German metal queen Doro Pesch has completed work on her biggest project to date — the 2DVD/CD set, 25 Years In Rock, features the entire 25-year anniversary concert which was recorded in front of about 10,000 enthusiastic fans in Düsseldorf, Germany as well as footage from her 2008 shows in China, outtakes from Doro's 2500th concert and a whole lot more. The DVD will be released in Europe via Nuclear Blast on November 26, 2010 and in the rest of the world sometime in 2011.

Pesch celebrated her 25-year career as the reigning queen of German heavy metal by performing a three-hour set on December 13, 2008 at the ISS Dome in Düsseldorf, Germany. Holy Moses, Leaves' Eyes and Arch Enemy opened the show and were followed by full set by Doro herself, which included guest appearances by Bobby "Blitz" Ellsworth (Overkill), Jean Beauvoir, Grave Digger's Chris Boltendahl and guitarist Axel Rudi Pell, former Nightwish singer Tarja Turunen, Scorpions' Klaus Meine and Rudolf Schenker, as well as a host of other female vocalists, such as Liv Kristine (Leaves' Eyes), Floor Jansen (After Forever), members of Girlschool, Liv of Sister Sin and Sabina Classen of Holy Moses.



I had the opportunity to speak with Doro just prior to her and her band heading out on a short three-date East Coast tour which kicked off in early October.

BrooklynRocks: Throughout your careers, you have collaborated with a “Who’s Who of Metal”. Could you talk about some of these collaborations?

Doro: It was an honor to work with Gene Simmon and Tommy Thayer on my second solo LP (1990). I was a huge Kiss fan and Gene was an incredible motivator who taught me so much about music. Tommy Thayer, who is now in Kiss, played most of the guitars on the record.

BrooklynRocks: Can you talk about your collaboration with Lemmy?

Doro: After my father had passed away, I was heartbroken. One day I picked up the phone and it was Lemmy and I told him what happened. He said “come to Los Angeles and we will do something“ but I told him that I was so heartbroken and really, really sad. He said “please come to LA and we will do something to get your mind off the heaviness of this”. I went to LA and we recorded two songs, one that I love is the Motorhead classic “Love Me Forever” and another song “Alone Again”. It was two weeks and awesome how we could talk and have great laughs. I picked up Lemmy every day to go to the studio and each day we would sit in LA traffic and Lemmy would play me his favorite singers, old Motorhead records and new music and he would sing along.

All the other collaborations were just as special; always different and always unique. It was an honor to do and be a part of a great project; when people came to our studio it was always a big honor and usually always the highlight of each record.

BrooklynRocks: Now that you have been in rock for over twenty five years, do you look back on the Snakebite days or Megadeth tour and reminisce?

Doro: The Megadeth tour was my first big American tour and it was awesome and unbelievable. I remember it so well and it doesn’t feel like it was in 1988 but no more than five years ago. This tour was the first time we played in the States.

BrooklynRocks: What does the set list look like for these upcoming shows?

Doro: We want to play the highlights of each of the records, from older songs like "I Rule the Ruins", "All We Are" and "Burning the Witches" to the new record's (2009's Fear No Evil) "Night of the Warlock", "Celebrate" and "Running from the Devil", which seems to be one that the fans really like. From the last record (2006's Warrior Soul), "You’re my Family" and "Above the Ashes". "Love Me in Black" is one of my favorite songs - the record never officially released in the States but it is one of the best records that we have ever done. The die-hard fans knew this record and request the song. In concert, we will play everything from old Warlock songs to the newer songs. We will play as long as the fans want, generally 1 ½ - 2 hours as long as the venue doesn’t have a curfew, and the fans can call out the songs they want to hear. For the encores, we will play whatever makes the fans happy.

I don’t have a steady set list every night so the sets are always somewhat unique. We have fans that travel around and go to all the gigs of each tour and they can be sure that they will never get the same set each night. There will always be some new adventure each night with new and different stuff in the set.

BrooklynRocks: After recording over a dozen albums and playing different songs each night, how can you still remember the lyrics to all of your songs?

Doro: I love the songs so usually it is no problem. When I love the lyrics and it is a meaningful thing, I will always remember. I have a hard time remembering lyrics when I didn’t write the song myself or it is a song that I don’t like so much but then I just have to work on it. I remember at least fifty songs but when someone calls out a b-side that isn’t a favorite, it is hard. Here and there when we rehearse, I’ll read the lyric sheets but after a couple of times, it becomes second nature. When you tour so much, you don’t have to think anymore about it, it just flows. When I start a new tour, I have to start from scratch sometime but it is in my blood.

BrooklynRocks: As a wrap-up, is there anything that you want people to know about you?

Doro: I want to thank all the fans for all their great support for all these years. I would love to see them coming out to the shows and I will absolutely give at least 180%. I will try to make the fans happy as they always gave me so much motivation and inspiration. I wish everyone all the best. Keep Metal Alive!

The tour finished up at the Crazy Donkey on Long Island and one of the songs Doro performed on this last night of the tour was "Egypt (Chains are On)" as a tribute to Ronnie James Dio (who Doro has cited as being one of her biggest influences).



Links:
Doro Pesch