Lemmy didn’t feel well, but a couple of days later the tour would go on and it was always alright. When I got that phone call though, I immediately started… Yeah, I remember tears were rolling down, and I could feel that something serious was coming. Then the next day I heard.

“I got another phone call, that he wasn’t here any more. I couldn’t believe it, but I kind of felt like ‘Wow.’ I’m so happy and grateful that I had the chance to spend so much time with him. We had so many great conversations, talking about life and laughing. I think Lemmy had such a great sense of humour. It was so awesome.”

Lemmy arguably possessed a sharp sense of humour. “Yeah,” the composer seconds. “It was very sharp, very fast and sharp. He had such a great sense of humour, and he was the real thing. He was one of a kind. You always knew that Lemmy was honest in what he said, and what he did and when he played. I guess nobody will be as important and unique as Lemmy.”

Doro (l-r): Nick Douglas, Luca Princiotta, Doro Pesch, Johnny
Dee and Bas Maas

Pic: Tom Row

In formulating setlists for the three respective performances collected on the Strong And Proud DVD, the thoughts and feelings of guest performers like Biff Byford, Phil Campbell et al were considered as well as those of the fans. “I tried to put all of the favourite songs of the fans together,” Doro explains. “At Wacken, we had one-and-a-half hours. We thought ‘Yeah, let’s concentrate on great show elements like a drum-riser going up, and pyro where the songs would fit like ‘Burning The Witches’ (from the March 1984 album of the same name).’

“For ‘Burning The Witches’, we had like two girls who were hanging from the stake, and then the witches burning on it. I think it looked really cool – I think it was very metal (laughs). It took like one year to build the stage for Wacken. I just picked the songs which I thought the fans would like the most, and then we were in Dusseldorf with the orchestra.

“I picked the songs in accordance with the guests. For example, I asked Biff ‘Shall we do ‘Denim And Leather’?’ He said ‘Alright, yeah,’ and then we said ‘Let’s do another one, like ‘You’ve Got Another Thing Comin’.’ We did it before, when we were on tour, and we did it for my 20th anniversary. We talked to the fans and to our guests, and then I chose the songs I thought people would like to hear, or that people hadn’t heard in a long time but are good songs and special. Something like ‘Touch Of Evil’ (from September 1987’s Triumph And Agony), which was a song that was recorded on 12-inch tape in 1985 but was always cool.

“There some songs which we don’t always play in the setlist, like ‘Ich Will Alles’ (from September 2000’s Calling The Wild). That’s a German hard metal song with a powerful vibe, and all our friends and guests came up, and that was cool. I wanted to tell the fans that the fans are the most important thing in my life, so the DVD starts with ‘We Are The Metalheads’. That’s the Wacken performance, and then all of the metalheads come onstage. I thought ‘Yeah, let’s start with that,’ because I’m still a big metalhead. I’m still a fan, and I’m happy to belong to the metal scene. It’s great.”

The lyricist has performed at the Wacken Open Air festival on a number of occasions throughout the years. “I think we might’ve played ten times at Wacken at least,” she estimates. “I have definitely been there more than ten times singing the ‘We Are The Metalheads’ anthem. I have been a guest in other people’s sets; last time, when I saw Motörhead at Wacken, I guested on ‘Killed By Death’ (from June 1983’s Another Perfect Day).

“Yeah, I’ve been at Wacken many times, playing our own show many times. I think we might play in 2018 again, because there’s another anniversary coming up. So, maybe that’s something people will talk about. I don’t know for sure, but yeah, playing at Wacken is always special. They’re always very supportive in helping you when you want to do something different, or when you have a special idea. They always want to put on a special show. People from all over the world come there – it’s very international. I love that. It’s kind of very meaningful.”

The May 2nd, 2014 concert at the CCD Stadthalle in Doro’s hometown of Düsseldorf happened to be the performance alongside the orchestra. “That exact same orchestra we had in 2004, when we did this tour,” Doro notes. “We filmed a DVD – actually, the DVD was filmed in Wacken as well. The DVD was called Classic Diamonds, and it came about because some people called me to see if I wanted to do a charity concert. It was called Rock For Animals, which was for animals in need. They protect animals, or make sure abused animals get to a safer place, so we did a charity concert. Some people called me, and asked ‘Do you want to be a part of it, and sing two songs?’ I said ‘Yeah, I would love to do it,’ because I love animals.

“A couple of weeks later, they called me up again and said ‘Doro, can you sing four songs?’ because one singer said he couldn’t make it. I said ‘No, no… Of course I can.’ A couple of weeks later, they said ‘All of the singers have cancelled. Can you sing the whole show? We have a couple of guitar players doing guest appearances.’ I said ‘Yeah… I could try.’ Then we did the show, and it was great. It was a surprise to everybody, but it was great. Then the fans said how it was a fantastic show, and that we had to do it again. We did it one more time, and it was great. Then we did a whole tour.

“That was in 2004, and then the Wacken people heard about it. We actually played it at Wacken, and these are exactly the same people you see on the 30th anniversary DVD. It was 80% of the same orchestra people on the DVD, and they’re from all over the world – Russia, Korea, Japan, England, Germany – and I thought that that was so cool. We had some of the song arrangements, which were still the same and then some songs we did new.

“The guy who did it, he became a friend of mine. He knows our music; he knows how it should sound, and that it shouldn’t sound corny or conservative. He knows that we are rock and metal, and nothing cheesy. I think it came out pretty good. If you work with somebody who knows, then you can much more easily trust the person when somebody knows your music, or knows what you are all about.”

One might assume the May 3rd, 2014 concert at the CCD Stadthalle was a more upbeat affair given that it was a traditional rock performance, but such comments would suggest the orchestral evening was more laid-back in atmosphere. “We had to make sure that people wouldn’t think the orchestra show was only ballads,” the vocalist highlights. “We immediately started with ‘Touch Of Evil’, and that’s one of our heaviest songs. It’s off of the Triumph And Agony album; there’s a big drum intro, and then it’s a crazy song.

“I scream my ass off, and then we started the orchestra show with ‘Touch Of Evil’ so that everybody would know that it wasn’t going to be a boring show with ballads. It had a lot of fast songs as well, and the rock show – the full metal show – was the same. It was full-on metal, but with some anthems of course too, and some soulful songs like ‘Above The Ashes’ (from March 2006’s Warrior Soul) or something. So, a good mixture between super-heavy and fast anthems, and soulful songs like ‘Love Me In Black’ for example (from the May 1998 album of the same name). Both shows had the same level of energy, though. The orchestra show wasn’t just… It was very cool, and with high energy.”

Strong And Proud’s second DVD disc consists of a documentary entitled ‘Behind The Curtain, Inside The Heart Of Doro’. “It’s almost two-and-a-half hours long, and it shows the whole year of the 30th anniversary celebrations from all over the world,” Doro details. “It’s like stuff from every country, and all of the people talk about how they feel. For example, my band members and everybody get their own spot to say how they got into the band, and how they feel, and how they view it.

“The road crew and all of our guests, they have nice things to say. You can really see us backstage or whatever – when we get ready for the show – how intense it is, what everybody does. Or on the tour bus, like when we go to sleep on the tour bus. It’s very human, very intimate. It’s two-and-a-half-hours of like the title says, behind the curtains, and like backstage stuff. I think lots of stuff people wouldn’t expect or know yet. It’s really on the inside, and very human I think.”

Strong And Proud’s cover artwork was designed by Geoffrey Gillespie. “Geoffrey Gillespie is one of my favourite artists,” the frontwoman enthuses. “I asked him to paint for this DVD, for the 30th anniversary. I said ‘I want to have something great again.’ I think it took him… I don’t know how many months, but I think it was four or five months, and then it came. I saw it when he sent it, and I was so happy and was sure that the fans would like it as well. The limited edition is a earbook, a big book with like 60 pages of pictures and stuff. It was really nicely done.

