INTERVIEW: DORO PESCH – AUGUST 2021

Photo credit: Todd Jolicoeur – Toddstar Photo

According to a recent press release: “On September 24th, DORO will celebrate the 35th anniversary of her classic album Triumph And Agony with the release of Triumph And Agony Live, which will be released on her own label Rare Diamonds Productions / Rough Trade. As the first digital single, today, the Metal Queen will release one of her biggest hits: “All We Are.” The live version of the mega song – like the entire album – was recorded at Sweden Rock Festival, and once again shows DORO and band in top form. The highly anticipated work will be released in many different configurations on CD, vinyl, cassette, Blu-ray, as well as in an exclusive, strictly limited fan box! Recorded in front of a mega-crowd at the famous Sweden Rock Festival, DORO and her band delivered a show for the ages.” We were able to grab some phone time with Doro to discuss the new release, touring, new music, and more…

Toddstar: Doro, thank you so much for taking time out, I know you’re so busy. You guys have been in the studio and you nailed down your first live shows in a while. How did that go?

Doro: Yeah, we had a couple of live shows, but they were different things, it was beach chair concerts and people are very far away sitting in beach chairs, which is totally cool and safe, but it was so much more hard work to reach the people. So, after the first show I thought, “Oh my god.” The whole body, it was so torn up and it was hard, and the voice was totally blown out and then after a couple of gigs like that and I thought, “Yeah.” And I went to go to the gym and jogging every day to survive these beach chair concerts, but the fans had fun, they were on fire. It was awesome, and it was so good to do something. And this past weekend on Sunday we played our first normal set in Belgium, the Alcatraz Fest, which is a great festival, a three-day festival, and everybody was there having fun. I think everybody had to get tested or get the vaccination pass, so it was safe and it was awesome, it was so awesome, so we’re in good spirits. And now we have a couple of more festivals coming up and a tour with Michael Schenker in the UK and some more festivals in the UK and Wacken in Bullhead City. It’s a smaller Wacken but I think there were 25,000 people on the field, usually it’s like 80,000. But 25,000 is something you can really, really work with and rock like a maniac. So, things are in the making and then there’s a big European tour in November and all over, like France and Germany and Austria and Poland and everywhere. And then next year, we come to the States and I hope everything works out. There’s another South America tour in the making. So, here it looks okay, numbers are going up. So, we don’t know, we cross our fingers. Yeah, hope for the best.

Toddstar: Especially in the States because you and I joke about it and talk about it, but we need you to get to Detroit, quickly.

Doro: Yes. Yes. I love Detroit Rock City! Oh my god, of course, of course. And actually, it was last time on our list we had two tours booked last year and then it didn’t, it got moved and postponed. And I wanted to do, of course, another tour with Metal Church. You know, we have to same management, and I always ask Jeff, “Hey, what are the guys doing?” That would be so awesome to do this tour again, it was great a package in 2019 in the States. But now that Mike is not any more with us, that’s like a wish which can’t be, and we can’t do it anymore. And we are all so sad, we became great friends and we were always singing together. The last couple of shows, we always sang “Breaking The Law” together with the fans and Mike, and it was so awesome. And we are all heartbroken about it. So, next year we will see how we do, maybe, a package tour or the festivals or our own club tour. So, something will happen, I’m sure.

Toddstar: Well, that’s what’s fun, you have such a legacy and everything else and that’s the newest, latest, greatest thing that we want to talk about is, you’re releasing the live album, Triumph and Agony Live. What can you tell us about it? Because the first thing I noticed is, the track list changed up, but other than you playing all the songs, what can you tell us about the album that we might not grab when we listen through it?

Doro: Yeah, it’s a live album and it’s live Blu-ray, so you can watch it as well. And the main part is from Sweden Rock, it’s a great festival, Sweden Rock festival. And we started celebrating the 30th anniversary of Triumph and Agony a few years ago. And then we did a tour in America, in Spain, played many festivals and Norway Rock and GAS Rock and Sweden Rock Festival and we filmed a few shows, we recorded a few shows, but Sweden Rock was so well done, like all the camera work, all the microphones on each instrument, it sounded the best. And then when we knew by the beginning of this year, that all the festivals and two other shows would not happen and I thought, “Yeah, I’ll go back into the studio and look at everything.” And I watched all the bootlegs, everything, all the footage. And then we thought, “Yeah, let’s do it. Let’s celebrate the coming up 35th anniversary of Triumph and Agony.” And the Sweden Rock it was just magical, and it was the very first time we played the Triumph and Agony album in its entirety. And sometimes when you do something for the first time, there’s so much magic and energy and power in it. And so, when you see it or when you hear it, I think it sounds awesome and it looks awesome. And there’s another documentary on the Blu-ray and it’s the making of the original Triumph and Agony and all kinds of snippets from the Megadeth tour and the tour in Europe, the tour with the legendary Ronnie James Dio in ’87. So, it’s bringing back really, really good memories on awesome time, I think ’87, ’88, that was the highlight for the metal scene and MTV was still having Headbangers Ball and playing all the metal videos and all these magazines and everything. So, you can get good energy when you see it and some old school stuff, which just makes you feel good.

