I feel like metal is going up and up, it’s getting bigger and bigger worldwide.”

Wikimetal (Daniel Dystyler): Hello, Doro?

Doro Pesch: Yes, hi! Is this Daniel?

W (DD): Yes, this is Daniel, from Wikimetal, in Brazil. How are you?

DP: Hi, I’m good, very good. And yourself?

W (DD): I’m good. Doro, it’s really an honor to have you here on our show, we’ve been listening to your great music since your times in Warlock, since the 80s, so it’s really, really great to have you here at the Wikimetal show. So first, let me welcome you, and thanks for spending time with us.

DP: Oh, thank you so much. I’m so happy to be here, I love all the Brazilian fans, and I love Brazil, so it’s so cool, I’m very happy and excited.

W (DD): Doro, first let me congratulate you for your last album “Raise Your Fist”, it’s a great record and we are really happy that Doro is producing music with such great quality. So can you talk a little bit about how has the reception of the album by the fans been so far?

DP: Yes, we toured all over the world, we toured in Europe and Scandinavia and the fans loved it. We did… Yeah, like about 5, 6 songs from the new album on the set among other albums, and some Warlock songs. And I think the new material is really fantastic, and I think “Raise Your Fist” is amazing. We played it in some cities, some countries… The fans loved it… Seeing their fists in the air, you know, is one of the great things, and to hear them singing along… I’ve never seen so many fists. It was so cool on the time I spent in Wacken, on the concert, I said “Let me see your fists!” and there were 60 thousand fists in the air. It was so cool to watch. I couldn’t be happier.

W (DD): Wow, that’s really great to hear. And besides the great music on the album, there are great, great pictures that you put together on the album, so we strongly recommend our listeners to buy the “Raise Your Fist” CD. I noticed that you have pictures with Lemmy and the unforgettable Ronnie James Dio. Can you talk a little bit about, first recording a song with Lemmy, “It Still Hurts”, and also about Dio, you’ve made this great song “Hero” for him, so can you share some memories about the recording sessions with Lemmy, and also about producing a song for Dio?

DP: Yes, I’d love to. I met Lemmy many years ago, in the early 80s, and we became big time friends, and we toured together many times, and we played in so many festivals. And this last time I was with Lemmy at the recording of the “Calling The Wild” album and we recorded long time Motörhead classic “Love Me Forever” and the other song was “Alone Again”, and Lemmy said “Oh, I have this idea, do you want to hear it?” and I said “Oh, I’d love to.” And he played me this idea, Lemmy singing it was so beautiful, it touched my soul so deep, wow, it was unbelievable. So now, so many years later, I had this idea for the song “It Still Hurts” and I’m singing it, and I thought… And I kind of… I heard him singing it in my mind, and I showed him the song, and he said “Oh, let’s do it, I love it” and we recorded the song in LA, and actually, Lemmy… He was so nice, and we both a had a great time in the studio, and I love him so much, he’s a great person, and a great musician, and his vocals in “It Still Hurts”, wow, they truly shake me, they have so much emotion and so much depth, I love it, it’s one of my favorite songs in the album. It’s an honor to work with Lemmy on this record, and since we’re great friends, it’s like… It’s something that… I don’t know, I feel like we got closer and closer as friends all these years, and he’s really close to me. And another amazing person was Ronnie James Dio. I met him many times. Actually, my first time touring in Europe was in 87, after the “Triumph and Agony” album, and then I got to know him, he was super cool, super nice, a very nice artist. I trusted him, we toured together, and I opened for “Heaven and Hell”, and we did a long American tour in 2000, and we became best friends. And Ronnie was one of the really most loving people and his voice was so amazing. And when I heard that he passed away, for two weeks I couldn’t believe, I was so sad, it was so hard. I wanted to write a song for him I had this melody in my head… Because it was so important to me to do it right and we finished the song two days later, and it was honest and sincere, it was the most important song for me to put in this album. He was one of the greatest people that ever lived and I always loved him in life. Ronnie is always in our heart, always will be, you know.

Ronnie James Dio was one of the greatest people that ever lived and I always loved him in life. “

W (DD): Yeah, it is a great song, and right at the beginning, you already say “It’s like a rainbow in the dark”, it’s very nice remembering one of the greatest songs of Dio, it’s really great. We have this classic question on our show that we ask every single guest, which is, imagine you’re listening to your iPod on shuffle mode and there’s a bunch… Tons of heavy metal songs playing, and all of a sudden a song starts that makes you lose your mind and you feel you need to start head banging immediately, regardless of where you are you can’t stop, you can’t control yourself. What song is that so we can listen to that one on our show right now?

DP: Am I allowed to pick just one or more? More than one?

W (DD): Just one, so we’re going to play it, right now, on our show.

DP: OK. One song that always gets my energy up, and always gets my heart pounding, because we love them, is Motörhead and Lemmy’s “Ace of Spades”.

W (DD): Doro, you’ve had an amazing career, since Warlock till this last album. How did you first become involved with music and how was the beginning to form a band? What were the main obstacles that you had to face back in the day?