“There’s all kinds of packages for the diehard fans who like to collect stuff, which looks really nice and has value. I think it’s worth it for the 30th anniversary, but you can get the vinyl as well. It’s two vinyl records, and you can get other stuff separately. Also, it’s our first Blu-Ray. At first I thought that it wasn’t necessary, but then I saw the quality and thought ‘Wow.’ When you watch the DVD in Blu-Ray, it’s very nice. The hair on everybody’s head, it’s so clear. The DVD is nice as well, but it’s all in one package – a limited edition.”

Details with respect to Doro’s forthcoming 13th solo full-length studio album are imprecise at the time of writing. “I don’t know, but definitely some great guests,” she comments. “The new record will probably come out in 2017, but it’s too early to tell. We’ve written a couple of songs, but we haven’t really been in the studio yet to do recordings. Yeah, next year. As I mentioned, some great guests will come up.”

Sound-wise, the performer harbours aims and goals for the forthcoming effort. “I would like to go in the same vein as Triumph And Agony, and Raise Your Fist,” she lists. “These two records I always love, so very metal and lots of anthems. Fast songs, and some surprises, and some soulful songs as well, and of course some great guests. Maybe some guest guitar players, and a duet. I don’t know with whom yet, but yeah. We will try to do something with bands we love, but it might be hard to top a duet with Lemmy. That’s probably not toppable, but I’ll make sure it’s something cool and something great.

Doro

Pic: Guido Raschke

“I just did a duet with Amon Amarth (‘A Dream That Cannot Be’, from March 2016’s Jomsviking) – I loved it. We are great friends. I went to Andy Sneap’s studio close to Birmingham (Backstage Studios in Derby), and spent a couple of days there. Everybody was there, and we had such a great time. I guest sang live on my birthday. They played Rock Am Ring, which is a big festival, something like Sonisphere. It’s really big. The band asked me if I wanted to do it live, and I said ‘Oh, yes. That would be so awesome.’ So, we just did it live, and I love that song. I love that band, and I love that record.”

Doro’s 13th solo studio affair has yet to receive an actual title. “We’ve just been making sure that the DVD was finished, and now it’s coming out,” she reasons. “It’s too early to say, but definitely the song for Lemmy – ‘Living Life To The Fullest’ – that will be on there. The title though, I don’t know. We’ve only recorded one song, actually. It’s called ‘Fight Through The Fire’. It’s a very fast song, and heavy. The other songs though, I don’t know yet.”

At the time of writing, no other track titles exist. “No, it’s too early,” the singer underlines. “Sometimes you write songs, and you don’t even know if you will pick them for the record. I always like to write as many songs as we can, and then pick the best ones. We think ‘Yeah, man. That deserves to be on the record.’”

And as well, the musical style of Lemmy tribute ‘Living Life To The Fullest’ is yet to be finalised. “Maybe it starts out slow, and then speeds up,” Doro ponders. “I’m not sure about the arrangement. We’ve put it down as a demo. Maybe the arrangement is not yet cast in stone. At first it seemed to be a slow one, but then… Yeah. We’ll see. I can’t say yet. Sometimes when you do stuff, it shows you the way. You’re doing it and you’re in the middle of it, and you feel it out – that it’s too slow, and needs to be sped up. So far, it’s just the demo. We’ll see.”

Preceding the record’s impending release has been April 2016 maxi-single ‘Love’s Gone To Hell’. “That was a song that we wrote for the new record, but then I thought ‘Man, I don’t want to wait till a whole new record is coming out,’” the songwriter divulges. “I wanted to put it out, and I wanted to make a video for it. I felt that song had some kind of magic, and I wanted to make a really nice video. I thought that the song had so much class that it wouldn’t be right to have a cheap video for it filmed on a cell phone in black and white.

“That can sometimes work great for a rock song, a metal song, or a punk song, but for that song I thought I wanted something top notch – like really expensive looking with great locations. Nobody wanted to support the video because they’re not important any more, so we did it through crowd-funding for the first time.

