It is always great to speak with Doro Pesch. Known the world over as the Metal Queen, she is an artist who has devoted her entire life to rock and Heavy Metal, ever since seeing Ronnie James Dio live, as she describes later. She has just finished a run of festivals and European shows and is preparing for some promotional work for her new release, Warriors Of The Sea.
“It’s a special album, Warriors Of The Sea,” Doro says. “I’m super excited about it. At first, it was this idea to just write a song for this cruise. We did our own cruise for the first time. I did many cruises, like the Full Metal Cruise, the Monsters Of Rock Cruise and the 10,000 Tons Of Metal Cruise. So, I thought, I want to do my own cruise if it’s at all possible.
“It was hard work to even get connections to the right ship, to people who want to do it. And then we did it. And the fans, they were excited about it. So, the first cruise was immediately sold out. And then we said, okay, let’s do a second one.
“Then I thought, man, we… must do something really special each day, a different set list, a different design. So, it looked like a ghost ship, a pirate ship. Then we wear different outfits like little pirates. Then I wrote a song for this cruise, and it’s called Warriors Of The Sea.
“At first, I thought maybe a single. And then we were talking about it, thinking about it, and how about we do a whole album, which has songs for this cruise.
“Then we came up with the idea, a picture of this, and then the liquid-filled vinyl, which is a new thing. I don’t know if it will last because it is sinfully expensive. It’s made by hand, but I have it here.
“The liquid goes crazy when you put it on your record player. It’s really nice and it’s all made by hand. I can’t believe it.”
Doro Pesch has a copy of Warriors Of The Sea to hand, and she is clearly very proud and excited about the liquid-filled edition. She explains that she saw it with another artist and thought that it would be ideal for this latest release.
We discuss what the colour choice was, and Doro tells me that the one she saw previously was blood red. She explains, “I said, for me, it would be nice to have ocean water. Then I thought, maybe it needs to look nicer. And then I said, How about Blue Curaçao? You can drink it if you are desperate,” She laughs. “But it reminds me of the ocean.”
The video that accompanied Warriors Of The Sea has just been released and contains footage from the cruise. It looks like a lot of fun. “Yes, it was all shot on the cruise apart from the pirates [which are AI-generated]. We did have pirates on the cruise, but not the ones in the video. But all the live sequences are from the shows.”
Supporting Doro on the cruise were Italians Vlad In Tears. “They are pretty new,” Doro says.” I think the singer has such great charisma, and they fit well.”
Planning is already underway for 2026’s cruise. Doro Pesch is suitably enthused. “June 6th next year. We’re just thinking about what we can do to have even more adventure and that people love it. We’re just thinking about another support band or maybe two support bands. Maybe one band who can play on deck and the other one, inside.
“And then, to have something really special for the diehard fans because people came from all over the world, from America, from England, from France, from Ukraine, from Russia, all over the world. It was special.”
Most bands attract diehard fans, but Doro Pesch seems to have an extra devoted fanbase. She must sometimes find it hard to believe. “Yes, it is so cool,” she says. “And especially seeing all the diehard fans again, people I knew from like 20, 30 years ago. I love it. I deeply appreciate it.
“I love the fans, and when I see they go out of their way to go and watch the cruise or a festival or a concert where we play, that’s mind-blowing. I always try to give it my all to make them feel, man, yeah, it was worth it to take this long trip. It is super expensive. Tickets, air tickets, plane rides.”
Unsurprisingly, Doro confirms that the barrier for the forthcoming German dates is likely to feature some familiar faces every night. “Yes, pretty much” she smiles. “Usually, people use it as their vacation. It’s so awesome. We’ve seen the same fans for many years, and we are friends, like family, like brothers and sisters. It’s so cool, and I always feel they’re giving it their all.
“So I always try my hardest and I always try to go the extra mile to make everybody happy, feel good, and make it memorable. I remember my first concerts, and there was one concert which brought me to my knees. It was when I started very early in the ’80s. I think I was not even in Warlock, it was maybe the band before.
“I went to a Ronnie James Dio concert, the curtain opened, the show started, and I went on my knees because it hit me so deep. It gave me chills, but it was so cool. Then I thought, if I could ever give fans the same feeling that I felt. I always try to do it sometimes in the set or sometimes with unexpected things.”
Talking of first concerts, we move on to Warlock’s appearance at 1986’s Monsters Of Rock festival at Donington. I mistakenly get my facts mixed up, and Doro corrects me that it was not the band’s first UK appearance.
“I think we did a couple of shows before,” she says. “I think we did play the Marquee Club. That was the first one. Then we did this TV show called ETC.” A quick check on Setlist.FM confirms two shows at the Marquee and one at Camden Palace with Tokyo Blade before MOR.
It was quite the day for Doro Pesch and Warlock. I admit I was a little drunk and cannot remember a huge amount of the day. Doro, on the other hand, can recall a lot. “Oh man, it was so mind-blowing,” she says. “I didn’t know before because back then, no computers. You couldn’t find out if the festival was big or small.
“I heard something about it, but I thought maybe it’s like three, four, five thousand people. Then we got there, and I don’t even know how many. It looked like 100,000.
“I walked towards the stage, and I bumped into Lemmy. Lemmy said, ‘Hey, Doro, have a good show.’ He asked if I was nervous. ‘You’re shaking.’
“I said, Hey, Lemmy, I’m so nervous I can’t believe it. It’s so huge. He said, ‘Doro, you will do good,’ and then he put a little kiss on my head. That photo. Somebody took a photo. One time I wanted to listen to a Motörhead record. I put on the vinyl, there was the sleeve, and there was this photo of this moment.
“I cut out the photo and I sent a letter to Lemmy’s management. Later, Lemmy called me, said, ‘Hey, Doro, I got your letter, and yeah, let’s do something.’ Because I asked him if we could do something together. He said, ‘Come over to LA, let’s do something.’ So that was a special moment. It was intense. It was great. But the fans, they were so cool, and it was so much fun.”
Doro Pesch releases Warriors Of The Sea on 24 October 2025 via Rare Diamonds. For more details, visit linktr.ee/dorometalqueen. Part Two of this interview will be out tomorrow.