DP: Actually, I started to fall in love with music when I was like three or four years old. I was very young and music was always the most important thing to me. And then I formed my first band when I was 15, and I had many bands, and then I formed the band Warlock, and I guess we were at the right time at the right place, and it was just the beginning of an amazing time, that was only good. And we played with many bands, there were so many bands and records like Metallica, they had just done the “Kill ‘Em All” album. And one time this club owner said “Hey, I want to make a little festival, do you guys want to play?”, and we said “Yeah, we’ll play”, and he said “Yeah, I tried to get this new band from America, they’re from San Francisco”, and we said “Oh, it sounds good”. And we went into this club, it was in Belgium, and, you know, we had a great time, there were many fans there, and we were stage diving and crowd surfing, and everything. And we said “Hey, let’s check out the other band.” And we didn’t know the band, and they went onstage and it was Metallica, and I think it was one of their first shows ever in Europe. And we saw the band and we thought “Wow! This is fantastic.” We could tell that they were really good, we could see the magic. And then other people found out about Warlock, and then we had a tour – actually, our first big tour was in 86 – and it was a dream come true with my favorite band – and that was in 86. And then I quit my job, I worked with record artists, and I thought “I’m going to try”, and we played a bunch of rock festivals, it was huge, back in the day there were these big festivals. And it was actually a great lineup, it was Motörhead, Scorpions, Warlock. All this time in the 80s, we did big tours, and then in 87, we did the “Truth and Steel Tour”, it was unbelievable, it was so great. And then we wanted to go to America, and we did a long tour with Megadeth, and that was actually, yeah, in 87, 88, that was actually the peak for us, and for heavy metal, it was so wild, it was so great. It was amazing, it seemed like it would always go up and up and up. And then, in the 90s, it was amazing that suddenly metal wasn’t making it big anymore, suddenly grunge was making it big. I tried to keep it going, and we made records, but some of the records didn’t get released, because the record companies said “Oh, this is not grunge”, and they didn’t like the music, so… But I said “I’ll do whatever it takes.” And then, in 1999, I said, “Metal is coming back.” and that was great. That’s when we did the “Calling The Wild” album with Lemmy on it. And from 2000 on, I feel like metal is going up and up. Yeah, metal is getting bigger and bigger worldwide.

W (DD): Yes, and now it’s back and very strong. Doro, congratulations on the great version you did of Metallica’s “Nothing Else Matters”. How was that for you, did you enjoy doing that?

DP: Yeah, yeah. Metallica, back in the early, early 80s, they asked me if I wanted to do a song for their tribute album, they were celebrating their “Black Album”, and I said “Oh, I would love that.” So I was a lot of fun making the song, I loved it… So it was great doing it.

When you get knocked out, just head out there, and try again, try harder.”

W (DD): Very good. Since the Warlock times, you’ve always recorded music or part of your music in German. Do you consider recording a whole album in German in the future? Like “Fur Immer” or “Angels”, those songs that you always put some words in German.

DP: Yes, I did one or two songs in German, in… I love it. But when you sing something in English, it automatically sounds cool, and in German, it sounds… I don’t know… I’ve sometimes thought about it, but actually, I know we need to go worldwide, and in German it’s a limited thing, to German people only. I think one or two songs are interesting on an album, but not all. But sometimes, there’s a song and you think “Oh, let’s try it”… I love all languages, you know.

W (DD): Very good. We are almost reaching the end of our interview, but before we let you go, I’d like to ask you what your advice would be for a girl that wants to sing on a rock band? What does it take to have a great career as yours?

DP: I would say, you know, always, always follow your heart, follow your instincts, follow your soul. And, you know, do what you plan, give 100%, apply all the love and passion into it. And be yourself, never let them change what you feel is right, and always keep at it. Never ever give up, and always try. And when you get knocked out, just head out there, and try again, try harder. When you believe in what you love, you definitely succeed. And to everybody, good luck, keep at it, and try to get people that support you, who love you, people that believe in you, and if nobody believes in you, just believe in yourself. Just go for it, just do it, and do what you love and what feels right for you.

W (DD): Excellent. And in order to finish this great interview could you choose a song from your last album, so we can hear it now?

DP: Oh, yeah! Do you want another hard one or can we play the one with Lemmy? Oh, yeah, I think that’s a great idea, because this song is unbelievable. Yeah, play the song we recorded with Lemmy, from Motörhead, “It Still Hurts”!

W (DD): Very good, very wise choice, thanks so much for your time, Doro Pesch, the great Doro Pesch on Wikimetal. Can you leave a final message to our listeners?

DP:  Yes. Hey, Wikimetal fans, I love you so much, I love you more than anything in this world, and I will never ever give up, I will always try my best. Thank you for all your loyalty, all the support, all your love, all over the years. I will always have you in my heart, very deep inside my heart, and I will try to come over soon to see you live, and I love you. Stay metal, and all the best, and rock on, guys!

W (DD): Excellent, thanks so much, great Doro! It’s unbelievable for me that I’m talking to you, one of my dreams coming true. Thanks so much for your time, it was great to have you on our show, and count on Wikimetal whenever you need anything from Brazil, anything to spread the word about the great things that you’ve been putting out, the great songs that you’ve been putting out, you can count on us, and we’re going to be helping out to promote Doro Pesch in Brazil.

DP: Oh, thank you so much, Daniel, it’s been lovely, and thank you so much for the support, thank you for supporting me, you’re great guys, and keep up the good work. I’ll sure let you know when we have our first dates scheduled over to Brazil. And all the best for Wikimetal!

W (DD): Thanks so much, bye, bye, Doro!

DP: Thank you! Bye, bye, Daniel, take care.

Listen to the full interview here: