On a very chilly winter night, I was lucky enough to share a few words with legendary German singer Doro Pesch. And even though she had a stinking cold, she was still full of beans. I mean really full of beans. Chock full and overflowing with great big Mexican jumping beans.
Do you remember when you were seventeen and loved Metal? Lived, ate, and breathed Metal? Well, that was Doro after nearly forty years of rocking it and with a rip-roaring cold. In Part One, Doro talks about how she is so proud of her latest album.
The Metal Queen has just released Conqueress – Forever Strong and Proud, her eighteenth album. Seventy-two minutes of some of the best Metal you will hear all year is how I described it in October.
“I think it’s one of the best records I’ve ever made,” Doro told MetalTalk. “I’m so proud of Conqueress. It has twenty songs, and I really love the opening track, Children Of The Dawn. We did some really awesome videos. First, we did Time For Justice, then Living After Midnight, which was the first video I’ve done with Rob Halford, which I’m so happy, grateful and proud of.”
“Then we did Children Of The Dawn, which was another great video. It’s one of my favourites. It’s very epic. Also, on this album, there are three duets. One song is with a big band from Germany called Broilers. They are huge, like 20,000-seat arenas packed, and I became friends with them last year.
“They’re from my former home town, Dusseldorf. They asked me if I wanted to be a guest on their show, and we hit it off straight away. The chemistry was great. We did two shows together, and then we wrote a really nice song called Bond Unending. It’s about deep friendship.”
“The other two duets on the album, well, I’m so over the moon and happy because they’re with Rob Halford. Rob Halford! Wow, he was my favourite singer. He was there on my very first tour in 1986.
“That was the thing, everything changed from 1986. The tour was huge, and we always stayed friends. We met again last year in France at Hellfest. We were talking, and then Rob said, what are you doing? I said I was just finishing a new album, and it’s my 40th anniversary coming up next year. Then we both looked at each other and smiled.”
“I said, Rob, are you thinking the same? Shall we do something together? And he said, yes, let’s do it. It’s about time. He asked me if I had an idea of what I wanted to do. I said I would love to do Living After Midnight because it is one of my favourite songs. The British Steel album was very, very big when I started my first band.
“He said, OK, let’s do it. Then he said, I have a song I always wanted to do with you, Total Eclipse Of The Heart. So we just did it, and it just came out as another single, another video, and a song that came out so great. So I’m really, really happy and proud of this album.”
Was there any particular reason that Doro chose Living After Midnight?
“I just love the British Steel album and that song,” Doro smiles. “I always thought it’s such a feel-good song. You know, everybody singing along, everybody really in a good mood. It reminds me a little bit of All We Are, where the whole venue is singing.
“I wanted to do Living After Midnight because I can imagine playing it at the end of a show or in the encore, and it would just be awesome.
“It was actually Rob’s choice to do Total Eclipse Of The Heart. He just loves that song so much. And I was like, wow. I thought it was a very, very unusual choice. But I was so glad that we did it, and I think the video came out really good.”
“But you know, I think all of the videos are killers. Time For Justice looks like a little Mad Max movie and Children Of The Dawn does as well. Total Eclipse Of The Heart, with Rob Halford, has a lot of feeling and soulfulness. It’s really nice and really vibrant.
“There’s also another cover version in the bonus section. It’s The Four Horsemen, to give honour and thanks for forty years of Kill ’em All, which is my favourite Metallica album.
“There are some really heavy songs on this new album as well. Like I Will Prevail, which is probably one of the heaviest songs I’ve ever done, but it’s still nice. Fire In The Sky is another really fast song. I think the whole album is a mix of fast and heavy songs and anthems. There are some soulful songs on it as well. I love soulful songs and ballads. So this album has a great mixture.”
Doro’s new album has been released thirty-nine years after her first one. Where does she go from here?
“Oh, I wanna do many, many more records, many more festivals and many more tours,” Doro says. “I hope for many more collaborations and just trying to make the fans really happy. I always want to give the fans something that means something to them. So, if all of that would continue the way it is, I would be very, very happy and grateful. And talking of festivals. I’m confirmed for next year’s Stonedead festival, definitely.”
The Queen of Metal? Hell yes. No one else comes close.
Part Two of the interview is here.
Doro released True Metal Maniacs just before Christmas. This is one of five tracks set for the digital EP Conqueress – Extended, which will be released on 1 March 2024. For more details visit https://doro.bfan.link/conqueress-extended.
Conqueress – Extended – EP
- Warlocks And Witches
- Horns Up High
- True Metal Maniacs
- Heart In Pain
- The Four Horsemen