“Then we talked to the fans, and some fans said ‘Yeah, let’s do it all together.’ We thought of some great things to give to the fans in return, like my stage clothes, or a lifetime VIP pass – all of these goodies. The first thing that was gone was actually the movie blood, the blood from the video. We had all of these props. So yeah, we did it through crowd-funding, and the fans supported it. The video came out in two versions; one is just performance, and the other one is with a story. It shows the story about the lyrics of ‘Love’s Gone To Hell’; when a love affair starts out great, but ends in total chaos and disaster. That’s what the song is about.”

Whether ‘Love’s Gone To Hell’ will feature on Doro’s 13th solo full-length studio affair is yet to be determined. “I don’t know, since we just put out the single,” she considers. “Maybe in a different version. Yeah… I don’t know yet. It was written for the new album, but I don’t know yet. It depends when the new record is finished.”

Having cut a wealth of LPs throughout the years, the wordsmith nevertheless harbours a favourite. “We’ve done like 16 records, and many DVDs and many 12-inches,” she cites. “I think one of my favourite records is still Triumph And Agony – it has some great memories. When we play songs like ‘I Rule The Ruins’ or ‘Für Immer’ or ‘All We Are’, it’s always so great and fits so great. My favourite song I would say is ‘It Still Hurts’ with Lemmy, from the Raise Your Fist record. At the moment, that’s my favourite song. When I hear Lemmy sing, that’s always so awesome. Of the records, Triumph And Agony was one of our magical ones, but I think every record has magical songs on it. In terms of whole parts of a whole record though, I think Triumph And Agony is my favourite.”

And by the same token, Doro concedes to there being a least favourite among the catalogue. “There was one album,” she confesses. “It was the third record, True As Steel (August 1986). It was supposed to be a total metal record, but there was so much pressure from the record company to do it more commercial, and then the mix was much more commercial – it sounded much more pop to us than we intended. The demos were great, but then suddenly it was like a more radio friendly sound. I would say the True As Steel record isn’t my favourite, but I think it had some great songs on it.

“We still love to play ‘True As Steel’, or sometimes ‘… To Rock’ – that was our very first video. Sound-wise though, it was a difficult record, because everyone wanted it to be a big commercial seller. We were just a metal band. It wasn’t our intention to have radio friendly songs (laughs). It was mixed a little too poppy, I thought, but now listening back to it, it’s not so bad. It’s actually okay, but at the time it was annoying. It was a disaster.”

Nevertheless, the vocalist has “great memories” of the Warlock days. “My first big show with Warlock actually was at Castle Donington at the Monsters Of Rock festival, in ’86,” she offers. “I think that was one of the most important days in our lives, because we did pretty good. The fans were going crazy, and everybody said ‘Okay, let’s give this band a shot. Let’s give them a chance.’ Then we went on tour with Judas Priest, and that was my favourite band. It was such a great tour, in ‘86, and then we went to America. We did the Triumph And Agony album. I fell in love with America, with New York, and everything fell into place. The whole record seemed really magic, and then we did a tour with Ronnie James Dio in ‘87.

Warlock 1987 (l-r): Niko Arvanitis, Tommy Henriksen (seated), Doro Pesch,
Michael Eurich (seated) and Tommy Bolan

“That was so great; that was fantastic, that festival and the touring experiences. We were there at the right time, and in the right place. We just started to grow bigger, bigger and bigger. I would say ’86, ‘87, amazing, and then a couple of years later I could see that grunge was taking over, and that was a total shock. We couldn’t believe it, but it was a big struggle to keep it going – to survive that era. It was worth it, though.

“In ‘99, I had the first feeling that metal was coming back in a big way. Then in 2000, I had a long tour with Ronnie James Dio in America, and all of the places were packed and sold out. I thought ‘Oh, that’s so awesome. Metal is definitely coming back in a huge, big way.’ I have definitely seen many ups and many downs. You just have to try to hold on, hang in there. Give it your all, and you will survive.”