Toddstar: Well, I’m looking forward to listening to this because I was able to witness one of the live shows that you did the album front to back, back in 2017 when you guys played in Westland, Michigan. And so, to be able to catch this show and now have a live version of it to listen to and enjoy as I would go back to my memories. What is it about this album to you that just speaks to you, that not only are you celebrating the anniversary, but it was important to you to put a live version of it out there. Why is this album so important to you, Doro?

Doro: Because you know me, to me, I live for the fans. That’s my mission in life, to make the people happy, to give them power and energy and I live for the metalheads. I’m still a metalhead myself, I have nothing in my life which I love so much. So, I thought to play that live and together with the fans where you can hear them singing along, the energy, there’s something about it, which has so much more magic than when you just do a studio recording. I can always sing 10 times better and louder when I’m live, when some metalheads are into it and I thought, “This record, it deserves to be heard again.” And the songs, I think some of the songs, they sound even better than the original version and of course “Für Immer” and “All We Are,” they have great sing-along parts, they’re long and people have to sing it and belt it out. And the sequence is a little bit different because on the original Triumph and Agony, we put “All We Are,” it was the first side, first song, but we had no idea that it would become such a big anthem for us. So now, starting out with “All We Are,” that would be impossible, there’s no place to go. So, we thought, “Okay, we build it up.” And “Touch of Evil” is the first song and it has a nice, mysterious intro. And then we go and it’s really heavy, really hard and then we put all the other songs in a nice order. I was feeling it out, I always feel out the set list and sometimes we change the set list when a few people would like to hear more of the heavier stuff or more the old school stuff. So, this one was in Sweden Rock, and I just went by gut feeling and then the last song, of course, was “All We Are” and everybody already drank some beers and singing along and it’s something so much fun. Even some people, they sing totally out of tune and it sounds awesome, it sounds awesome. Just feels so good, so natural, and so that’s how we did it. But we didn’t plan on it, so that was beautiful, there was no pressure. And the Sweden Rock Festival they were recording it and we said, “Yes, cool.” But we didn’t know they had such great equipment, it’s a really top-notch festival. If somebody wants to go to Europe, seeing a nice festival, Sweden Rock Festival is really top-notch, always the greatest lineups and stuff and you know. So, that night Aerosmith played, and Sweden Rock before Kiss played, and they always have huge bands. And it’s a middle-sized festival, it’s not as big as Wacken, Wacken is always 80,000 but I think Sweden Rock is always about, I think 40,000. It’s really cool. But the technical stuff was mint, like great and I think you can hear it and see it. It’s really well done and we got a nice guy who was cutting everything. So, it’s not the stuff you could see on the internet, it’s like a brand new cut and a brand new a mix. And we touched up a couple of things because we had three guitar players and live, it sometimes looks great live but then when you listen back then I was like, “Oh, maybe it needs to be cleaned up a little bit.” There’s always too much feedback, too much stuff going on. So, I think now it’s really nice. If you see it and hear it, you probably would love it.

Photo credit: Todd Jolicoeur – Toddstar Photo

Toddstar: I can’t wait. Now, it’s coming out on Rare Diamonds records, which is your own company, and you’ve done so much. You’ve put out perfume and cologne, you’ve done a champagne line, you’ve got your own record company. What else do you still want to do?

Doro: Actually, all the stuff you mentioned, I love to do little things and stuff on the side. That’s why I fund my own label to do picture discs and Triumph and Agony Live is coming in many, many different box sets. There’s a figurine, like it’s the warlock hugging me, that looks really cute, I think. And then it’s the biggest album cover in the world with marble, vinyl and cassette and patches and buttons and all that old school, cool stuff which I thought would be perfect for the Triumph and Agony Live. So, I can do stuff what I personally really like. What, probably, the die-hard fans would like, the collectors and all. And normally I will do probably with Nuclear Blast again, that will come out next year, we’re working on it already, we’re halfway there. But I like these little things, even the perfume, it’s stuff for die-hards and people who like to have something in their hands and the perfume was for the last, the Magic Diamonds album. And I think it’s heavenly; it’s called True At Heart and there’s one for ladies and one for men. And I always wear both, depending on my mood. So, I just like doing this stuff but it’s all on the side. Music, the fans, live shows, that’s the top priority and everything else it’s like… So, I will never get bored, or I never have time to get depressed, even in the lockdowns, it didn’t matter. I was always working on something and mainly in the studio and here in Europe, in Germany, when sometimes a lockdown you weren’t even allowed to go out on the streets any more, especially after nine or 10 o’clock. And I was always working at night and I got always stopped by the police at 12 o’clock in the morning when I was driving. And they said, “Well, what are you doing here?” And I said, “I was working.” And they said, “Yeah, you are working at four o’clock in the morning? What’s that all about?” And I said, “Yeah, it’s music in the studio.” And then I showed them the Triumph and Agony Live, the cover, the artwork. And then they say, “Oh.” And then they say, “All We Are.” And I said, “Exactly.” And then they let me go and they didn’t give me a fine, so I thought that was cool. But it was sometimes night and day in the studio, everything was like, “Wow, crazy.” And the atmosphere, I could see the fans, I could hear the fans and then I went outside and it was dead silence, nobody there, it felt like a ghost town. It felt like a bad movie. I have always traveled back and forth to the States. And then sometimes it was totally fine, like normal and then, I went, took a plane and then it was completely different. And my god, the last one and a half years were intense. And I was trying to work on something and then the Triumph and Agony Live, I thought, “Oh yeah, that’s something to celebrate.” I love that record so much, I think all the other records like Burning the Witches, Hellbound, True As Steel, they were leading up to the Triumph and Agony and it became our biggest, biggest record and “All We Are” was the biggest hit, or the biggest video. And it was like, top-notch production, many great memories. Cozy Powell played on it as well, he played on a couple of songs, like “Für Immer”, “Touch of Evil,” and it was like, “Man.” That time, I have the best memories of that and the Dio tour, the Megadeth tour and it was so awesome. So, that brought back so good memories and always kept my spirits up high.

Toddstar: Sure. Well, I know you’re short on time, so I’ve got one more for you before we let you go. You talked about being in the studio and you’re about halfway through your new album. I just want to know if there’s going to be any covers on the new album, because this is the fifth time, I’ve had the pleasure and the honor of interviewing you and I keep begging for that version of “Lucille.”

Doro: Oh my god. Oh god, I didn’t do it. I didn’t dare to do it yet. I don’t know if I would do a good job on it. It’s like, that is so unique. And Little Richard was such, man, it was such a unique artist. So, I don’t even know if I should touch that song. But now that we’re talking again, I guess you would certainly want to try. I always covered my favorite songs, last time I just covered “Nutbush City Limits” by Tina Turner and before it was all kinds of songs like “Barracuda” and “A Whiter Shade of Pale” and “Touch Too Much,” that came out really good, the AC/DC song. But I didn’t try it yet and I probably would have to find people who really feel at home like I feel it, like I love it, and that’s probably difficult. But now that we’re talking again, I want to do it, I want to do it. I will tell my producer, he is my best friend in Hamburg, Andreas Bruhn, who was the guitar player for Sisters of Mercy, we always work together great. And I told him last time, I would like to do a cover version of Whitesnake’s “Don’t Break My Heart Again.” He said, “I don’t even know that song.” And I said, “Oh, it’s great. Check it out.” And then we worked on it, and I think that came out great. And we did “Lost In The Ozone,” I did with my band, and we played it live and I thought, “Yeah.” So, sometimes I love it, but I would do it and then I hope it will make a record. I hope it will come out the way it should come out, because I think that’s really something, but good that we talked about it, yeah. I’m all on fire again. But yeah, I haven’t done it yet and I’ve never tried it, but that will be a good one. Oh, yes.

Photo credit: Todd Jolicoeur – Toddstar Photo

Toddstar: Yes, it would. Well, listen, I can’t wait for the album to come out September 24th, Triumph and Agony Live and we wish you well with everything until then. And in 2022, let’s get those horns up in Detroit and rock out with Doro.

Doro: Yes, absolutely. Thank you so much. And I want to say, “Hi,” to all the Detroit rock metalheads and yeah, I can’t wait to see you guys again and thank you so much for having me today. And I hope I see you very soon, talk to you very soon and the new album is coming out next year, so we’re hoping to go on tour, definitely Detroit, so, yes.

Toddstar: Awesome. Well, we’ll see you then, Doro. Until then, have a great day.

Doro: Thank you so much. Thank you so much for having me again. It’s always great talking to you and we’ll see you. Bye-bye, ciao, ciao.

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Category: Interviews