However, Doro’s greatest anguish throughout her several decade career additionally relates to the Warlock band. “That was when we lost the rights to the band Warlock,” she imparts. “We went to court, because the guy who took the name had nothing to do with us. He took the name though, and it wasn’t right. It was the first time that I was in court though, and I was kicking and yelling. I couldn’t believe it, and then the judge didn’t believe us. We were metalheads with long hair and bullet belts on. He probably didn’t like that, and then the name was gone. That was probably the lowest point. I always wanted to do music for the rest of my life, and then we thought ‘Okay, we’ll call it Warlock anyhow and do another record.’

“That wasn’t possible, though. We immediately got letters from lawyers, saying we couldn’t use the name Warlock anymore. I couldn’t believe it. I thought ‘Let’s wait one year.’ We put one record out, the Force Majeure record. The record company said ‘Okay, let’s put it out under the name Doro. Maybe fans will make the connection.’ I said ‘Yeah, if we have to.’ I never intended to do a solo career, and then it took 20 years to get the name back. Almost 20 years – it took a long time. I would say that that was one of the most difficult scenarios. ‘Welcome to the music business.’”

Given that the Force Majeure album (February 1989) was issued under the Doro name and the frontwoman continued from there, can Warlock and Doro be viewed as one and the same? “I still love to play all of the Warlock songs,” she begins. “I don’t see much difference between the two, but the marketing was different. They always wanted me to be more of a solo artist, but I never wanted to be a solo artist. I never was; I was a team player, and I am a band person. Like when you see the guys in the band; Nick Douglas the bass player has been in the band for 26 years, and Johnny Dee the drummer, 23 years in the band. Everybody has their place, and everybody can put in their ideas.

“Now though, I have the rights to the name Warlock, so it’s possible to do something with it. I wouldn’t wanna jeopardise what we have with our band, though. It’s tricky, because some of the old Warlock band members totally gave up on music. They were so fed up with the music business, which I can totally understand. If we did some shows though, it probably wouldn’t be all of the original line-up. Just maybe the line-up from ‘86, from Triumph And Agony or something like that.”

To clarify, no plans are amidst to reform the Warlock band. “No plans yet,” Doro confirms. “It would be possible, but so far we haven’t thought of anything. We did a couple of reunion shows; in Wacken we did it one time, and the Metalwave Festival in Spain. Yeah though, not lately, but it’s not impossible any more.”

Highlights for the entertainer happen to be the various individuals she has worked alongside throughout the years. “I’ve always worked with great people, like going on tour with great people or working together in the studio,” she raves. “I’ve always worked with my heroes, and that was always the highlight. Like working with Lemmy in the studio, or doing the Motörhead tour, or doing the Ronnie James Dio tour, and getting to work with great musicians, and having the chance to become friends and work together. I guess my first really big tour with Judas Priest, unforgettable back in ‘86, and then in ’87 with Ronnie James Dio.

“Also, I would say all of the Wacken shows are always the highlight. It’s such a big international festival; the atmosphere is always phenomenal. All of the collaborations with bands and musicians mean something to me. Those are always my happiest memories, and it’s so great when you can do something with somebody and listen to the record. That’s awesome; I think the collaborations on each record were always the highlight of the record somehow.”

Albeit working with various high profile musicians thus far, several other names exist on the wish list. “There are so many great people in the world,” Doro observes. “I’d love to do something with Rob Halford (Judas Priest) or Blackie Lawless (W.A.S.P.), or Glenn Danzig (Misfits). There are so many great people. Rob Halford, that would be so awesome. Something like that, yeah. It depends. Sometimes the song has to call for the right duet partner, or guitarist, or something.”

The singer has duetted on ‘Breaking The Law’ alongside Rob Halford in the past. “‘Breaking The Law’, we did that live one or two times,” she recalls. “That was great. I went to see Priest. I was just a guest, and then Rob said ‘Hey, come on up. Let’s sing ‘Breaking The Law’ together.’ I thought ‘Okay…,’ and that was great.”

Strong And Proud – 30 Years Of Rock And Metal was released on June 24th, 2016 via Nuclear Blast Records.

Interview published in June 2016.

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